Nora Kirkpatrick

Nora Kirkpatrick (born December 6, 1984) is an American actress, director, writer and musician. Known for her roles as Katherine on the ABC Family TV series Greek, or for her recurring role as Esther Bruegger on the ninth season of The Office, Kirkpatrick has directed and written over 20 episodes for shows such as The Coop, The Goldbergs, and Daisy Jones & The Six.

Early life Kirkpatrick grew up in rural Iowa. She graduated from La Quinta High School. She graduated with a BA in theater from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

In 2020, Kirkpatrick became a writer on two Amazon series: Daisy Jones & the Six, produced by Reese Witherspoon, and Rodeo Queens starring Dakota Johnson. In 2019, Nora created, wrote and directed a 15- episode interactive television show for EKO and FunnyOrDie. This series, The Coop, co-starred Tony Hale, Bobby Moynihan, Bridget Everett and Margaret Cho. She directed episode #712 of The Goldbergs for ABC and was the first woman ever to direct a campaign for Bud Light. Nora helmed three commercials for the brand, shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In 2018, Nora created, wrote and directed Door No. 1, a live-action VR comedy series, starring Snoop Dogg and Ravi Patel, for Hulu. In a 2017 Forbes article, Kirkpatrick mentions virtual reality's ability to cause "spatial un-comfortability," and her aim to make the viewer the lead character of the story. In 2017, Nora sold her TV show Assisted Living to CBS, which was executive produced by Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum.

Her short films have played at film festivals all over the world, garnering awards including Best Female Director at the Prague International Film Festival (2020) and the Grand Jury Prize at the San Diego Film Festival, Sioux City Film Festival, and the Femme Filmmakers Festival. She won a Davey Grant for her screenplay Long Time Listener, First Time Caller, and the Best Screenplay award from both Shore Scripts and Hollyshorts for Best Seller.

As an actor, she is probably best known for her role as Katherine, the stern president of Panhellenic, on the ABC Family TV series Greek, or for her recurring role on the ninth season of The Office as Esther Bruegger, a neighboring farmer's daughter who becomes Dwight's girlfriend. Kirkpatrick starred in the 2015 film Pink Grapefruit, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Award. She has played many other roles in film and TV, including Men at Work, Jennifer Falls, Don't Trust the B, and Chasing Life. She was one of the leads of the popular mockumentary web series Dorm Life, in which she played Courtney Cloverlock.

Music Kirkpatrick played the accordion in the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. She is a founding member and together they won a Grammy in 2013. She left the band after seven years in 2014 to focus on her directing career.

Filmography Directing & Writing

Acting Film Year Title Role Notes 2005 What's Bugging Seth Nora Green 2005 White Nights Sharon 2007 Katrina Tyler TV film 2007 Crashing Barton's Girlfriend 2007 Randal June Short film 2008 Man Stroke Woman Various TV film 2009 Flower Girl Wendy 2010 Long Story Short Georgia Short film 2010 Growth Kristin Daniels 2010 How to Make Love to a Woman Carla 2011 Dreamworld Jules 2011 Happy Place Margaret Short film 2011 Mime Apples Mime Short film 2012 Peter at the End Lucy Short film 2013 Big Sur Alyson 2013 Sexy Evil Genius Abby 2013 All Together Now Kylie 2013 Bayou Tales Diana 2014 Crying Man Brooke 2015 Pink Grapefruit Lead 2015 Los Dr. Ryan 2016 The Babymoon Shanon 2016 Sandy Wexler Sienna 2017 The Attempt Molly 2017 Woman Child Kate Montgomery

Television