Alexa Junge is an American television writer, producer and screenwriter. Her work on Friends, from 1994 to 1999, earned her nominations for three Emmy Awards.

Personal life

Junge grew up in Los Angeles and attended Barnard College, where she wrote for and performed in the Columbia University Varsity Show with David Rakoff and Jeanine Tesori.[1] Junge continued her education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.[2] A 2001 profile of Junge observed, "For someone who once moved to the East Coast to pursue theater writing, a career in television came as a bit of a surprise."[3]

Junge is the granddaughter of screenwriter Marvin Borowsky and has one son, Henry Petrie.[4]

Career

Junge was a writer and producer for Friends from 1994 to 1999, for which she was nominated for three Emmy Awards[5] and a Writers Guild of America Award.[6]

Junge wrote the episode "The One Where Everybody Finds Out", which won the National AOL Poll for "All Time Favorite Friends Episode"[2]

Her episode "The One with the Prom Video" was heralded by the authors of Friends like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends as "a watershed in the history of the show."[7] In 2014, Gawker published a list of every episode of Friends ranked from #236 through #1. "The One With The Prom Video" came in first.[8] It was 100 in the TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time.[9]

Junge went on to write for Once and Again, Sex and the City,[10] The West Wing (for which she was nominated for one Emmy for production and one WGA Award[6]) as well as Big Love[10] and the BBC comedy Clone. Junge also wrote lyrics for Disney's Mulan 2 and the children's stage version Mulan Jr.,[11] as well as screenplay and lyrics for Disney's Lilo & Stitch 2.[1]

A frequent contributor to National Public Radio's This American Life,[12] Junge performed live for their 2008 "What I Learned From Television" tour.[13] She served as executive producer and showrunner for the first season of Showtime's series The United States of Tara;[14] upon her departure Hollywood Reporter noted, "Bringing Friends alumna Junge on board (had been) key to securing a series order for Tara, created by Oscar winner Diablo Cody."[15] Junge subsequently worked on Tilda for HBO with Bill Condon, Alan Poul and John Hoffman, and was the executive producer on Best Friends Forever starring Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair for NBC.[2] She also wrote four episodes of the 2015-16 Netflix series Grace and Frankie.[10][16]

Junge's play Fingersmith (an adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel) had its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in March 2015.[17][10] Additional plays and musicals by Junge were produced at the Goodspeed Opera House, Studio Arena Theater, Playwrights Horizons Lab, Theaterworks and developed at New York Stage and Film as well as the MacDowell and Djerassi colonies of Hedgebrook Women Playwrights Festival.[10] Among these productions was the musical Starcrossed: The Trial of Galileo, for which Junge co-wrote the book and lyrics with Keith Levenson.[18]

Television writing credits

Friends episodes

Junge has written the following Friends episodes:

The West Wing episodes

Junge has written the following The West Wing episodes:

The United States of Tara episodes

Junge has written the following The United States of Tara episodes:

  • "Snow" (2009)
  • "Revolution" (2009)
  • "Inspiration" (2009)

Grace and Frankie episodes

Junge has written the following Grace and Frankie episodes:

  • "The Floor" (2017)
  • "The Party" (2016)
  • "The Vitamix" (2016)
  • "The Vows" (2015)
  • "The Funeral" (2015)

References

  1. 1 2 "Alexa Junge". American Repertory Theater. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  2. 1 2 3 "Alexa Junge - Artist". MacDowell. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  3. ↑ Stack, Vanessa. "Writer's POV" (in feature "Road to the Emmys writers and directors"), Daily Variety, 14 June 2001, 272(9), page not given.
  4. ↑ "137: The Book That Changed Your Life". This American Life. 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  5. ↑ "Alexa Junge - Emmy Awards, Nominations and Wins". Television Academy. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  6. 1 2 "2004 List of Nominees". Writers Guild Awards. Archived from the original on June 13, 2004.
  7. ↑ Friends like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends (November 1998) ISBN 978-0753502235
  8. ↑ Donohue, Lacey (3 September 2014). "Every Episode of Friends, Ranked". Gawker. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Special Collector's Issue: 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time". TV Guide June 28–July 4, 1997.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 The Dramatists Guild. "Ten questions: Alexa Junge," The Dramatist, Jan/Feb 2017, 14-15.
  11. ↑ "Season preview 2015-16," American Theatre, October 2015, p. 66.
  12. ↑ "Alexa Junge". This American Life. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  13. ↑ "What I Learned from Television". This American Life. March 16, 2007. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  14. ↑ "'United States of Tara': How to Make a Personality Disorder Into Comedy". The New York Times. 2009-01-11. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  15. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie. "Junge steps aside as Tara topper," Hollywood Reporter, 409(4), 2009-03-23, page not given. via Press Reader (subscription required)
  16. ↑ "Grace and Frankie (TV Series 2015–2022)". IMDb.
  17. ↑ Verini, Bob (2016-12-19). "Regional Theater Review: 'Fingersmith,' Based on the Novel That Inspired 'The Handmaiden'". Variety. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  18. ↑ Starcrossed: the trial of Galileo (theatrical program), New York Public Library Research holdings.
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