Tavi Gevinson

Biography

Tavi Gevinson is an American writer, magazine editor, and actress. She came to public attention at the age of 12 due to her fashion blog Style Rookie. By the age of 15, she had shifted her focus to pop culture and feminist discussion.

Gevinson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in the suburban town of Oak Park, Illinois. Her father, Steve Gevinson, is a retired English high school teacher. Her mother, Berit Engen, is a weaver and part-time Hebrew instructor who grew up in Oslo, Norway.

Gevinson was the founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Rookie, aimed primarily at teenage girls.

Gevinson first acted in a short film, First Bass, in 2008, but became more visible in 2012. That year, she voiced a character in the animated short film Cadavar, which was long-listed for an Academy Award. Cadavar was directed by First Bass’s Jonah Ansell and co-starred Kathy Bates and Christopher Lloyd. In the film, she sang renditions of both Neil Young and Pet Shop Boys songs. Also in 2012, Gevinson filmed a role in Enough Said from director Nicole Holofcener. Gevinson is interviewed on screen in the 2013 documentary film The Punk Singer, talking about riot grrrl punk icon Kathleen Hanna. In 2014 and 2015, she starred in This Is Our Youth in Chicago and at the Cort Theatre on Broadway. In 2015, she made a guest appearance as Feather McCarthy on “Beware of Young Girls”, the seventh episode of the American comedy horror television series Scream Queens. She played Mary Warren in Ivo van Hove’s 2016 production of The Crucible at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Late that year, she played Anya in The Cherry Orchard at the American Airlines Theatre.