Why Everyone Wants to Work With Fearless Actress & Screenwriter Nadia Litz
In an early scene of the iconic Viggo Mortensen’s, new Western The Dead Don’t Hurt, Nadia Litz commands a room full of outlaws and cowboys. It’s a little bit like her trajectory in film. Known for her roles alongside prominent actors like Mortensen and Kristen Stewart, actress Nadia Litz is recognized for her unique and remarkable talent on screen. However, it’s what she has done behind the scenes as a screenwriter that has firmly ingrained her in the industry with stars worldwide clamoring for collaboration. Viewed as a fearless figure throughout the industry, Litz has had to rely solely on her intense discipline and work ethic, which have been the catalysts for her career since the beginning.
As a child, Litz’s father showed her the iconic film The Elephant Man by one of her heroes David Lynch. While the film snares the emotions of nearly all viewers, it struck Litz harder than most. She was so captivated by the performances and the world became nearly inconsolable for days afterward. Litz was so moved by the film that dreams of embracing roles to make others feel the way she did became a relentless motivator. She would have her parents take out books on Stanislavski’s Seven Methods of Acting from the library and begin pouring her young soul into the craft.
Once she officially entered the film industry, Litz’s first film The Five Senses, in which she played the critical lead role, premiered at the Cannes Director’s Fortnight and then at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The late great film critic Roger Ebert singled Litz’s performance out in his review and she quickly became an in demand young actress. In her follow-up role, Litz was cast as the iconic playwright and actor Sam Shephard’s daughter working again with director Jeremy Podeswa, in the award-winning and commercial hit miniseries After the Harvest, for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the Canada Screen Awards.
After starring alongside world-renowned actor and filmmaker Viggo Mortensen in master auteur David Cronenberg’s hit Crimes of the Future, Mortensen handpicked her for his sophomore film The Dead Don’t Hurt – a Western that premiered at TIFF.
But it was her role as Sam Shepheard’s daughter, would create a major shift in her careers’ trajectory.
While portraying the playwright’s daughter, Litz discovered that storytelling was a way to play roles she couldn’t play as an actress — a revelation that launched her career as a writer. Litz’s feature film script for The People Garden, drew attention from another icon Pamela Anderson and Independent Spirit Award winning actress Dree Hemmingway — both of whom would go on to star in the film. The feature won the Audience Award at TIFF Screenwriting LAB and later premiered at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI). Other writing credits include Hotel Congress, which was shot entirely at the hotel where John Dillinger was captured.
She is working on several new writing projects, divulging one of them is based on an award-winning true crime book and another an original pilot that has just been snapped up by a notable LA production company.
As an actress, Litz has steadily shown her unparalleled work ethic and devotion to the characters she plays with genuine authenticity. Her acting prowess has her renowned for her courageous spirit, intelligence, and intuitiveness, and this innate fearlessness allows her to embrace riskier roles. As a writer, Litz tells unique and mysterious stories often led by women. When compounded with her daring and courageous nature, it is no wonder she has become such a diverse talent that everyone in the film industry wants to work with.
