The White Lotus actress Aubrey Plaza’s husband, writer, and director Jeff Baena tragically died by suicide at the age of 47. The duo had been dating for over a decade before tying the knot in 2021. Baena has more than a handful of directing and screenwriting credits, including Life After Beth, Joshy, The Little Hours, Horse Girl, and Spin Me Round.
On January 3, 2025, around 10:30 a.m. local time, Jeff Baena was discovered by an assistant in a Los Angeles-area home and was pronounced dead at the scene, as exclusively reported by TMZ. According to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner, it was reported that the late filmmaker’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
Jeff Baena was born and raised in Miami and had a degree in film from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. Baena moved to LA to pursue a career in film and landed entry-level jobs with famous directors like Robert Zemeckis and David O. Russell. One of his most notable works was co-writing the 2004 film I Heart Huckabees, which starred Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, and Naomi Watts. He made his directorial debut by writing and directing Life After Beth, which starred his wife, Plaza. Baena met and started dating Plaza in 2011, and the duo were known to be notoriously private about their relationship.
Close Friends and Collaborators Paid Tribute to Jeff Baena
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Collaborators and friends of Jeff Baena, including Alison Brie, Adam Pally, and Molly Shannon, among others, paid tribute to the late filmmaker. Brie, who worked with Baena as co-writer on the 2020 film Horse Girl and the 2022 film Spin Me Round, shared a series of pictures on her Instagram story on January 5, 2025.
Actor Adam Pally took to his Instagram to share a tribute to Baena featuring pictures and a long-written dedication. Pally produced and starred in Jeff Baena’s film Joshy. The actor expressed how the late filmmaker was a “sweet, Jewish boy from Miami,” an authentic and talented director with impeccable taste. Pally’s heartfelt dedication to Baena included but wasn’t limited to the following words:
“An overly gracious host with an almost disturbing open door policy, a film encyclopedia, and most important to me a friend.”
Brie reposted Pally’s dedication on her story. Molly Shannon shared a carousel post on her Instagram as a tribute to Jeff Baena, featuring team dinners and gatherings of the cast of Spin Me Round, including Ayden Mayeri, Ben Sinclair, Alessandro Nivola, Tricia Helfer, Debby Ryan, Tim Heidecker, Zach Woods, Lauren Weedman and Fred Armisen. Comedian Weedman also took to her Instagram to share a tribute to the late director alongside a moving message in the captions.
You can stream Horse Girl, directed by Jeff Baena, on Netflix.
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Horse Girl |
|---|---|
| Cast | Alison Brie, Debby Ryan, John Reynolds, Molly Shannon, Paul Reiser |
| Release Date | January 27, 2020 (Sundance); February 7, 2020 (Netflix) |
| Stream On | Netflix |
| Directed by | Jeff Baena |
| Produced by | Jeff Baena, Alison Brie, Mel Eslyn, Dylan Sellers |
| Based On | Original screenplay by Jeff Baena and Alison Brie |
| Plot Summary | A socially awkward woman begins to unravel as she suspects her dreams may be blending with reality. |
| Musical Elements | Score composed by Josiah Steinbrick and Jeremy Zuckerman |
| Current Status | Released on February 7, 2020, available for streaming on Netflix |
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