Hannah Pearl Utt is an actor, writer and director who grew up in Santa Barbara, California – the Mike Mills version, not the Nancy Meyers version – a largely feral autodidact, and came to filmmaking through her love of beauty, eccentricity and community.
Hannah Pearl Utt’s latest feature film, Cora Bora, starring comedian and “Hacks” scene stealer, Megan Stalter premiered at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival to sold out screenings and critical acclaim. The film landed her on IndieWire’s 28 Female Filmmakers to Watch list, was theatrically released by Brainstorm Media and acquired by Netflix for streaming starting in 2024. Most notably, however, the film was rumored to have made both John Waters and Parker Posey laugh out loud throughout its entire Provincetown screening. Hannah can die now. She won’t but she could. Hannah’s first feature film, Before You Know It, starring Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin and Alec Baldwin, which she also co-wrote and starred in, premiered in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film was described by The Hollywood Reporter as “push[ing] the boundaries of what movies made from the female gaze can mean to audiences of all kinds,” and got her dad to finally say he was proud of her. Before diving into feature work, Hannah co-created, starred in and directed the Superdeluxe digital series Disengaged, with friend and collaborator, Jen Tullock, where she honed her skills in short-form storytelling, character-based comedy and navigating codependent relationships.
Hannah co-wrote/produced and starred in the Sundance short, Partners, after which, she began a relationship with the Sundance Institute that led to her participation in numerous artist programs, including their inaugural Catalyst Women’s Initiative, Screenwriter and Directors Lab, Film Two feature lab, and as a mentor to young filmmakers in Ignite (one of whom is now an Academy Award nominee – Hannah gives really good advice).
As an actor, Hannah has played such iconic roles as Egg Girl and Toilet woman in myriad national commercials and most recently starred alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Ayo Edebiri in Bernardo Britto’s Omni Loop.