Mary Holland

Creator Context

Summary

Mary Holland is an American actress, comedian, and writer from Galax, Virginia, known for Upright Citizens Brigade improv, Veep, Blunt Talk, Senior Year, Ghosts, and other character-comedy roles. Her most identity-forward credit is co-writing and starring in Happiest Season (2020), a mainstream lesbian holiday rom-com she has repeatedly framed as filling a representation gap. In press she has said LGBTQ stories “need to be told in all genres,” that audiences are “hungry to see themselves represented,” and that it is “incredibly important” to hire queer actors in both queer and straight parts, especially on stories about a queer experience. As a self-described straight cis woman, she has called that film overdue and said she felt honored to support it. She has also been credited as a writer on Netflix’s Big Mouth, a series built around adolescent sexuality and LGBTQ themes, and in 2020 directed Sequester fundraising to the black Trans Travel Fund. Golden Arm and most of her other acting work are conventional comedies rather than activist vehicles. She is not a partisan campaigner or full-time activist; the public pattern is ally-side representation advocacy around a landmark queer title plus limited adjacent credits, not a dominant political brand.