Estelle Bajou
- Actress
- Composer
- Writer
Estelle Bajou is a French-American actress, composer, and writer.
Praised by critics as a "first-rate young actor" (NY Times), and "excellent at bringing a humanity and honesty to complex characters" (Huff Post), Bajou's acting credits include Broadway's Once, Boardwalk Empire (2010), Person Woman Man Camera TV (2022), Charming the Hearts of Men (2021) (opposite Anna Friel), Spielberg's Pentagon Papers (2017), Chaplin of the Mountains (2013) (filmed in Iraq), and SubHysteria (2010), award-winning shorts like The Number 2020 Is Somehow Destroyed (2021), Glimpses - A day in a life (2020), Full Throttle Paradise (2022), Lullaby for Ray (2011), Broke (2014), Henry Buys a Hat (2012), and plays at Edinburgh Fringe (Won: The Stage's Award for Best Acting), 59E59, The New Ohio (Won: NY Innovative Theater Award: Outstanding Performance Art Production), American Repertory Theater (Boston), three national tours, et al. Member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA.
Described as "elegantly constructed" (NY Times), "sensational...incisive" (Rough Cut Cinema), and "terrifically effective" (American Theater Web), Bajou's composing has earned several awards, including a Drama Desk nomination alongside one of her heroes, Philip Glass, and Best Americana Score at the Garden State Film Festival for Glimpses - A day in a life (2020). Her composing/music credits include Broadway's Once, Ken Burns' Prohibition, une expérience américaine (2011), Small Time (2020), Spielberg's Pentagon Papers (2017), Fireworkers (2017), Beneath Disheveled Stars (2014), and Occupy, Texas (2016), award-winning shorts like The Number 2020 Is Somehow Destroyed (2021), Malala (2021), Sentimiento Es La Bomba (2020), Paper Year (2024), klutz. (2019), Starring Austin Pendleton (2016), Henry Buys a Hat (2012), and plays at Labyrinth Theater Co, Edinburgh Fringe, 59E59, PS122, et al. Member: American Federation of Musicians.
Bajou writes plays, screenplays, and poetry. Her full-length play, Poetry, was a Finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. Her feature screenplay adaptation of Poetry is a Quarterfinalist in the 2022 ScreenCraft Film Fund. She co-wrote (and starred in) the feature, Person Woman Man Camera TV (2022) (forthcoming 2022). Her poetry received a 2021 Pushcart Prize nomination, and is featured in Broad River Review, California Quarterly, Heavy Feather Review, SWIMM, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection, I Never Learned to Pray, was Longlisted for the C&R Press Poetry Award and is forthcoming in 2022. Member: The Actor's Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit, The Dramatists Guild.
Raised in a furniture factory town in the NC mountains, she bears the traces of travel across the Americas and Europe, to Venezuela, Turkey, and Iraqi Kurdistan, among other formative places. She now lives in New York City with a bunch of houseplants.
Praised by critics as a "first-rate young actor" (NY Times), and "excellent at bringing a humanity and honesty to complex characters" (Huff Post), Bajou's acting credits include Broadway's Once, Boardwalk Empire (2010), Person Woman Man Camera TV (2022), Charming the Hearts of Men (2021) (opposite Anna Friel), Spielberg's Pentagon Papers (2017), Chaplin of the Mountains (2013) (filmed in Iraq), and SubHysteria (2010), award-winning shorts like The Number 2020 Is Somehow Destroyed (2021), Glimpses - A day in a life (2020), Full Throttle Paradise (2022), Lullaby for Ray (2011), Broke (2014), Henry Buys a Hat (2012), and plays at Edinburgh Fringe (Won: The Stage's Award for Best Acting), 59E59, The New Ohio (Won: NY Innovative Theater Award: Outstanding Performance Art Production), American Repertory Theater (Boston), three national tours, et al. Member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA.
Described as "elegantly constructed" (NY Times), "sensational...incisive" (Rough Cut Cinema), and "terrifically effective" (American Theater Web), Bajou's composing has earned several awards, including a Drama Desk nomination alongside one of her heroes, Philip Glass, and Best Americana Score at the Garden State Film Festival for Glimpses - A day in a life (2020). Her composing/music credits include Broadway's Once, Ken Burns' Prohibition, une expérience américaine (2011), Small Time (2020), Spielberg's Pentagon Papers (2017), Fireworkers (2017), Beneath Disheveled Stars (2014), and Occupy, Texas (2016), award-winning shorts like The Number 2020 Is Somehow Destroyed (2021), Malala (2021), Sentimiento Es La Bomba (2020), Paper Year (2024), klutz. (2019), Starring Austin Pendleton (2016), Henry Buys a Hat (2012), and plays at Labyrinth Theater Co, Edinburgh Fringe, 59E59, PS122, et al. Member: American Federation of Musicians.
Bajou writes plays, screenplays, and poetry. Her full-length play, Poetry, was a Finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. Her feature screenplay adaptation of Poetry is a Quarterfinalist in the 2022 ScreenCraft Film Fund. She co-wrote (and starred in) the feature, Person Woman Man Camera TV (2022) (forthcoming 2022). Her poetry received a 2021 Pushcart Prize nomination, and is featured in Broad River Review, California Quarterly, Heavy Feather Review, SWIMM, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection, I Never Learned to Pray, was Longlisted for the C&R Press Poetry Award and is forthcoming in 2022. Member: The Actor's Studio Playwrights and Directors Unit, The Dramatists Guild.
Raised in a furniture factory town in the NC mountains, she bears the traces of travel across the Americas and Europe, to Venezuela, Turkey, and Iraqi Kurdistan, among other formative places. She now lives in New York City with a bunch of houseplants.
