Zoe Lister-Jones hard launched her new queer relationship by walking the Independent Spirit Awards red carpet with her boo, queer and nonbinary director Sammi Cohen. The two are a match made in film heaven. Lister-Jones created and starred in the queer sci-fi comedy series Slip, and Cohen recently directed Crush and You’re So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah.
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After the awards, Lister-Jones told The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m here, I’m queer, I have some fear, but I’m working through it.”
Lister-Jones spoke about her relationship after being asked about the Spirit Award’s gender-neutral categories.
“I’m so grateful to Film Independent for really being pioneers in that area. All award shows should follow in their footsteps and make categories genderless. I’m dating a nonbinary person. I’m friends with so many nonbinary people. And I think that without really shifting the paradigm in a larger way, it’s closing a lot of doors for really important voices,” she said.
To be fair, Lister-Jones did drop a not-so-subtle hint that she is queer on Instagram back in July with a caption that read “queer ultimatum #happypride.”
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Subsequently, she was a guest on the famously lesbian podcast Two Dykes and A Mic where she referred to herself as a “freebird” and then seemingly insinuated she was a “baby queer.”
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Lister-Jones was previously married to filmmaker Daryl Wein for 17 years before filing for divorce in 2022 due to “irreconcilable differences.” You may recognize her from her many acting credits, including an appearance on New Girl as Fawn Moscato, a city councilwoman who dates Schmidt (who reminds us of the last man every lesbian dates before coming out).
Despite her feeling of freedom, she recognizes the challenges of Hollywood today. “It’s always liberating in that I can create my own work, which is exciting,” she told THR. “[But] it’s requiring a different grind and hustle right now that even for those of us who have been making micro budget independent things forever, it does feel like we got to step up the game even more to break through.”
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