Owen Kline: Movies, Awards & Filmography

Owen Joseph Kline (born October 14, 1991) is an American filmmaker, actor, and cartoonist best known for his directorial debut Funny Pages (2022) and his memorable performance as Frank Berkman in The Squid and the Whale (2005). He was raised in New York City by celebrated parents—actor Kevin Kline and actress Phoebe Cates—and grew up alongside his younger sister, musician Greta Kline. At age seven he was hospitalized for two weeks and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an experience that shaped his early teen years. Despite early roles in independent films such as The Anniversary Party (2001) and the Baumbach‑directed The Squid and the Whale (2005), he chose to remain in junior high rather than pursue a full‑time acting career. While in high school he co‑edited a comic‑book magazine, produced prank‑call CDs, and self‑published xeroxed zines, demonstrating an early passion for visual storytelling. He later studied illustration and film at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he honed his craft and began working behind the scenes at New York’s Anthology Film Archives. Kline assisted musicologists at the Norton label and Kicks Books, crewed on early Safdie brothers projects, and appeared in their film John’s Gone (2010) as well as in Michael M. Bilandic’s Hellaware (2013) and Jobe’z World (2018). In 2013 he wrote and directed the short comedy Fowl Play, followed by the narrative short Jazzy for Joe (2014), which premiered at BAMcinemaFest 2015. After six years of development, Kline’s first feature, Funny Pages, a black comedy about a teenage cartoonist in Trenton, premiered in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes 2022 and was distributed by A24. In addition to filmmaking, he has contributed archival research for landmark comics texts, created two‑page comics for Bombast journal, and illustrated the 2025 Metrograph publication The Day The Clown Cried: The Unauthorized Disaster.