HELLO!
I’m the daughter of a fierce Colombian immigrant mom and a basketball-player-turned used-car-salesman-turned child-psychologist father. It’s a lot. Believe me, I know. I grew up in Evanston, Illinois and got my BFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
After graduating from DePaul I worked at places like Steppenwolf Theatre Company and on television shows like ER. In 2000 I moved to LA like all my classmates because I was sure it was time to be a famous actor. Instead, because life is wonderful and weird, I ended up spending my twenties working for Nicolas Cage’s production company, Saturn Films. After losing my dad in 2006 to an opioid overdose (I know, it’s intense, but it happened) I moved back to Chicago where I got an MA in Counseling Psych and began working as a therapist for folks recently released from federal prison. It was challenging and rewarding work—I loved my clients. But when one of them threw a stapler at my head, I began to rethink things.
In 2012, after losing my ma to cancer (again, I know a bummer, but this is real life) I wrote and performed a one person show about love, death, and my time working for Nic Cage. Why Not Me enjoyed two successful runs in Chicago and was the breakout hit of The NYC Fringe Festival. The show relaunched me as an actor and was an unexpected way to connect with other folks who were also working through grief and loss.
In 2013 I began studying writing in earnest. I took screenwriting classes, essay writing classes, and even took classes on how to write for professional wrestling. I loved it all, but it became clear my ultimate jam is writing for television and film. I have been fortunate to have amazing screenwriting mentors like Jamie Pachino (So Help Me Todd), Dawn Comer Jefferson (Our Friend, Martin), and Stacy Traub (Daisy Jones & The Six) as I continue to be a student of the craft.
I am committed to telling stories about complex people, especially folks whose voices aren’t normally heard who face insurmountable odds and are forced to make impossible choices, often with hilarious and heartbreaking results. I am obsessed with the ideas of resilience, forgiveness, and redemption. I also love a good old-fashioned comedy of errors.
My work in Hollywood, as well as being a therapist, highly informs my writing, which gives me a clear and powerful voice that I think needs to be heard. I have lived a real life. And I am not alone. There are so many creators who, due to need or want—or both, have had a million life experiences in addition to being artists, and like…you should hire us all to work on your television/film projects. If you don’t believe me, listen to what my amazing mentor, showrunner/writer, Stacy Traub, has to say about me. Trust her—she’s from Canada.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Jen through a mentorship program. I had about thirty women requesting to be mentored by me, and I picked Jen based on her clever and witty answers on her application. I definitely made the right decision. I have enjoyed helping Jen write a pilot as well as learning so many things from Jen. She is funny and irreverent, besides being an amazing writer who’s so in tune to the characters around her. Jen’s voice is specific and also universal.”
Stacy Traub
In 2024, I began writing children’s content after being accepted into the prestigious Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room program. I did not expect to, but I adore writing for kids. It’s a wonderful way to combine my background as a mental health professional, my love of social impact writing, and my intense passion for creating a legacy of kindness, bravery, and humor in my wake. I am currently in development on a number of television, film, and podcast projects in the kids space and I cannot wait to see where they take me.
Things are tough. They just are. But also, there is hope. So much hope. And laughter. This is the hill I am willing to croak on. The Hope, Laughter, and Kindness Hill. Come join me on this hill. It’s a good hill. You are needed.
Vamos. Onward.
Jen Bosworth-Ramirez