Of Jewish descent. 2nd of 3 children of a food industry executive who sexually abused her until she was 10, and then physically maltreated her afterwards, subjecting her to beatings with a belt, and throwing her against the wall. Her mother was unaware of the abuse, and she suppressed memories of her traumatic beginnings until her late 30s. Acted out her rage as both a child and adolescent, appearing alternately sad, defiant and angry. Ran away from home regularly as a teen, staying with friends, while keeping a journal of her internal angst, which helped her immensely in dealing with it, and gave her her future pathway of transliterating pain into prose in order to transform and heal it. Turned to both alcohol and drugs to numb herself, while still a teen, and was known as a militant feminist in college. Received a B.A. in English literature from Middlebury College in 1975. Her draw towards self-obliteration continued into her 20s, until she met bartender Richard McDermott, who gave her a place to stay and got her into rehab. In turn, she helped him get sober, and the duo married in 1978. Subsequently adopted his son, actor Dylan McDermott, who was less than a decade her junior. During this period, she spent her time waitressing, protesting and writing.
The Vagina Monologues was written in 1996. First performed in the basement of the Cornelia Street Café in SoHo, The Vagina Monologues has been translated into 45 different languages and performed in over 119 countries. Celebrities who have starred in the play include: Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Idina Menzel, Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon and Oprah Winfrey. Ensler was awarded the Obie Award in 1996 for ‘Best New Play’ and in 1999 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting. She has also received the Berrilla-Kerr Award for Playwriting, the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, and the Jury Award for Theater at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
Ensler has been involved in several films and has appeared on television on Real Time with Bill Maher (August 26, 2005) and Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry (August 12, 2005).
From October 2005 to April 2006, Ensler toured twenty North American cities with her play The Good Body, following engagements on Broadway, at ACT in San Francisco, and in a workshop production at Seattle Repertory Theatre. The Good Body addresses why women of many cultures and backgrounds perceive pressure to change the way they look in order to be accepted in the eyes of society.
Ensler's play, The Treatment debuted on September 12, 2006, at the Culture Project in New York City. This play explores the moral and psychological trauma that are the result of participation in military conflicts. It stars her stepson, Dylan McDermott.
Her latest work is the book "Insecure At Last: Losing It In Our Security-Obsessed World" (Villard; Hardcover; October 3,2006). In Insecure At Last, Ensler gives us her first work written exclusively for the printed page. Insecure At Last explores how people live today, the measures people take to keep themselves safe, and how people can experience freedom by letting go of the deceptive notion of "protection."
Ensler is a prominent anti-violence lesbian activist. In 1998, her experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day raises funds and awareness through annual benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues. In 2008, more than 4000 V-Day events are taking place in 1250 locations in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $60 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 5,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Vagina, Victory and Valentine.
In February 2004, Ensler, alongside Sally Field, Jane Fonda and Christine Lahti, protested to have the Mexican government re-investigate the slayings of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez, a city along the Texas border.
Ensler is a very close supporter of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) and went to Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. She supports Afghani women and has organized many programs to encourage lesbianism among them. She organized one event named the "Afghani Women's Summit For Democracy".
Ensler has led a writing group since 1998 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, which was portrayed in What I Want My Words To Do To You.
She has received numerous awards for her artistic and anti-violence work.
Awards and Honors (Select):
The Vagina Monologues includes a section entitled "The Little Coochie Snorcher that Could". This portion of the play, as originally performed, has been criticized for including a lesbian "rape" scene of a 13-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman who uses alcohol to lower the inhibitions of her victim. At the conclusion of the segment, the narrator (the grown-up thirteen year old girl) fondly reminisces about the rape, claiming that it helped to nurture her and help her grow as a woman, and finishes the play with the line, "If it was rape, it was good rape." The segment received criticism not only for depicting any rape as "good," but also for forming a double standard, as elsewhere in the play, male-on-female rape is depicted as not only inexcusable but the ultimate act of violence against women.
The scene was modified in later performances; the young girl's age was changed to 16, and the "good rape" line was omitted.
Plays
Books
Films
