Zeta Eloise Fontaine (born May 7th, 1986) is an American film producer, best known for producing the films Zero Dark Thirty, Her and American Hustle, all of which have earned her Oscar nominations. She is also, alongside fellow producer Bonnie Rutherford, a co-founder of Sette Belleze Films, established in 2011. In 2014, TIME placed both Fontaine and Rutherford on its list of "100 Most Influential People in the World" - Pioneers.
EARLY LIFE
Zeta is the daughter of Dr. Irwin Fontaine, an American surgeon known for performing the first full pancreas transplant in 1987, and Dr. Loretta Fontaine, a theoretical physicist currently serving on President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She was born in Pepper Pike, Ohio, just hours after Dr. Fontaine had given a commencement address at Ursuline College, but raised in the wealthy suburb of San Anselmo, CA.
She attended a number of private schools in childhood, but ultimately graduated from Drake High School before attending the University of Southern California. After earning her BFA in Film, Fontaine went on to attend the prestigious American Film Institute Conservatory, where she earned her MFA in Producing. It was there that she met future ex-girlfriend and business partner Bonnie Rutherford; the pair would go on to found Sette Bellezze a few short years later.
CAREER
Though she sat at the helm of numerous projects throughout her college years, Fontaine's first film of note was 2007's Waking Madison, in which a woman tries to cure her dissociative identity disorder through starvation. She and Rutherford were the only financiers for the film, which had a reported budget of $2 million. It had a warm reception at the Newport Beach Film Festival, but was ultimately given a straight-to-DVD release with little fanfare.
After a few more years spent trying to break into the industry, Fontaine managed to make a name for herself with 2010's reimaginaton of True Grit. Directed by the Coen brothers, the film was a success both commercially and critically, and cemented both Fontaine and Rutherford as forces to be reckoned with. It also inspired the pair to establish a company, named Sette Bellezze after the Lina Wurtmeller film. Several notable films followed, including but not limited to Paul Thomas Anderson's cult drama The Master, John Hillcoat's Lawless, and Zero Dark Thirty, the critically-acclaimed action-thriller about the manhunt for and subsequent killing of Osama Bin Laden.
In 2014, Fontaine & Rutherford made history by becoming the first women and the fourth and fifth people to receive two best picture Academy Award nominations in the same year when they were nominated for both American Hustle and Her. That same year, the pair were included in the Advocate's annual "40 Under 40" list.
PERSONAL LIFE
Though she is notoriously private, Fontaine has made several references to business partner Bonnie Rutherford as her ex-girlfriend. She has also been seen wearing a red string, most notably associated with Kabbalah, though she has not confirmed its religious significance.
Fontaine is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.