Adrienne Shelly (June 24, 1966 – November 1, 2006), was an American actress, director and screenwriter. She became known for roles in independent films such as 1989's The Unbelievable Truth. In late 2006 Shelly was the married mother of an infant daughter and was waiting to see if her film Waitress, would be accepted for the Sundance festival. On November 1, 2006, Shelly was found dead, hanging in the shower of her Greenwich Village work studio apartment. The initial examination of the scene did not reveal any suspicious circumstances, and police apparently believed it to be a suicide. Her husband insisted she would never have taken her own life, and brought about a re-examination of the bathroom that disclosed a suspect footprint. Police arrested a construction worker, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who confessed to killing Shelly and making it look as if she had committed suicide. Shelly's husband established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which awards scholarships, production grants, finishing funds and living stipends to artists. In her honor, the Women Film Critics Circle gives an annual Adrienne Shelly Award to the film that it finds "most passionately opposes violence against women.

Biography

Shelly, who took her professional surname after her late father's given name, was married to Andrew Ostroy, the chairman and CEO of the marketing firm Belardi/Ostroy. They had a daughter, Sophie (born 2003), who was two years old at the time of her mother's death. Shelly described herself as an "optimistic agnostic."