Christina McDowell (Born March 14, 1985) is an American author,
actress, and filmmaker, best known for her debut novel, After
Perfect.McDowell was born on March 14, 1985, in Washington, D.C., to
Gayle L. (née McDowell) Prousalis (B.A., University of California at
Los Angeles) and Thomas T. Prousalis, Jr. (A.B., A.M., J.D., William &
Mary) a prominent Washington, D.C., securities attorney and former
decorated Air Force fighter pilot. McDowell had a privileged
upbringing as the middle of three sisters, and the family resided in
the wealthy, Washington, D.C., suburb of McLean, Virginia around the
corner from "Hickory Hill," the well-known Kennedy Estate. McDowell
was an honors graduate of St Andrew's Episcopal High School a private
school in suburban Washington, D.C. McDowell attended Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles, but did not graduate, withdrawing from the
university after her freshman year due to her father's legal troubles,
resulting in her family's financial collapse.On December 26, 2013,
McDowell penned an op-ed for the LA Weekly criticizing the Hollywood
film The Wolf of Wall Street and lambasting Leonardo DiCaprio and
Martin Scorsese for glorifying greed and "psychopathic behavior" that
destroyed families like her own. Her LA Weekly op-ed went viral
receiving more than 3.7 million page views and generating
international coverage, including a piece in The Guardian calling
international attention to her personal strife and family drama. Less
than a month after McDowell's op-ed was initially published, several
publishing houses expressed interest in McDowell writing a novel about
the events of her life, her father's legal troubles, and her
subsequent downward spiral.Her 2015 memoir, After Perfect, details her
family's implosion and her personal experience with poverty,
depression, drug addiction, and redemption. One critic wrote that it
was "a brutally honest, cautionary tale about one family's destruction
in the wake of the Wall Street implosion," and it has also been
described as "a rare, insider's perspective on the collateral damage
of a fall from grace". The book was listed as a must-read in
publications and digital journals including the Village Voice,
PopSugar, Oprah's O magazine, and People Magazine. In numerous
interviews, McDowell discusses the transformative power of writing and
how crafting her memoir was a form of catharsis in the wake of much
pain and loss.
actress, and filmmaker, best known for her debut novel, After
Perfect.McDowell was born on March 14, 1985, in Washington, D.C., to
Gayle L. (née McDowell) Prousalis (B.A., University of California at
Los Angeles) and Thomas T. Prousalis, Jr. (A.B., A.M., J.D., William &
Mary) a prominent Washington, D.C., securities attorney and former
decorated Air Force fighter pilot. McDowell had a privileged
upbringing as the middle of three sisters, and the family resided in
the wealthy, Washington, D.C., suburb of McLean, Virginia around the
corner from "Hickory Hill," the well-known Kennedy Estate. McDowell
was an honors graduate of St Andrew's Episcopal High School a private
school in suburban Washington, D.C. McDowell attended Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles, but did not graduate, withdrawing from the
university after her freshman year due to her father's legal troubles,
resulting in her family's financial collapse.On December 26, 2013,
McDowell penned an op-ed for the LA Weekly criticizing the Hollywood
film The Wolf of Wall Street and lambasting Leonardo DiCaprio and
Martin Scorsese for glorifying greed and "psychopathic behavior" that
destroyed families like her own. Her LA Weekly op-ed went viral
receiving more than 3.7 million page views and generating
international coverage, including a piece in The Guardian calling
international attention to her personal strife and family drama. Less
than a month after McDowell's op-ed was initially published, several
publishing houses expressed interest in McDowell writing a novel about
the events of her life, her father's legal troubles, and her
subsequent downward spiral.Her 2015 memoir, After Perfect, details her
family's implosion and her personal experience with poverty,
depression, drug addiction, and redemption. One critic wrote that it
was "a brutally honest, cautionary tale about one family's destruction
in the wake of the Wall Street implosion," and it has also been
described as "a rare, insider's perspective on the collateral damage
of a fall from grace". The book was listed as a must-read in
publications and digital journals including the Village Voice,
PopSugar, Oprah's O magazine, and People Magazine. In numerous
interviews, McDowell discusses the transformative power of writing and
how crafting her memoir was a form of catharsis in the wake of much
pain and loss.
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