Carrie Brownstein

Carrie Brownstein (born September 27, 1974), is an American musician and actress. She is a guitarist and vocalist in the indefinitely hiatused Portland, Oregon based band Sleater-Kinney.

Brownstein grew up in Seattle, Washington. After attending Western Washington University for a short time, she transferred to Evergreen State College and graduated with a degree in Sociolinguistics. After graduation, she stayed in Olympia for seven years before moving to Portland, Oregon. She later moved to Berkeley, California to attend graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, but dropped out and returned to Portland after six months. She is currently still living in Portland.

Before Sleater-Kinney, she was in the band Excuse 17. It was while in this band that she met Corin Tucker, who was in the band Heavens to Betsy. the two bands played together and both contributed to the Free to Fight compilation; as Sleater-Kinney they released the Free to Fight split single with Cypher in the Snow. As a side project, she created The Spells with Mary Timony. She also had a role in the short film “Fan Mail” as well as “Group” and the Miranda July film “Getting Stronger Everyday”.