Lavinia Currier is a filmmaker and producer famous for her movies Passion in the Desert, Oka!, etc. She is also the second daughter of the wealthy and philanthropist couple Stephen Currier and Audrey Bruce Currier. Like her parents, she is also a philanthropist.
However, her parents died when she was just nine years old, which made her and her two siblings an orphan at a very young age. After the death of her parents, she and her siblings got a massive amount of inheritance.
Quick Biography
| Popular Name | Lavinia Currier |
| Real Name | Lavinia Currier |
| Nickname | Vinnie |
| Date of birth | 1957 |
| Age | 0 years old |
| Place of birth | USA |
| Father | Stephen Richard Currier |
| Mother | Audrey Sheila Currier |
| Siblings | Two |
| Sister | Andrea Currier |
| Brother | Michael Stephen Currier |
| Status | Married |
| Spouse | Joel McCleary |
| Children | One |
| Son | Not disclosed |
| Occupation | Producer, filmmaker, writer, and philanthropist |
| Net worth | 200 Million USD |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White Caucasian |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Zodiac | Unknown |
| Height | Unknown |
| Weight | Unknown |
| Measurement | Unknown |
| Hair color | Blonde |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Complexion | Fair |
Lavinia Currier Net Worth
Currier belongs to a wealthy family on both sides of her parents. She, along with her siblings, not only inherited the vast properties of the Currier family from their father’s side, but they also got an inheritance from the Bruce and Mellon family from their mother’s side.
After the death of their parents, the whole inheritance got divided into three equal portions for the three siblings. In 2007, each sibling got 200 Million USD. It made them the youngest billionaires on the Forbes list.
Lavinia’s Personal Life, Parents, And Family
The famous director of Oak! was born in a wealthy family. Her father, Stephen, was the heir of a distinguished Irish Jewish family, while her mother, Audrey, was the heir of the Bruce and the Mellon family.
Audrey was the daughter of ambassador David E. Bruce. She was also the granddaughter of Andrew W. Mellon, who was an industrialist and a philanthropist.
Though both of her parents were from the upper class, her mother was richer than her father. This created complications between the Currier and Bruce families. SO, her parents eloped and got married in 1955.
After getting married, they started working as a philanthropist. They eventually had three children, Lavinia, her elder sister Andrea and her younger brother, Michael.
Everything was going fine until the airplane which carried her parents disappeared in the Bermuda triangle. The plane was flying from Puerto Rico to Virgin island. Livinia was just nine years old when this happened.
After her parents died, John Simon and his wife Claire Simon, a close friend of their parents, got custody. John was a professor at Yale Law School.
The Simon couple looked after the three siblings and even took care of their inheritance. They made sure that the Currier siblings were safe.
Lavinia remembers that she and her siblings were not that close to their parents as her parents traveled a lot. But she was grateful for all the legacies that she got from her parents, especially the philanthropist ideology.
Lavinia, along with her siblings, followed the footsteps of their parents and turned into a philanthropist. Her elder sister Andrea took over the Kinloch and worked as a preservationist and environmentalist.
Even her younger brother Michael was a philanthropist and worked as the manager of an economic development fund for the exiled Tibetan community. However, he died on September 16, 1998, due to an injury from a fall in Santa Fe.
Even though her brother was dead, she alone was working for the Tibetan refugees. During this time, Livinia was friends with His Holiness Dalai Lama, who educated her on Buddist Tibetans. She was even in his inner circle.
It was His holiness who introduced her to her husband, Joel McCleary. McCleary was also an activist who was fighting for a similar cause.
Soon after, Livinia married McCleary, and they had a son together. Currently, Lavinia lives in Molokai, Central pacific, with her family.
INTERESTING READ: Biography of the third wife of American writer, producer, and director Chuck Lorre.
Lavinia Currier Husband and Relationship
Currier has been happily married to an activist, Joel McCleary. McCleary was also friends with His Holiness Dalai Lama and was contributing to the Tibetan cause.
His Holiness was the one who introduced these two. During his award ceremony for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, His Holiness took Currier’s hand and placed it on McCleary’s hand.
Before marrying Currier, McCleary conducted political campaigns in countries like South America, Europe, Africa, etc., as the international division head of the Sawyer-Miller group.
He also worked in the Democratic National Committee as its treasurer. He even worked as the Political Affairs Deputy Assistant for President Carter.
Education
Since the Currier family were well off from many generations and in the past, wealth was equal to power. So, Lavinia got educated in renowned institutes.
She did her schooling at one of the renowned schools in New York. After completing high school, Currier joined Harvard University for her bachelor’s degree. She was even a member of the class of 1979.
When it was time to write her senior thesis, she wanted to incorporate religion with environmental studies. But the academic authorities opposed this idea. Because of this, Lavinia dropped out of the university without her degree.
After this, she did not return to getting a formal education. However, she did join the Neighbourhood playhouse to study theatre.
Career
Currier started her career right after she dropped out of her University. She, along with her close friends, moved to Paris to open their own theatre company. They bought a mansion and started organizing talent shows weekly in its auditorium.
After staying in Paris for a while, she moved to New York to study theatre under Sanford Meisner. After taking a few lessons, she realized that she sucked in acting.
However, she got this clear idea that she loved directing. She started working as a director in plays. Now, since she knew what she wanted to do, she started taking it seriously.
She even worked for Ismail Merchant and James Ivory and learned a thing or two about directing cinemas from their productions.
When she felt she was ready, she leaped to direct Heart of the Garden, which won the Gold Eagle Cine Award. She then directed her famous movies Passion in the Desert and Oka!
Along with her career in the film industry, Currier also took her philanthropy side by side. She established a 10 Million USD Sacharuna Foundation, which funded the natural resources safeguarding organization.
To this day, Currier has been an active environmentalist as well as a philanthropist.
