Diablo Cody Bio
Brook Maurio (born June 14, 1978), known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer recognized for her sharp dialogue and unconventional coming-of-age stories. She first gained attention through her candid blog and her 2005 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, before breaking into film with the widely celebrated screenplay for Juno (2007). For that debut feature, she won both the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Across her career, Cody has written and produced a string of distinctive films and television projects, including Jennifer’s Body (2009), Young Adult (2011), Ricki and the Flash (2015), and Tully (2018). She also created the Showtime series United States of Tara and the Amazon Prime series One Mississippi, and made her Broadway debut with the musical Jagged Little Pill, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
Early Life and Background
Diablo Cody was born Brook Busey on June 14, 1978, in Lemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, where she and her older brother Marc were raised. She is the daughter of Pam and Greg Busey; her mother is of Italian descent and her father is of German ancestry. Cody was raised in the Apostolic Christian tradition and attended Saints Cyril & Methodius School and Benet Academy, both Roman Catholic schools in the Chicago suburbs.
At this stage of her life, she went by her birth name, Brook. In 2000, she graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in Media. While studying there, she worked in the acquisitions department of the main university library, an early experience that introduced her to media research and storytelling in a structured environment.
Her first jobs after college included secretarial work at a Chicago law firm and later proofreading copy for advertisements that aired on Twin Cities radio stations. These positions gave her a steady income while she explored creative pursuits on her own time and eventually laid the groundwork for her move toward writing.
Path to Screenwriting
Cody began a parody blog called Red Secretary, which detailed the fictional exploits of a secretary living in Belarus, with the events serving as thinly veiled allegories for her own life. She later launched a more personal blog under the nickname Darling Girl after relocating from Chicago to Minneapolis. In March 2003, she started an adult blog called The Pussy Ranch, using a pen name she invented while speeding through Cody, Wyoming, listening to the song “El Diablo” by Arcadia.
On a whim, Cody signed up for amateur night at a Minneapolis strip club called the Skyway Lounge, enjoyed the experience, and eventually quit her day job to become a full-time stripper. She also spent time working peep shows at Sex World, a Minneapolis adult novelty and DVD store. While still stripping, she began writing for City Pages, an alternative Twin Cities weekly newspaper, and later wrote for the now-defunct magazine Jane.
Her writing caught the attention of Mason Novick, who became her manager. With Novick’s encouragement, she wrote her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, which was published in 2005. After completing the book, Novick pushed her to try writing a screenplay, setting her on the path to her film career.
Diablo Cody Career
Early Career (2005–2006)
Following the publication of Candy Girl, Cody appeared on “Late Show With David Letterman” in March 2005 to discuss her book, which host David Letterman had selected as his only official Book Club pick. The exposure helped raise her profile and gave her the confidence to attempt a screenplay.
Within months, she wrote Juno, a coming-of-age story about a teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy. The script was completed in February 2005 and was optioned by Mandate Pictures that summer, with Jason Reitman attached to direct and Elliot Page and Michael Cera in the leading roles.
Breakthrough (2007–2010)
Juno premiered to widespread critical praise, earning four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and winning Cody the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film also won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, a Golden Globe nomination, an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, and honors from the Writers Guild of America, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and the Satellite Awards.
Building on that momentum, Cody sold additional scripts in quick order, including Girly Style to Universal Studios and the horror project Jennifer’s Body to Fox Atomic. In 2007, Showtime announced it would produce a pilot of her DreamWorks television series, United States of Tara, an idea developed with Steven Spielberg that starred Toni Collette as a mother with dissociative identity disorder.
The success of the Juno script, which had been widely read in Hollywood before the film’s release, opened doors across the industry. By 2009, Jennifer’s Body had reached theaters, and United States of Tara had premiered, cementing Cody’s reputation as one of the most distinctive new voices in American film and television.
Notable Works and Milestones
Cody’s signature works include Juno, Jennifer’s Body, Young Adult, Ricki and the Flash, Tully, and Lisa Frankenstein, each of which she wrote and often produced. Her career-defining moments include winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, making her directorial debut with Paradise (2013), and earning the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Jagged Little Pill.
Diablo Cody Award Nominations
Diablo Cody has received numerous nominations across her career in film, television, and theater. Her work on Juno brought Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations, while her screenplay for Young Adult earned recognition from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Writers Guild of America. She has also been honored alongside fellow screenwriters as part of collaborative groups that advocate for women in Hollywood.
Diablo Cody Awards Won
Cody has won several of the entertainment industry’s most prestigious awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, both for Juno. She later won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for the Broadway production of Jagged Little Pill, which premiered in November 2019 and featured the music of Alanis Morissette.
Diablo Cody Family
Cody was raised in Lemont, Illinois, by her parents, Pam and Greg Busey, alongside her older brother, Marc. She is of Italian descent on her mother’s side and of German ancestry on her father’s side. Her parents supported her upbringing in the Apostolic Christian faith and in Roman Catholic schools in the Chicago suburbs.
Personal Life
Cody was married to Jon Hunt from 2004 until 2007, and during that marriage she was known in her personal life as Brook Busey-Hunt. In 2009, she married Dan Maurio, who worked on Chelsea Lately, a show on which Cody frequently appeared as a roundtable guest. Together, they have three sons, born in 2010, 2012, and 2015.
Outside of her professional life, Cody is a roller-coaster enthusiast and has a tattoo of the Giant Dipper at San Diego’s Belmont Park on her right arm. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Writer’s Branch, having joined in 2008, and continues to be a leading voice in contemporary American screenwriting.