Next Gen 2012: Hollywood's Fastest-Rising Stars

One of the most well-liked young studio lawyers, the Long Island native and University of Pennsylvania grad is responsible for the dealmaking on New Line's upcoming Bryan Singer tentpole Jack the Giant Slayer and the Harold & Kumar franchise. After a 2006 trip to Sundance, the married mom-to-be, 35, (she's eight months pregnant) left her N.Y. law firm to join the Hollywood studio.

INDUSTRY MENTOR: New Line's Carolyn Blackwood. My unofficial mentor is Stacey Snider. I say unofficial because we've never met, but she is a law school graduate who oversees creative and financial aspects of films she loves. And she's a mom. Swoon.

BIG BREAK: When I was at Stroock [a corporate firm], I stalked everyone I knew in the entertainment business. I called a professor at NYU who told me that her Manhattan firm was looking for an associate.

BEST ADVICE: "I'd rather beg forgiveness than seek permission." It's a popular proverb, but I read it in a interview with Robert Downey Jr. It was pretty badass.

10 YEARS FROM NOW: I hope to be running my own film company, where I can broker financing and distribution deals for projects of my choosing.

CAN'T-MISS TV: American Horror Story. I get to be terrified weekly.

MOVIE FIX: Wet Hot American Summer. It's one of the funniest movies ever made. This is not an opinion, it's fact.

WORST DAY: Monday after a less-than-stellar New Line opening weekend.

BEST DAY: When I closed a nudity rider after a lengthy negotiation and didn't have to say "butt cleavage."