Women in film
by sofialhansson | created - 02 Jul 2016 | updated - 06 Aug 2016 | Public
1. Lana Wachowski
Writer | The Matrix
Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...
2. Kathryn Bigelow
Director | Zero Dark Thirty
A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...
3. Lynne Ramsay
Director | You Were Never Really Here
Lynne Ramsay was born on December 5, 1969 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK. She is a director and writer, known for You Were Never Really Here (2017), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and Ratcatcher (1999). She was previously married to Rory Stewart Kinnear.
4. Sofia Coppola
Actress | The Godfather Part III
Sofia Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City, New York, USA as Sofia Carmina Coppola. She is a director, known for Somewhere (2010), Lost in Translation (2003), and Marie Antoinette (2006). She has been married to Thomas Mars since August 27, 2011. They have two daughters, Romy and ...
5. Gia Coppola
Director | Palo Alto
Gia Coppola was born on January 1, 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Palo Alto (2013), Mainstream (2020) and Somewhere (2010).
6. Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Cinematographer | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Autumn Durald Arkapaw was born on December 14, 1979 in Ventura, California, USA. She is a cinematographer and director, known for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Loki (2021) and Teen Spirit (2018). She has been married to Adam Arkapaw since 2015. They have one child.
7. Reed Morano
Cinematographer | I Think We're Alone Now
Reed Morano was born on April 15, 1977 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She is known for directing and executive producing the pilot as well as episodes 2 & 3 of 'The Handmaid's Tale' (2017) and directing the feature film, 'Meadowland' (2015), which she also served as her own DP on. She also did double ...
8. Mandy Walker
Cinematographer | Elvis
Mandy Walker was born in Bundoora, Victoria, Australia. Mandy is a cinematographer and producer, known for Elvis (2022), Mulan (2020) and Australia (2008).
9. Catherine Hardwicke
Director | Twilight
Hardwicke's first film as a director was the Sundance winner THIRTEEN which explored the transition into teenage years with an authenticity that still captures young audiences (1.3 billion Tik Tok engagements.) Hardwicke directed LORDS OF DOGTOWN before she became best known as the director of ...
10. Angelina Jolie
Actress | Maleficent
Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...
11. Mary Harron
Director | American Psycho
Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and ...
12. Patty Jenkins
Director | Wonder Woman
Patty Jenkins is a writer/director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of 2017, and her debut feature Monster. Patty also works in television where she is best known for the pilot and finale episode of AMC's hit show The Killing.
Patty began her career as a ...
13. Lexi Alexander
Director | Green Street
Born in Germany, to a Palestinian father and German mother, Lexi Alexander, a former World Kickboxing Champion and USMC close-quarter-combat instructor, worked her way up from stunt woman to Oscar-nominated director with her first short film Johnny Flynton, a drama about a boxer. Eager to learn a ...
14. Kimberly Peirce
Director | Boys Don't Cry
Kimberly Peirce was born on September 8, 1967 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Boys Don't Cry (1999), Stop-Loss (2008) and Carrie (2013).
15. Jodie Foster
Actress | The Silence of the Lambs
Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...
16. Sam Taylor-Johnson
Director | Nowhere Boy
Sam Taylor-Johnson was born on March 4, 1967 in London, England, UK. She is a director and producer, known for Nowhere Boy (2009), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Love You More (2008). She has been married to Aaron Taylor-Johnson since June 21, 2012. They have two children. She was previously ...
17. Susanne Bier
Director | Hævnen
Though Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award winning writer and director Susanne Bier's work often plays out against a wide-reaching global backdrop, its focus is intimate, carefully exploring the explosive emotions and complexities of familial bonds. This unique combination is part of ...
18. Gemma Jackson
Production_designer | Aladdin
Gemma Jackson was born on May 14, 1951 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She is a production designer and art director, known for Aladdin (2019), The Gentlemen (2019) and Game of Thrones (2011). She has been married to Andrew McAlpine since 1982.
19. Kelly Reichardt
Director | Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt was born and raised in Miami-Dade Country, Florida, to a family of police officers. She had an interest in photography from a very young age. She started by using her father's camera, which he used for photographing crime scenes. She went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in ...
20. Ava DuVernay
Writer | Queen Sugar
A director, producer, writer, marketer and film distributor, Ava DuVernay made her feature film debut with the documentary This is the Life (2008), a history on hip hop movement that flourished in Los Angeles in the 1990's. This was followed by series of television music documentaries which ...
21. Julie Taymor
Director | Frida
Julie Taymor is an Academy Award-nominated director, known for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007).
She was born on December 15, 1952, in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Her father, Melvin Lester Taymor, was a gynecologist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bernstein, was a ...
22. Mimi Leder
Producer | The Morning Show
Mimi Leder was born on January 26, 1952 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for The Morning Show (2019), On the Basis of Sex (2018) and Deep Impact (1998). She has been married to Gary Werntz since January 26, 1986. They have one child. She was previously married ...
23. Penelope Spheeris
Director | Suburbia
Spheeris is often referred to as a 'rock 'n roll anthropologist'.
In 1974 she formed the first Los Angeles music video production company, ROCK 'N REEL. She concluded her music video work with the Grammy-nominated, "Bohemian Rhapsody" video for "Wayne's World". Spheeris' feature film debut was the ...
24. Nancy Meyers
Writer | It's Complicated
Nancy Jane Meyers is an American filmmaker. She has written, produced, and directed many critically and commercially successful films including Private Benjamin (1980), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), The Parent ...
25. Debra Granik
Director | Leave No Trace
Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and ...
26. Hannah Fidell
Writer | A Teacher
Hannah Fidell was born on October 7, 1985 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She is a writer and producer, known for A Teacher (2013), A Teacher (2020) and 6 Years (2015). She has been married to Jake Longstreth since September 23, 2017.
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