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IMDbPro

Bethany Rooney(I)

  • Director
  • Producer
  • Additional Crew
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Bethany Rooney
Bethany Rooney began her directing career on the 1980's iconic television show, St. Elsewhere, where she served as Associate Producer. She has since directed more than 250 episodes of prime-time narrative shows, most recently Law & Order, Chicago PD, Law & Order SVU, The Rookie, Criminal Minds Evolution, and Chicago Med.

Bethany also served as Producing Director on two series: Bull and The Originals. She has directed Oscar winners and Emmy contenders Denzel Washington, Hilary Swank, Mariska Hargitay, Angela Bassett, George Clooney, Alfre Woodard, Felicity Huffman, Sally Field, and Robert Downey, Jr., among many others. Her textbook on episodic directing (co-written with Mary Lou Belli,) "Directors Tell the Story," is seen as an authority on the subject and is in use in many university film programs, as well as most of the studio/network diversity education programs.

She has served the Directors Guild of America in numerous ways: as a member of the National Board, co-chair of the Women's Steering Committee and member of the Western Directors Council. She co-created two of the industry's leading diversity director training programs: Warner Bros. (2012) and the DGA's Directors Development Initiative (DDI, 2015.) Teaching rising directors is one of the ways Bethany continues to learn about and love storytelling. Bethany is a wife and mother and lives in Los Angeles.
BornOctober 7, 1956
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornOctober 7, 1956
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 2 nominations total

    Photos15

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    Known for

    Michael Weatherly in The Necklace (2016)
    Bull
    7.1
    TV Series
    • Director
    Criminal Minds (2005)
    Criminal Minds
    8.1
    TV Series
    • Director
    Wilmer Valderrama, Rocky Carroll, Gary Cole, Katrina Law, Sean Murray, Brian Dietzen, and Diona Reasonover in NCIS (2003)
    NCIS
    7.8
    TV Series
    • Director
    Daniel Gillies, Joseph Morgan, Charles Michael Davis, and Claire Holt in The Originals (2013)
    The Originals
    8.2
    TV Series
    • Director

    Credits

    Edit
    IMDbPro

    Director



    • Criminal Minds (2005)
      Criminal Minds
      8.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2013–2025
    • Justin Hartley in Tracker (2024)
      Tracker
      7.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2024–2025
    • Oliver Platt, Steven Weber, Marlyne Barrett, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Jessy Schram in Chicago Med (2015)
      Chicago Med
      7.6
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2021–2024
    • Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
      Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
      8.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2021–2024
    • The Blacklist (2013)
      The Blacklist
      7.9
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2018–2023
    • Jason Beghe, Patrick John Flueger, Marina Squerciati, and LaRoyce Hawkins in Chicago P.D. (2014)
      Chicago P.D.
      8.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2021–2023
    • Tony Goldwyn, Maura Tierney, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Mehcad Brooks, and Odelya Halevi in Law & Order (1990)
      Law & Order
      7.8
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2022–2023
    • The Rookie (2018)
      The Rookie
      8.0
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2022
    • Michael Weatherly in The Necklace (2016)
      Bull
      7.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2018–2022
    • Christopher Meloni in Law & Order: Organized Crime (2021)
      Law & Order: Organized Crime
      7.7
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2021
    • All Rise (2019)
      All Rise
      7.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2021
    • Station 19 (2018)
      Station 19
      7.1
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2020
    • Daniel Gillies, Joseph Morgan, Charles Michael Davis, and Claire Holt in The Originals (2013)
      The Originals
      8.2
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2015–2018
    • Wilmer Valderrama, Rocky Carroll, Gary Cole, Katrina Law, Sean Murray, Brian Dietzen, and Diona Reasonover in NCIS (2003)
      NCIS
      7.8
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2014–2018
    • Scorpion (2014)
      Scorpion
      7.0
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2018

    Producer



    • Michael Weatherly in The Necklace (2016)
      Bull
      7.1
      TV Series
      • co-executive producer
      • 2018–2020
    • Daniel Gillies, Joseph Morgan, Charles Michael Davis, and Claire Holt in The Originals (2013)
      The Originals
      8.2
      TV Series
      • co-executive producer
      • 2017
    • Denzel Washington, Ed Begley Jr., David Morse, Howie Mandel, Cynthia Sikes, Ellen Bry, William Daniels, and Ed Flanders in St. Elsewhere (1982)
      St. Elsewhere
      8.0
      TV Series
      • assistant producer
      • associate producer
      • 1982–1987

    Additional Crew



    • A Little Sex (1982)
      A Little Sex
      4.9
      • assistant: Mr. Paltrow (as Beth Hillshafer)
      • 1982
    • The White Shadow (1978)
      The White Shadow
      8.0
      TV Series
      • assistant to producer
      • assistant to producers
      • assistant to the producers
      • 1978–1981

    Personal details

    Edit
    • Official site
      • professional site
    • Alternative names
      • Beth Rooney Hillshafer
    • Born
      • October 7, 1956
      • Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Has taught Acting for the Camera workshops at the Steppenwolf Theater School West in Los Angeles, California.

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