Lisa Cholodenko is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker and a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program in film. Her debut feature, HIGH ART, won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, and earned several Independent Spirit Award nominations. She followed with LAUREL CANYON (2002), starring Frances McDormand and Christian Bale, which premiered at Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight. Cholodenko’s best-known film, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010), was a critical and commercial breakthrough. It received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

In television, Cholodenko directed the acclaimed HBO limited series OLIVE KITTERIDGE, starring Frances McDormand, which won eight Emmy Awards including Outstanding Directing for Cholodenko—and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for Directing. She also directed and executive-produced Netflix’s UNBELIEABLE, a sharp, compassionate portrayal of a real-life sexual assault investigation, which won the Peabody Award. Most recently, she executive-produced and directed Hulu’s THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE, starring Elle Fanning.

Beyond her directing work, Cholodenko has served as an advisor at the Sundance Institute’s International Film Labs, mentoring emerging filmmakers from Latin America and Southern Europe. She is currently adapting Joan Didion’s THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING for HBO and developing additional projects for film and television. A native Angeleno, Cholodenko divides her time between Los Angeles and New York.