Lisa Cholodenko

Lisa Cholodenko is an American screenwriter and director. Cholodenko wrote and directed the films High Art, Laurel Canyon (2002), and The Kids Are All Right (2010). She has also directed television, including the miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014) and Unbelievable (2019). She has been nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe and has won an Emmy and a DGA Award.

Early life and education Cholodenko is from the San Fernando Valley, and grew up in a liberal Jewish family. Her paternal grandfather emigrated from USSR.

Cholodenko received a BA in anthropology and ethnic studies from San Francisco State University, where she was a teaching assistant for Angela Davis. In the early 1990s, she was an apprentice editor on John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood. While at Columbia, Cholodenko wrote and directed a number of short films, including Souvenir (1994) and Dinner Party (1997), which won the British Film Institute's Channel 4 TX prize and aired on UK, French, and Swiss television.

Career Film

High Art (1998) While at Columbia, Cholodenko wrote and directed her feature film debut High Art. High Art won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the National Society of Film Critics award for Ally Sheedy's performance. premiered at Cannes Director's Fortnight and was distributed by October Films.

Laurel Canyon (2002) Her next film Laurel Canyon, starring Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, and Kate Beckinsale, premiered at Cannes Director's Fortnight. It was nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards and was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

Cavedweller (2004) Cholodenko directed the 2004 film Cavedweller for Showtime. It earned Independent Spirit Award nominations for cast members Kyra Sedgwick and Aidan Quinn.

The Kids are All Right (2010) Cholodenko next co-wrote and directed The Kids Are All Right. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film was nominated for another 3 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won a Golden Globe for Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. Filmed in 23 days, Cholodenko directed the film on a $3.5 million budget, a much smaller amount than her fellow 2011 Oscar nominees. The film was made with three different sources of equity financing, with Focus Features picking up the film for distribution.

Television In 2014, Cholodenko directed the HBO four-part mini-series Olive Kitteridge starring Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins. Olive Kitteridge is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth Strout. Bill Murray, Jesse Plemons, Zoe Kazan, and John Gallagher Jr. co-starred. Olive Kitteridge premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The show received widespread critical acclaim when it premiered on television in November. It received three Golden Globe nominations, and Cholodenko received a Directors Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for her work on the miniseries.

In 2018, Cholodenko was an executive producer and directed the first three episodes of Netflix's limited series Unbelievable. Based on the 2015 news article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" written by Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong,

Cholodenko directed and executive produced the first two episodes of the Hulu series The Girl from Plainville, starring Elle Fanning.

Personal life Cholodenko has a son with musician Wendy Melvoin.

Filmography Short film Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes1994 Crawl Souvenir 1997 Dinner Party Also editor

Feature film Year Title Director Writer 1998 High Art 2002 Laurel Canyon 2004 Cavedweller 2010 The Kids Are All Right

TV Year Title Director ExecutiveProducer Notes 1999 Homicide: Life on the Street Episode "The Same Coin" 2001 Six Feet Under Episode "Familia" 2002 Push, Nevada Episode "The Letter of the Law" 2005 The L Word Episode "Lynch Pin" 2010 Hung Episode "Beaverland" 2014 Olive Kitteridge Episodes "Pharmacy", "Incoming Tide", "A Different Road" and "Security" 2015 The Slap Episode "Hector" 2018 Here and Now Episodes "Fight, Death" and "Wake" 2019 Unbelievable 3 episodes 2022 The Girl from Plainville Episode "Star-Crossed Lovers and Things Like That"

Awards and nominations

2010: Women in Film, Dorothy Arzner Directors Award 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, Best Screenplay for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg 2011: Writers Guild of America, Best Original Screenplay (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg