Top Women in Television: Directors

In our continuing series of Top Women in Television Behind the Camera, this week’s salute is for the Top Women Directors:

Bethany Rooney – One of the most prominent directors in the field is Bethany Rooney who has been a working director for 27 years. She started out in the early 1980’s with shows such as St. Elsewhere, China Beach, Dear John, Beauty & the Beast and The Wonder Years. She had multi-episode gigs with Dream On, Sisters, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place in the early 90’s. She then directed several Danielle Steel movies, including Mixed Blessings, Full Circle and Remembrance. She finished off the 90’s with director work on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Jack & Jill. Throughout the early 2000’s she oversaw direction on Ally McBeal, Dawson’s Creek, Boston Public, Soul Food and Joan of Arcadia. In the last few years she has directed episodes of shows like Everwood, One Tree Hill, Crossing Jordan, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, Las Vegas and The Starter Wife. Her most recent work has included Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty, Eli Stone, In Plain Sight, Weeds and Desperate Housewives.

Sarah Pia Anderson – Sharing in the 27 years of directing along with Bethany Rooney is Sarah Pia Anderson who started out directing for BBC2 and several UK productions. Jumping across the pond in the late 90’s, she directed episodes for shows such as ER and Profiler. Throughout the early part of the 2000’s she directed for shows like Strong Medicine, The District, Gilmore Girls, Dark Angel, Ally McBeal, Ed, Dead Like Me, Veronica Mars, Related and Huff. In the last few years she has directed episodes of Ugly Betty, What About Brian, Women’s Murder Club, October Road, 90210 and Eureka.

Arlene Sanford – For the past 25 years, Arlene Sanford has been a working director in the industry, starting with episodes from shows such as Designing Women, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Dear John, Sisters and Newhart. Her first multi-episode directing gig came in the form of the series Dream On followed by The Torkelsons and Almost Home. In the mid-90’s she directed episodes of Friends, Caroline in the City and The Naked Truth. Throughout the early 2000’s, she directed for shows such as The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, Ed, Once and Again, Kevin Hill and Weeds. She again had multi-episode gigs with Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Everwood and Desperate Housewives. In the last few years, she has directed episodes of show like Pepper Dennis, Everybody Hates Chris, Psych, Monk, Lipstick Jungle, The Starter Wife and Grey’s Anatomy. Her recent multi-episode gigs include Boston Legal, My Boys and Medium.

Lesli Linka Glatter – Just like Arlene Sanford, Lesli Linka Glatter has been a director for the past 25 years with some of her first work in Stephen Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and then Twin Peaks. She then directed episodes for shows such as NYPD Blue, Murder One and Brooklyn South. Early in the 2000’s she directed episodes of Freaks and Geeks, Third Watch, Gilmore Girls, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The West Wing. Some of her more recent work includes The Closer, Heroes, Journeyman, The Starter Wife and House. She had a multi-episode gig on ER and most recently directed episodes of shows such as Lie to Me, The Mentalist, Weeds, The Unit and Mad Men.

Mimi Leder – For the past 22 years, Mimi Leder has been a working director in the industry. She started out directing episodes of L.A. Law, Midnight Caller and then landed multiple episodes of China Beach. She directed the box office movies Pay It Forward, The Peacemaker and Deep Impact. She then returned to television to direct multi-episodes of John Doe, Vanished and ER. And, she is currently directing Jax of Heart with Hayden Christensen and Djimon Hounsou.

Elodie Keene – For just over 15 years, Elodie Keene has made a name for herself as a director, starting with 18 episodes of Law & Order. Over the course of the next six years, she directed such as My So-Called Life, ER, Murder One, NYPD Blue, The Practice, Any Day Now, Ally McBeal, Charmed, Popular and Felicity. Since 2000, she has been busy directed episodes for shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Scrubs, American Dreams, Judging Amy, Boston Public, The Wire, Joan of Arcadia, Medium, Related, Criminal Minds, House, State of Mind and Big Shots. Her most recent directorial work has included multi-episodes of Nip/Tuck, The Closer and Life as well as episodes of Dollhouse and Saving Grace.

Martha Mitchell – Martha has been a director for 14 years, starting out with episodes of Courthouse, Strange Luck, Prey, Timecop and The Practice. In the latter part of the 90’s she directed multi-episodes of Promised Land and Chicago Hope as well as episodes for shows like Now and Again and Charmed. Starting in the early 2000’s she directed The Guardian, Strong Medicine, The Division and The Education of Max Bickford. She also had multi-episodes gigs on Law & Order and Judging Amy. In recent years she has overseen the direction of Joan of Arcadia, Numb3rs, Veronica Mars, Jericho, House and NCIS. Most recently she has directed multiple episodes of Without A Trace and The Mentalist.

Mary Lou Belli – She got her first break directing a couple episodes of Charles in Charge back in 1988 then a decade later she shifted to Sister, Sister followed by multi-episodes of One World, The Hughleys and Eve. In the mid 2000’s she directed numerous episodes of shows like One on One and Living with Fran. Her most recent directorial work has been on Girlfriends and The Game.

Karen Gaviola – Working as a director for the past 10 years, Karen Gaviola has overseen episodes of NYPD Blue, Providence, Strong Medicine, Cold Case, CSI: NY, Close to Home, Crossing Jordan, Bones, Alias, The Unit, Lincoln Heights, Lost, Law & Order and Journeyman. In the last few years she has directed episodes for shows such as Eleventh Hour, Brothers & Sisters, Without A Trace, Prison Break and CSI: Miami. Her most recent directorial work has been on Ghost Whisperer, Lie to Me and Criminal Minds.

Joanna Kerns – One of the more successful actress-turned-director is Joanna Kerns, who in 1992 directed her own show Growing Pains. From there she directed episodes for shows such as Suddenly Susan, Clueless, Boston Public, Ally McBeal, Judging Amy, Ally McBeal and Felicity. She has also directed for Dawson’s Creek, Strong Medicine, The Division, One Tree Hill, Joan of Arcadia and Related. In the last 5 years, she has overseen episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Scrubs, ER, Medium, Psych, Men in Trees, Privileged, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Her most recent work includes Samantha Who? and Army Wives.

Roxann Dawson – Actress Roxann Dawson has followed suit like Joanna Kerns and become a director. She started out with episodes of Star Trek: Voyager then moved on to Any Day Now, Charmed and The Division. She later had a multi-episode gigs with Enterprise and Crossing Jordan with directing Close to Home, Lost, Heroes and The O.C. in between. Most recently she has directed episodes of The Closer and Cold Case.

Gloria Muzio – Gloria has been a director for the past 9 years, starting out on shows such as Son of the Beach, Oz, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, The Wire, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Presidio Med, Ed, The Dead Zone, Joan of Arcadia, Law and Order and CSI: Miami. She has also directed episodes of Third Watch, House, ER, The Closer, Saving Grace and Criminal Minds. More recently she has overseen Brothers & Sisters, Ghost Whisperer and Army Wives.

Marita Grabiak – For the past 8 years, Marita has been working as a director, starting out on episodes of ER, Dawson’s Creek and Firefly. She then moved on to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Cold Case and Gilmore Girls. She helmed episodes of Wonderfalls, Everwood, Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Alias. In more recent years, she directed episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Point Pleasant, One Tree Hill, Eureka, Drive, K-Ville and Bones. She most recently directed an episode of Dollhouse.

Tawnia McKiernan – Tawnia started out directing a few episodes of Renegade, Silk Stalkings and V.I.P. In the last 6 years, she directed episodes of NYPD Blue, The Closer, Bones, Las Vegas, Windfall, Close to Home, Women’s Murder Club and ER. Most recently, she directed episodes of Army Wives, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Monk. She also just directed episodes of Psych and Warehouse 13.

Laura Innes – Another actress-turned-director is Laura Innes, who has been directing since 2002 when she oversaw an episode of Presidio Med. She then had a multi-episode gig on The West Wing. She has directed episodes of House, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Journeyman. She, naturally, has directed multiple episodes of her own series ER and most recently directed numerous episodes of Brothers & Sisters.

Again, this list is just a representation of the incredible women who work as directors in television. The next installment of this series will appear next Monday.