Dennie Gordon

Award-winning director and writer Dennie Gordon studied at the Yale School of Drama before getting her start directing off-Broadway theater in the early 1990s. In 1994, she wrote and directed an adaptation of the Andre Dubus short story "A Hard Rain," which attracted the attention of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and David E. Kelley, and earned the director a chance to try her hand at television. Helming episodes of "Picket Fences," "Ally McBeal," and "Dawson's Creek" among others, Gordon established herself as a master of both comedy and drama, and in 2000 she received the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for her work with comedienne Tracey Ullman in an episode of "Tracey Takes On...." The director's first feature film was 2001's "Joe Dirt," a comedy starring David Spade, which she followed with the 2003 teen favorite "What a Girl Wants," fronted by Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth. After completing the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen comedy feature "New York Minute" in 2004, Gordon returned to television, and over the next few years would direct some of the most celebrated series on the small screen, among them "The Office," "Burn Notice," and "30 Rock." In 2011, Gordon announced her plans to direct the feature "My Lucky Star," a romantic comedy starring Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang.