Susan Seidelman

Susan Seidelman is an acclaimed filmmaker whose work helped define the spirit of American independent cinema in the 1980s and beyond. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program, she first gained international attention when her debut feature “Smithereens” became the first American independent film accepted into the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to win awards at major international festivals and is now preserved in the prestigious Criterion Collection.

Seidelman’s breakthrough success came with “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985), starring Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. The film was both a critical and commercial hit, premiering at Cannes, earning a César nomination for Best Foreign Film, and later being named among the BBC’s top 100 films of all time. The movie also helped launch the careers of emerging talents including Aidan Quinn, Laurie Metcalf, and John Turturro, cementing Seidelman’s reputation as a director with a distinctive voice and eye for talent.

Throughout her career, Seidelman has directed an impressive range of film and television projects featuring some of the industry’s most celebrated performers. Her credits include “Making Mr. Right” starring John Malkovich; “Cookie,” written by Nora Ephron and starring Peter Falk, Emily Lloyd, Dianne Wiest, and Jerry Lewis; “She-Devil,” featuring Meryl Streep in her first comedic screen role alongside Roseanne Barr; “Gaudi Afternoon” starring Judy Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, and Juliette Lewis; and “The Dutch Master,” starring Mira Sorvino, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.

In television, Seidelman directed the pilot and early episodes of HBO’s groundbreaking series “Sex and the City,” helping shape the visual style and tone of the cultural phenomenon. Her television work also includes the Showtime film “A Cooler Climate,” starring Sally Field and Judy Davis, which earned two Emmy nominations and was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman.

Her later films include “Boynton Beach Club,” a romantic comedy set in a Florida retirement community starring Dyan Cannon, Sally Kellerman, and Brenda Vaccaro, which premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival; “Musical Chairs,” a Manhattan-set love story centered on wheelchair ballroom dancing that received a GLAAD Media Award and an Astaire Award nomination; and “The Hot Flashes,” starring Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Virginia Madsen, Wanda Sykes, and Eric Roberts.

Seidelman recently published her memoir, “Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls” —a candid, witty, and insightful reflection on her trailblazing career, from the punk-era grit of “Smithereens” to the lasting cultural impact of “Desperately Seeking Susan,” and the four-decade journey that followed.

She currently resides in New Jersey.