Diane Martel

Diane Martel was an American music video director and choreographer. As a music video director, she worked with Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Ciara, Sting and Jennifer Lopez. One of her most well-known videos was for "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. & Pharrell.

Early life

Martel was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on May 7, 1962. Her uncle was theatre producer and director Joseph Papp.

Martel began her career as a street artist after dropping out of high school, and soon became a choreographer. Her first film-based projects in the early 1990s were dance-focused documentaries, including 1992's Wreckin' Shop: Live from Brooklyn, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts aired on the Public Broadcasting Service.
Martel began directing music videos in the early 1990s, beginning with "Throw Ya Gunz" by Onyx. Martel was creative director of Miley Cyrus's MTV Video Music Awards performance with Robin Thicke, the 2013 video for Cyrus's song "We Can't Stop", and her subsequent Bangerz Tour. Martel had also directed the 2013 video for Thicke's song "Blurred Lines". Both the song and the video were accused of misogyny. Martel defended the video, saying she intended it to be satirical: " are actually ridiculing the men. It's hysterical". Martel's career spanned more than thirty years, concluding with the video for "Ecstasy" by Ciara, released in April 2025.
In 2022, Martel was the Harlan J. Strauss Visiting Filmmaker at the University of Oregon.

1990: House of Tres – short documentary on voguing in the New York ballroom scene
1992: Reckin' Shop: Live From Brooklyn – PBS documentary about hip-hop dancers in Brooklyn

Martel was nominated for the following MTV Video of the Year awards: