Liza Johnson


Liza Johnson is an American film director, producer, and writer.

Biography

Johnson was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1970. She attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduating with a B.A. in Visual Arts in 1992. She then went to the University of California, San Diego, where she received her MFA in 1995.
Her narrative shorts and experimental videos have screened in Berlin, Rotterdam, and many other international festivals and fine arts venues. Her video installations have been shown in Artists Space in New York, the ICA in Philadelphia, Cineboords in Rotterdam, and Mass MoCA and WCMA in Massachusetts. She has also published critical writing on art and film, and has curated a number of museum exhibitions and festival programs. Along with her collection of short films, Johnson has directed five feature films, including Return, Hateship, Loveship, Elvis & Nixon, and Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.
In 2025, Netflix released Shondaland's The Residence, of which Johnson served as director for the first four episodes.

Filmography

Short film
  • Giftwrap
  • Falling
  • Desert Motel
  • South of Ten
  • In the Air
  • Karrabing! Low Tide Turning
Feature film
  • Fernweh – The Opposite of Homesick
  • Return
  • Hateship, Loveship
  • Elvis & Nixon
  • Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Television
YearTitleNotes
2015Good Girls RevoltEpisode "Pilot"
2017FeudEpisode "More, or Less"
2017American Horror StoryEpisode "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"
2018American WomanEpisode "The Heat Wave"
2019A Series of Unfortunate Events2 episodes
2019BarryEpisode "What?!"
2019Sneaky PeteEpisode "The Mask Drop"
2019Silicon Valley2 episodes
2020What We Do in the ShadowsEpisode "The Curse"
2020Dead to Me2 episodes
2021Physical3 episodes
2021The Sex Lives of College GirlsEpisode "The Truth"
2023The Last of UsEpisode "Left Behind"
2023-presentThe Diplomat4 episodes
2024The Franchise2 episodes
2025The Residence4 episodes