Mimi Leder


Miriam Leder is an American film and television director and producer; she is noted for her action films and use of special effects. She has directed the films The Peacemaker, Deep Impact, Pay It Forward, and On the Basis of Sex. She was the first female graduate of the AFI Conservatory, in 1973. She has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards, winning two.

Early life

Miriam Leder was born in New York City in 1952, the daughter of Etyl, a classical pianist, and Paul Leder, a director, producer, actor, writer, and editor of films including My Friends Need Killing, A*P*E, and I Dismember Mama. Leder grew up in Los Angeles in a Jewish household. Her mother is a Holocaust survivor from Brussels, Belgium. During childhood, her father, a low-budget independent filmmaker, introduced Mimi and her siblings to film production. Her father often dropped her off at the cinema to watch the latest films. Leder said that one of the early films which had an impact on her was Federico Fellini's 8½. She was the first woman accepted into the AFI Conservatory, where she studied cinematography.

Film career

Leder began her career as a second unit director on her father's 1976 film A*P*E, then as a script supervisor on a string of films, including Spawn of the Slithis, Dummy, The Boy Who Drank Too Much, and A Long Way Home and then moved to the TV series Hill Street Blues. After making the short film Short Order Dreams, written and funded by her father Paul, she screened it for Steven Bochco, creator of Hill Street Blues, and his friend Gregory Hoblit who hired her to direct an episode of L.A. Law.
In 1988, Leder directed episodes of Crime Story, ''The Bronx Zoo, Midnight Caller, then directed several episodes of China Beach for which she was nominated for four Emmys. She made the made-for-TV films Woman with a Past, House of Secrets, and Baby Brokers, then became one of the core directors for ER. The show earned her Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series in 1995 and 1996. She returned to direct an episode of the series during its final season in 2009. She soon received a job offer from Steven Spielberg to direct the film The Peacemaker.
Continuing to work for DreamWorks, she directed Deep Impact and Pay It Forward while simultaneously creating Sentimental Journey, a personal love story about her parents. When asked for a reaction about her film Deep Impact vs. a rival movie release at the same time Armageddon, she responded: "Michael Bay did come to my premiere, which really shocked me. And I can tell you that after—after my film—he went and reshot the end of his." After making Pay It Forward Leder went through a period where she wasn't hired to direct any feature films. "Most women who don't have commercial success are not asked back to the party. It did not hurt me in television, but it did in features." Leder felt as though she had been put into a "movie jail" by Hollywood for the lack of success of Pay It Forward.
Leder's dry spell of feature films after the release of Pay It Forward drove her to other pursuits in television and film. She shot nine pilots and produced six series, including The Beast, John Doe, Johnny Zero, and Vanished. Leder also made many made-for-TV movies such as Thick as Thieves, U.S. Attorney, and Heavenly. In 2015, Leder was brought by HBO to direct a first-season episode of The Leftovers and later hired as a co-showrunner.
Leder's feature film On the Basis of Sex,'' the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's path to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, was released in December 2018. It was Leder's first theatrical feature in 18 years.

Personal life

Leder has a daughter, Hannah, with her husband actor Gary Werntz. Mimi Leder has said she "was raised a feminist" and "was an anti-war protester all during the Vietnam War."

Filmography

Film
  • The Peacemaker
  • Deep Impact
  • Sentimental Journey
  • Pay It Forward
  • Thick as Thieves
  • On the Basis of Sex
Ref.:
TV movies
YearTitleNotes
1988NightingalesPilot for the 1989 TV series
1990SistersPilot for the 1991 TV series
1991A Little Piece of Heaven
1992Woman with a Past
1993Marked for Murder
1993There Was a Little Boy
1993Rio Shannon
1993House of Secrets
1994Baby Brokers
1994The Innocent
2009U.S. AttorneyAlso executive producer
2010The Quinn-tuplets
2011Heavenly

TV series
YearTitleDirectorProducerNotes
1987L.A. LawEpisodes "Fifty Ways to Floss Your Lover" and "Oy Vey! Wilderness!"
1988A Year in the LifeEpisode "The Little Disturbance of Man" and "Glory Days"
1988Crime StoryEpisode "The Hearings"
1988The Bronx ZooEpisode "On the Land, on the Sea and in the Halls"
1988Midnight CallerEpisode "After It Happened"
1988–1991China BeachDirector
Producer
Supervising producer
2001The BeastEpisode "The Price"
2002–2003John DoeDirected 5 episodes
2005Jonny ZeroDirected 4 episodes
2006The West WingEpisode "Election Day Part I"
2006Related
2006VanishedDirected 4 episodes
1994–2009ERDirector
Supervising producer
Co-executive producer
2010Human Target"The Wife's Tale"
2011–2012Shameless6 episodes
2012SmashEpisodes "The Workshop" and "The Dress Rehearsal"
2012Luck"Episode Nine"
2014–2017The LeftoversDirected 10 episodes
2019–presentThe Morning ShowDirected 11 episodes

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultNotes
1990Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesChina BeachNomitated
1991American Film InstituteFranklin J. Schaffner AwardWon
1991Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesChina BeachNomitated
1991Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesChina BeachNomitated
1992Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesChina BeachNomitated
1995Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesERWon
1995Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesERNomitated
1995Directors Guild of America AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesERNomitated
1996Directors Guild of America AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesERNomitated
1996Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesERWon
1996Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesERNomitated
1997Directors Guild of America AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesERNomitated
2000Women in Film Crystal + Lucy AwardsDorothy Arzner AwardWon
2006Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesThe West WingNomitated
2020Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesThe Morning Show
2024Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Drama SeriesThe Morning ShowNomitated
2024Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Drama SeriesThe Morning ShowNomitated