Mimi Leder

Miriam "Mimi" Leder (born January 26, 1952) is an American film director and producer noted for her action films and use of special effects. She was the first female graduate of the AFI Conservatory in 1973. 2Early life 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. Leder was raised in Los Angeles, in a Jewish home. During childhood, her father, a low-budget independent filmmaker, introduced Mimi and her siblings to film production. Having worked for the majority of her life in film gave her the skill and confidence to be the first woman accepted into the AFI Conservatory. She studied cinematography but enjoyed working with actors and telling stories. 2Film career Leder began her career as a script supervisor on a string of films, including Spawn of the Slithis (1978), Dummy (1979), The Boy Who Drank Too Much (1980), and A Long Way Home (1980), before moving on to the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981). After making a 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 went on to direct episodes of Crime Story, The Bronx Zoo, Midnight Caller, before getting hired to direct several episodes of China Beach (1988–91) for which she was nominated for four Emmy