Patty Jenkins

Patty Jenkins Bio

Patricia Lea Jenkins (born July 24, 1971) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer whose career spans independent drama, television, and large-scale superhero blockbusters. She first gained international attention for directing the critically acclaimed independent film Monster (2003) and later became a household name through her work on the DC Extended Universe. Jenkins is widely recognized as the first female director of an American studio superhero film, a milestone she reached with Wonder Woman (2017). Over the course of her career, she has won an Independent Spirit Award, a Franklin J. Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, and a Directors Guild of America Award, while also earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her television work.

Early Life and Background

Patricia Lea Jenkins was born in Victorville, California, on July 24, 1971. She is the daughter of William T. Jenkins, a U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot who earned a Silver Star during the Vietnam War, and Emily Roth, who later worked in San Francisco as an environmental scientist. Jenkins grew up with two sisters, her older sister Elaine Roth and her younger sister Jessica Jenkins Murphy. Because of her father’s military service, the family moved frequently, including brief stays in Thailand and Germany, before eventually settling in Lawrence, Kansas.

When she was seven years old, her father died during a NATO mock dogfight at the age of 31. Shortly afterward, during a road trip from Kansas to San Francisco, Jenkins’s mother dropped her and her sister off at a movie theater, where they watched the original Superman starring Christopher Reeve. Jenkins later described the experience as inspiring, and it sparked her interest in pursuing filmmaking as a career. She completed kindergarten through her junior year of high school in Lawrence before her mother relocated the family to Washington, D.C., where she finished her senior year of high school.

Beginning in junior high school, Jenkins took an interest in photography, painting, and screen-printing. At age 20, while interning at a commercial production company, she accepted a suggestion that she could gain hands-on film training by working on set for free. After months of unpaid work, she advanced to second assistant camera and focus puller, and she eventually spent eight years working as a cameraperson on various productions.

Path to Directing

Jenkins received her undergraduate degree in Painting from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1993. She later enrolled at the American Film Institute’s AFI Conservatory, where she earned a master’s degree in directing in 2000. While studying at AFI, she developed a deep admiration for the films of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, whose influence is visible in her early short film work. She made the short film Velocity Rules in 2001, a project she described as a cross between a superhero film and Almodóvar’s tone, centered on an accident-prone housewife who discovers she has superhuman abilities.

Her career in cinematography gave her a practical foundation in filmmaking. While working on a Michael Jackson music video, her director of photography recommended that she attend the American Film Institute to study directing. She took that advice and later produced a superhero-themed short film that screened at AFI Fest. At that festival, she met producer Brad Wyman, who introduced her to producer Donald Kushner, setting the stage for her first feature film.

Her earliest directing work included the short films Just Drives (2001) and Velocity Rules (2001), the latter of which received the Warner Brothers Production Grant. These projects laid the foundation for her transition into feature filmmaking and demonstrated her ability to blend character-driven storytelling with genre elements.

Patty Jenkins Career

Early Career (2001-2003)

Patty Jenkins launched her directing career with two short films in 2001, Just Drives and Velocity Rules, the latter of which earned the Warner Brothers Production Grant. The success of these early projects led her toward her first feature-length film, Monster (2003). Jenkins initially tried to get producer Brad Wyman to direct, but under his advice she ended up writing the script herself. She wrote directly to Aileen Wuornos, the film’s subject and a serial killer who was on death row at the time. Wuornos was initially distrustful of Jenkins, but on the night before her execution she left Jenkins all of her personal letters, convincing Jenkins that she was the only one who could direct the film.

With a budget of $1.5 million and Charlize Theron in the lead role, Monster became a major critical and commercial success, grossing $64.2 million worldwide and earning Theron her first Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Monster first on his list of the best films of 2003 and later placed it third on his list of the best films of the decade. For this film, Jenkins won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and the Franklin J. Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, an honor given to outstanding graduates of the AFI Conservatory. She was also nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Screenplay.

Breakthrough (2011-2017)

Following the success of Monster, Jenkins spent several years working in television and advertising. In 2011, she directed one segment of the made-for-television anthology film Five, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. She also directed episodes of popular series including Arrested Development and Entourage, and helmed the pilot of AMC’s The Killing, a project that brought her a second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. In 2012, she received two Directors Guild of America Award nominations and won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for The Killing.

In October 2011, Jenkins was hired to direct Thor: The Dark World, the first sequel to the 2011 superhero film Thor, but she left the project after less than two months due to creative differences. In 2015, she signed on to direct the DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman, with a screenplay by Allan Heinberg and a story co-written by Heinberg, Zack Snyder, and Jason Fuchs. Released in June 2017, the film starred Gal Gadot and became a cultural milestone, giving Jenkins the biggest domestic opening for a female director at the time and surpassing the previous record set by Sam Taylor-Johnson for Fifty Shades of Grey.

With Wonder Woman, Jenkins became the first female director of an American studio superhero film and the third female director to helm a film with a budget over $100 million. The film was praised by both critics and audiences and grossed more than $800 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film directed by a woman at the time of its release. The success of Wonder Woman cemented Jenkins as one of the most influential directors working in Hollywood today.

Notable Works and Milestones

Jenkins’s signature works include Monster (2003), Wonder Woman (2017), and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). Her direction of Monster earned her an Independent Spirit Award and launched Charlize Theron to her Academy Award-winning performance. With Wonder Woman, she set new benchmarks for female filmmakers in the blockbuster space and became a defining voice for female-led superhero storytelling. In December 2017, Time magazine named Jenkins the seventh runner-up for Person of the Year, reflecting her cultural impact that year.

Patty Jenkins Award Nominations

Throughout her career, Patty Jenkins has earned recognition from major industry organizations for both her feature film and television work. In 2011, she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for directing the pilot of the AMC series The Killing. The following year, she received two Directors Guild of America Award nominations, one for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for The Killing and another for Movies for Television and Limited Series for Five. For her work on Monster, she was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Screenplay, further highlighting her range as both a director and a writer.

Patty Jenkins Awards Won

Patty Jenkins has won several prestigious awards recognizing her achievements in film and television. In 2004, she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature for Monster, celebrating her impressive debut as a feature film director. She also received the Franklin J. Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, an honor reserved for outstanding graduates of the AFI Conservatory. In 2012, Jenkins won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series for her work on the pilot of The Killing, underscoring her continued excellence in television direction.

Patty Jenkins Family

Patty Jenkins was raised in a close-knit family shaped by her father’s military career. Her father, William T. Jenkins, was a U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot who earned a Silver Star during the Vietnam War. Her mother, Emily Roth, worked as an environmental scientist in San Francisco after the family relocated to the West Coast. Jenkins has two sisters, Elaine Roth and Jessica Jenkins Murphy, and her early years were spent moving with her family between military bases in the United States and abroad.

Personal Life

In 2007, Patty Jenkins married Sam Sheridan, a former firefighter and the author of the book A Fighter’s Heart. The couple has a son and they reside in Santa Monica, California. Jenkins and Sheridan have also collaborated professionally, with Sheridan writing the television drama I Am the Night, which Jenkins directed and executive produced for TNT in 2018. Their partnership has blended personal and professional interests, and they have continued to develop creative projects together throughout their marriage.