Lauren Greenfield facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lauren Greenfield
Born	(1966-06-28) June 28, 1966 (age 59) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Film director artist
Spouse(s)	Frank Evers ​ (m. 1992)​
Parent(s)	Patricia Marks Greenfield
Relatives	Matthew Greenfield (brother)

Lauren Greenfield, born on June 28, 1966, is an American artist. She is also a talented photographer and filmmaker. She creates documentaries and photo books. Her work has been shown in many places worldwide.

Early Life and Education

Lauren Greenfield was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Patricia Marks Greenfield, is a psychologist. Her father, Sheldon Greenfield, is a doctor. Lauren has a younger brother named Matthew Greenfield. He is a film producer.

Lauren went to Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica. She then studied at Harvard University. In 1987, she earned a degree in visual and environmental studies. While in college, she traveled and studied in many countries. Her final photography project was about French noble families. It was called "Survivors of the French Revolution."

Career Highlights

Photography Work

Lauren's college project helped her get an internship at National Geographic Magazine. A grant from National Geographic supported her first photo book. It was called Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (1997).

Five years later, Lauren created another big project. It was about how American women feel about themselves. This work was called Girl Culture.

Film Directing

College Years and First Films

From 1985 to 1986, Lauren traveled the world. She was part of a program called "Film Study and Anthropology." This trip showed her how people make documentaries in different countries. She visited France, India, Japan, and more.

Lauren realized she wanted to study culture through film or photography. She changed her major at Harvard to Visual Studies. She studied filmmaking with Robb Moss. In 1988, she co-directed a short film. It was called Once You're In. The film was about Irish immigrants in Boston.

Thin (HBO)

Lauren directed Thin, a documentary film for HBO. She also published a book with the same title. The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006.

In September 2006, Lauren won the Grierson Award for best documentary. This was at the BFI London Film Festival. Thin also won top prizes at other film festivals. Lauren was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007 for directing Thin.

kids + money

Lauren's short film, kids + money, was highly praised. It was named one of the top five nonfiction shorts in 2009. The film also won the Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival in 2007. It won other awards too.

kids + money was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. The 32-minute film features interviews with teenagers in Los Angeles. They talk about how money affects their lives. HBO bought the rights to show the film in North America.

Beauty CULTure

In 2011, Lauren was asked to direct a short film. It was for an exhibition called Beauty CULTure. The 30-minute film looks at how beauty is seen in popular culture. It also explores how media messages affect how girls and women feel about their bodies.

The Queen of Versailles

In 2012, Lauren won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival. This was for her documentary film, The Queen of Versailles. The film was released in theaters in 2012.

The Queen of Versailles won many other awards. These included the Grand Jury Prize from the Brisbane International Film Festival. It was also nominated for Best Documentary Film by the International Documentary Association. In 2013, Lauren was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for her directing work.

In 2014, Lauren won a lawsuit related to the film. The film's main subject, David Siegel, had sued her. An arbitrator supported Lauren and awarded her money for legal fees.

In 2023, it was announced that The Queen of Versailles would become a Broadway musical. It stars Kristin Chenoweth.

#likeagirl

In June 2014, Lauren directed a commercial for Always/Leo Burnett. It was called "#likeagirl." The commercial asked, "When did doing something 'like a girl' become an insult?" It showed how adults often see "like a girl" as weak. But young girls see it as strong.

The commercial became very popular online. It had over 58 million views on YouTube in the US. Across all languages, it had 85 million views. It was also shown during Super Bowl XLIX. It was ranked the #1 Super Bowl Spot by Adweek and Advertising Age.

In 2015, Lauren was nominated for a Directors Guild of America award for her commercial work. The "#likeagirl" spot won many awards. These included 6 CLIO Awards and 11 Webby Awards. At the 2015 Cannes Lions, it won 14 awards. In December 2015, AdAge named Lauren the most awarded director of the year. In September 2015, "#likeagirl" won an Emmy Award for Best TV Commercial. In February 2025, Ad Age Magazine named it the "Best Super Bowl Ad Of All Time."

Generation Wealth

Lauren's film Generation Wealth opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. Critics praised the film. Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com called it "a stunningly deeply resonant documentary." Ann-Derrick Gaillot described it as "a sprawling chronicle of decadence and decay."

The film was also shown at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was distributed by Amazon Studios. It was released in US theaters on July 20, 2018. Lauren was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the film's screenplay.

The Kingmaker

The Kingmaker is a 2019 documentary film. Lauren Greenfield wrote and directed it. The film looks at the political career of Imelda Marcos. It focuses on her family's efforts to regain political power in the Philippines.

The film premiered internationally in August 2019. It was shown at four major film festivals in the same year. This was a first for a documentary. It debuted in the Philippines on January 29, 2020.

The Kingmaker was nominated for many awards. It won the award for Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary. It also received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the Warsaw International Film Festival. The film has high ratings from critics and viewers.

TV Series

Social Studies

Lauren created and directed Social Studies for FX. This documentary series started in 2024. It follows high school students in Los Angeles for a school year. The series explores what it's like to grow up online today.

The series has received very positive reviews. It has a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic, it scored 81 out of 100, showing "universal acclaim." In February 2025, Social Studies was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In June 2025, it won the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Nonfiction Series. On July 15, 2025, the series was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Collections and Exhibitions

Lauren Greenfield's photography is in many major art collections. These include the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her work is also at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Lauren has created four large traveling exhibitions. These are named after her books: Fast Forward, Girl Culture, Thin, and Generation Wealth.

Her first major show, Fast Forward, opened in 1997. It was shown in the US, France, and other countries. The Girl Culture exhibition was shown in over 29 places worldwide. The Thin exhibition debuted in Dallas, Texas, and traveled until 2010.

In 2011, Lauren was a Featured Artist at The Annenberg Space for Photography. This was for their Beauty CULTure exhibition. She also directed a 30-minute film for the exhibit. In 2016, the International Center of Photography honored Lauren. They gave her a Spotlight Award for her contributions to visual storytelling.

Lauren's Generation Wealth by Lauren Greenfield exhibit opened in Los Angeles in 2017. This exhibit then traveled to New York, Oslo, and other cities. It explores how wealth and materialism have influenced society over 25 years.

Personal Life

Lauren Greenfield married Frank Evers in 1992.

Filmography