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Nisha Ganatra
Born (1974-06-25) June 25, 1974 (age 50)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater New York University
Occupation
  • Actress
  • filmmaker
Years active 1996–present

Nisha Ganatra (born June 25, 1974) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actress of Indian descent. She wrote, directed, and produced the independent comedy drama Chutney Popcorn (1999) and later directed the independent film Cosmopolitan (2003) and the romantic-comedy Cake (2005). Ganatra has directed for numerous television shows, including The Real World, Transparent, You Me Her, Better Things, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She also directed the comedy-dramas Late Night (2019) and The High Note (2020). Ganatra served as a consulting producer on the first season of Transparent, for which she was nominated for the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Early life and education

Ganatra explored her interest in film through acting and then decided to make the switch to pursue film-making as she wanted to effect cultural change.

Ganatra began her film-making journey by studying at The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Though she wasn't studying film, she explored her interest by sneaking into screenwriting classes which eventually led her to creating short films.

She moved to New York City to pursue a film degree at New York University Film School (NYU). During her time there, she created a short film Junky Punky Girlz (1997) which won NYU's Tisch Fellowship and most outstanding short film from PBS. Ganatra graduated from the New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts.

Career

While in film school, Ganatra directed several episodes of MTV's long-running television series The Real World in 2001. Prior to this she had written and directed two shorts and her critically acclaimed independent film Chutney Popcorn (1999).

Ganatra is part of a mentorship program with NBC which seeks to provide talented female directors with the same opportunities as their male counterparts. This program selects female directors to be given the opportunity to shadow up to three episodes of an NBC series. The participants will then be able to direct at least one episode of the series in which she has been shadowing.

When Ganatra was on the hunt for a cinematographer, she began to notice that the men's reels were far superior compared to the women's reels. As a female director herself, she was accustomed to being overlooked in the hiring process in favor of men. She realized that the men had better reels not because they were more talented, but instead, because they had been given bigger budgets, better equipment, larger crews, and elaborate productions. This motivated Ganatra to hire a female cinematographer and strive to hire female crews. In 2020, it was reported that ABC had put into development a single-camera matchmaking comedy written, directed, and produced by Ganatra.

Personal life

Ganatra is out and identifies as a lesbian.

Filmography

Short film

Year Title Director Writer Producer
1996 Junky Punky Girlz Yes Yes No
1997 Drown Soda Yes Yes Yes
2014 Code Academy Yes Yes Yes

Feature film

Director

  • Chutney Popcorn (1999) (Also writer and producer)
  • Fast Food High (2003)
  • Cake (2005)
  • Late Night (2019)
  • The High Note (2020)
  • Freakier Friday (2025)

Actor

Year Title Role
1999 Chutney Popcorn Reena
2000 The Acting Class Exotic Dancer
2005 Bam Bam and Celeste Linda
2011 Small, Beautifully Moving Parts Mother

Television

Year Title Director Producer Notes
2001 The Real World: Back to New York Yes No 4 episodes
2002 The Real World/Road Rules: Battle of the Seasons Yes No 1 episode
2011 Futurestates Yes No 1 episode, also writer
2012 Haven Yes No 1 episode
Big Time Rush Yes No 1 episode
2014 Transparent Yes Consulting 3 episodes
2015 The Mindy Project Yes No 1 episode
Mr. Robot Yes No 1 episode
Married Yes No 3 episodes
Red Oaks Yes No 2 episodes
2016 Shameless Yes No 1 episode
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Yes No 1 episode
You Me Her Yes Co-executive 10 episodes
Better Things Yes Co-executive 3 episodes
2017 Girls Yes No 1 episode
Dear White People Yes No 2 episodes
Fresh Off The Boat Yes No 1 episode
Future Man Yes No
2018 Love Yes No
2019 Black Monday Yes No 1 episode
2022 And Just Like That... Yes No
Welcome to Chippendales Yes No

TV movies

Year Title Director Writer Producer
2003 Cosmopolitan Yes No No
2008 The Cheetah Girls: One World No Yes No
2013 The Hunters Yes No Yes
2013 Pete's Christmas Yes No Yes
2016 Center Stage: On Pointe No Yes No

Field producer

  • Margaret Cho: Beautiful (2009)
  • Cho Dependent (2011)

See also

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