Jessie Nelson is an American film producer, director, actress and writer.

Nelson began her career acting with the theater groupMabou Mines at thePublic Theater in New York and she went on to perform inShakespeare In The Park.

Nelson began her directing career with the award-winning short filmTo the Moon, Alice (1990), which she also wrote. The film starredChris Cooper^[1][2] and was part of a television program forShowtime titledThe Showtime 30-Minute Movie.^[3]

Her first feature film wasCorrina, Corrina (1994) which she wrote, directed, and produced. It starredWhoopi Goldberg andRay Liotta. The film was suggested by her life.^[4][5] She went on to write, direct, and produceI Am Sam (2001) starringSean Penn.^[6]

She received the firstStanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild forI Am Sam in 2002.^[7]

Her most recent film isLove the Coopers (2015), starring a large ensemble cast, includingDiane Keaton,John Goodman, andAlan Arkin.

She co-wroteStepmom (1998) andThe Story of Us (1999), and co-wrote and producedBecause I Said So andFred Claus, the latter of which is based on a bedtime story she would tell her daughter. In 2014 she producedDanny Collins which starredAl Pacino andAnnette Bening.

She wrote theBroadway musical adaptation of the movieWaitress with music and lyrics bySara Bareilles, directed byDiane Paulus, which premiered on Broadway in April 2016.^[8] She also co-directed and co-produced thelive film recording of the musical's 2021 remounting, which will premiere at theTribeca Film Festival in June 2023.^[9] She co-wrote and directed the musicalAlice by Heart withSteven Sater and music byDuncan Sheik, which openedOff-Broadway in February 2019.^[10]

Nelson co-authored the 2011 children's bookLabracadabra (Penguin, 2011,ISBN 9780670012510) with Karen Leigh Hopkins.^[11]

She is married to directorBryan Gordon. They have a daughter, actressMolly Gordon (b. 1995).^[12][13]

She isJewish.^[14]

• Jessie Nelson atIMDb 
• Jessie Nelson at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)

• Film directors from Los Angeles
• American film producers
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• University of California, Santa Cruz alumni
• American women film directors
• American women screenwriters
• Living people
• American children's writers
• American women children's writers
• American women film producers
• 20th-century American women writers
• 21st-century American screenwriters
• 21st-century American women writers
• American musical theatre librettists
• Women librettists

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from May 2022
• Articles with hCards
• Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata
• Place of birth missing (living people)
• Year of birth missing (living people)