Amy Heckerling

Amy Heckerling was born in the Bronx, NY, in a hospital that was torn down, lived in an apartment building that was torn down, and went to a public school that was torn down. Amy divided her time between watching James Cagney movies on TV and the "Three Stooges." Her family moved to Queens in time for the racial strife and Amy decided to get out of town and go to the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan.

At art school, Amy discovered that she wouldn't make it as an artist and should find something easier to do with her life. Naturally, she chose film directing since she had never actually seen a movie camera. Amy applied and was admitted to NYU's School of the Arts while the wonderful Haig Manoogian ran the film school. Martin Brest, Jack Rapke, and Joel Silver were also students. Amy's short films received prizes at the NYU Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the prestigious Bronx Film Festival, and her place at the American Film Institute. Her AFI short got her into Universal, where she directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), followed by Johnny Dangerously (1984) and European Vacation (1985).

After two years off to raise her daughter Mollie, Amy wrote and directed Look Who's Talking ( 1989) and Look Who's Talking Too (1990). She also wrote and directed Clueless (1995), I Could Never be Your Woman ( 2007), and produced A Night at the Roxbury (1998). She executive produced, wrote, and directed episodes of the series "Clueless" on UPN, and "Fast Times" on CBS, and directed an episode of NBC's "The Office."

She has written many scripts, been in and out of movie jail repeatedly, hasn't eaten red meat since she was fifteen, recycles everything, won't go in the sun or near cigarettes, and drives an electric car. She loves James Cagney, Franz Kafka, Punk Rock, Eddie Cantor, NYU, The MoMa, pre-war German movies, post-war Italian movies, Fred Astaire, and A Clockwork Orange.

© 2012 Anchor Bay Films