Amanda Marsalis is an American film director and photographer.[1]
Career
Marsalis grew up in the East Bay of San Francisco and moved to St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 12 or 13.[2]
Photographic career
Marsalis attended California College of Arts and Crafts where she studied with Larry Sultan, Chris Johnson, Susan Ciriclio and Jim Goldberg.[citation needed] Her works were published in Vogue, Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, and The New York Times Magazine.[3]
Directing career
Marsalis made her directorial debut in 2014 with the film Echo Park starring Mamie Gummer and Tony Okungbowa.[1] She was referred to the producers by Rebecca Walker, an author with whom she had worked previously.[2] The film premiered at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival.[3] It was acquired for distribution in 2016 by ARRAY.[4]
In 2015, Marsalis created a short documentary on Reese Witherspoon for Glamour when Witherspoon was honored with the Glamour Woman of the Year Award on the 25th anniversary of the event.[3]
Marsalis directed six episodes of the critically acclaimed[5] Netflix series Ozark, including four episodes of the final season.[6] In 2025, she directed four episodes of Max medical drama series The Pitt, including the second episode, and the critically acclaimed twelfth episode “6:00 P.M.“, which dealt with the aftermath of a mass shooting.[7] For that episode Marsalis was nominated for an Emmy Award [8]and was the winner of the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series. [9]
Dramatic Series
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Echo Park | Director |
Television
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Queen Sugar | Director (2 episodes) |
| 2018 | Shooter | Director (1 episode) |
| 2018-2022 | Ozark | Director (6 episodes) |
| 2019 | Magnum P.I. | Director (1 episodes) |
| For the People | Director (1 episode) | |
| Whiskey Cavalier | Director (1 episode) | |
| Veronica Mars | Director (1 episode) | |
| 2020 | Westworld | Director (1 episodes) |
| The Umbrella Academy | Director (2 episodes) | |
| Next | Director (1 episode) | |
| 2021 | Invasion | Director (4 episodes) Producer |
| 2022 | Naomi | Director (1 episode) Co-Executive Producer |
| Kindred | Director (2 episodes) Co-Executive Producer | |
| 2023 | Class of ’09 | Director (2 episodes) |
| 2025 | Ransom Canyon | Director (4 episodes) Executive Producer |
| 2025-26 | The Pitt | Director (5 episodes) Co-Executive Producer |
References
- ^ a b Jaworowski, Ken (2016-04-14). “Review: ‘Echo Park,’ the Story of an Early Romance”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
- ^ a b Harris, Aisha (2016-04-18). “Echo Park Director Amanda Marsalis on Making Her First Film, Gentrification, and Working With Ava DuVernay”. Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
- ^ a b c “Reese Witherspoon Is Leading the Way in Hollywood: A Must-See Mini-Documentary”. Glamour. 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
- ^ Patten, Dominic (3 February 2016). “Ava Duvernay’s Array Acquires Indie Drama ‘Echo Park’“. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
- ^ Lowry, Brian (29 April 2022). “‘Ozark’ cements its place among Netflix’s best dramas with its final episodes”. CNN. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ O’Connell, Sean (2022-05-13). “Ozark Director On The Possibility Of More Episodes And Her Interpretation Of The Show’s Final Scene”. CINEMABLEND. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
- ^ Canfield, David. “Inside The Pitt’s Stunning Mass-Shooting Episode: “It Felt Intimidatingly Important”“. Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2025-03-20.
- ^ “The Pitt | Emmy Awards and Nominations”. Television Academy. Retrieved 2026-02-26.
- ^ “78th Annual DGA Awards”. www.dga.org.