Lisa Joy (born May 23, 1977) is an American

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, director, producer, and attorney. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...

'' (2016–2022). For her work on the series, she received multiple

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nominations. Joy's other work includes the ABC comedy series ''

Pushing Daisies ''Pushing Daisies'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. The series stars Lee Pace as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life ...

'' (2007–2009) and the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

crime drama series ''

Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar ...

'' (2009–2011). In 2021, she made her feature film directorial debut with ''

Reminiscence Reminiscence is the act of recollecting past experiences or events. An example of the typical use of reminiscence is when people share their personal stories with others or allows other people to live vicariously through stories of family, frien ...

''.

Early life

Lisa Joy was raised in New Jersey. Her parents are both immigrants, her father is English and her mother is Taiwanese. Joy graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

and worked as a consultant at

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

in Los Angeles before attending

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

.Heather Wood Rudulph, Get That Life: How I Became the Co-Creator of Westworld, Cosmopolitan, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/career/a8664279/lisa-joy-westworld-co-creator-get-that-life/ Joy was admitted to the bar in 2009 and practiced law in California prior to her career in entertainment.

Career

While studying for the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

, Joy submitted a sample script for the ABC fantasy comedy-drama series ''

''. A friend passed the script along to a television producer, helping her get the job as a staff writer in 2007. She went on to become the only female writer on the

crime drama series ''

''. She later served as a co-producer on the series. In 2016, Joy co-created the HBO science fiction series ''

'' and serves as its co-

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

. Westworld had four seasons. The series focuses on "a futuristic theme park gone wrong where robots start rebelling against humans". The series went on to become one of the most popular series on television. For her work on the series, Joy earned nominations for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series since its institution in 1951. The award goes to the producers of the series. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys cere ...

and

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was first awarded at the 7th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, held in 1955 and it is given in ...

, among others. Joy, along with her husband Jonathan Nolan, signed a new deal with

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

to write and produce a series for the company. The deal is worth $150 million over five years. As a part of the deal, Joy and Nolan were announced as executive producers on a science fiction series ''

The Peripheral ''The Peripheral'' is a 2014 science fiction mystery-thriller novel by William Gibson set in near- and post-apocalyptic versions of the future. The story focuses on a young rural-town American woman who lives in the near future, and on a London ...

'' and an adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game series ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...

''. Joy's feature film debut, ''

,'' was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in US cinemas on August 20, 2021, to mixed reviews and was a

commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...

Personal life

Joy married screenwriter

Jonathan Nolan Jonathan Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British-American screenwriter, producer, director and author. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series ''Person of Interest'' (2011–2016) and co-creator of the HBO science fiction western s ...

, the younger brother of director

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

. The two first met at the premiere of the elder Nolan's film '' Memento''. The couple have a daughter and a son.

Filmography

Film Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joy, Lisa Living people American television producers American women television producers People from New Jersey American television writers American screenwriters Harvard Law School alumni American people of English descent American people of Taiwanese descent American women writers of Chinese descent Stanford University alumni American women television writers Showrunners 21st-century American women 1977 births