Lisa Nishimura is an American entertainment executive, working for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

mainly on

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

, and

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

s. Her productions include ''

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...

'', ''

American Factory ''American Factory'' () is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine, a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors ...

'', ''

Chef's Table ''Chef's Table'' is an American documentary series created by David Gelb' which premiered on video streaming service Netflix on April 26, 2015. The series takes viewers inside both the lives and kitchens of a variety acclaimed and successful inte ...

'', ''

Making a Murderer ''Making a Murderer'' is an American true crime documentary television series written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. The show tells the story of Steven Avery, a man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, who served 18 years in p ...

'', ''

Tiger King The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

'', and ''

Wild Wild Country ''Wild Wild Country'' is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela, and their community of followers in the Rajneeshpuram community located in ...

''. Nishimura focuses on original, ambitious programming and unknown filmmakers. She has played a major role in expanding the range of documentaries on Netflix. '' Vanity Fair'' called her "queen of the docu-series".

Early life and education

Nishimura was born to Japanese immigrants who moved to the United States after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. She grew up

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, in a "very academic" household in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Count ...

. Her father was a chemist who went to

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

on a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

, and her mother was a classical violinist. She attended the

University of California at San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is th ...

. She planned to go to medical school, but an internship at a record label,

Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, led her to start pursuing a career in the music industry instead.

Career

From 1998 to 2001, Nishimura was head of sales and marketing at

Six Degrees Records Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists. History In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the i ...

. From 2002 to 2007, she worked at

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll H ...

's studio

Palm Pictures Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such proje ...

, where she was general manager. She also worked at Chris Blackwell's

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, an ...

. She left Palm Pictures in 2007 to join Netflix as vice president of independent content acquisition, reporting to

Ted Sarandos Theodore Anthony Sarandos Jr. is an American businessman who serves as the co-chief executive officer and chief content officer for Netflix. Early life Sarandos was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was Ted Sarandos Sr, an electrician, and ...

. Her role was focused on acquiring content for Netflix, including digital content; 2007 was also the year that Netflix launched its streaming service, having previously focused on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

s. In 2013, Nishimura started Netflix's original documentary and original stand-up comedy initiatives. Documentary and comedy are her favorite genres. She has said that they are "similar because both are extremely observant of human conditions, cultures and the world around us" and both give the viewer "immersion in another person’s experience, almost firsthand". In March 2019, Nishimura moved from being vice president of original documentary and comedy programming, reporting to

Cindy Holland Cindy may refer to: People * Cindy (given name), a list of people named Cindy, Cindi, Cyndi or Cyndy * Tugiyati Cindy (born 1985), Indonesian footballer Music * ''Cindy'' (musical), an off-Broadway production in 1964 and 1965 * "Cindy" (folk so ...

, to being vice president of independent film and documentary features, reporting to

Scott Stuber Scott Stuber (born December 13, 1968) is an American film producer and head of original films at Netflix. Career After graduating from University of Arizona with a film degree, Stuber worked at Universal Pictures as a publicity assistant to Lew ...

. Stuber wrote that Nishimura "blazed a trail within Netflix" working on documentaries and comedy.

Honors

In November 2017, she was one of five leading women in business honored by Girls, Inc. In November 2018, she was honored by

New York Women in Film & Television New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is a non-profit membership organization for professional women in film, television and digital media. The organization is an educational forum for media professionals, and a network for the exchange of ...

. In 2020, ''Time'' magazine identified her as one of the 100 most influential people of the year.

Personal life

Nishimura lives in

Mar Vista, Los Angeles Mar Vista is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. It was designated as an official city neighborhood in 2006. History Mar Vista was called Ocean Par ...

. She is married and has a son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nishimura, Lisa Netflix people American women film producers American people of Japanese descent American entertainment industry businesspeople Living people University of California, San Diego alumni Film producers from California Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women