Lucia Aniello (born 1983) is an Italian-born American director, writer, and producer best known for her work on '' Hacks'', for which she won multiple

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, and ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web serie ...

.'' She has directed and written episodes of both shows, as well as the miniseries ''

Time Traveling Bong ''Time Traveling Bong'' is an American miniseries created and written by Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, and Lucia Aniello. The series, starring Glazer and Downs and directed by Aniello, aired on Comedy Central as a "three-night event" with each e ...

'' and the 2017 film '' Rough Night''.

Early life

Aniello was born in Italy and grew up in Hadley, Massachusetts, where her parents owned Italian restaurants, before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

.Futterweit, Alexa.
Interview: Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs Talk Paulilu Comedy and the Hilarity of Clinton.
Complex Magazine. Complex, 11 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 November 2016 In 2004, she graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she was a film and media studies major and studied with film critic

Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Kat ...

. She was in

Sigma Delta Tau Sigma Delta Tau () is an American sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference. Sigma Delta Tau was founded on March 25, 1917 at Cornell University by Jewish women. However, there is no religious requirement for membership to the ...

sorority. She also played varsity tennis for Columbia.

Career

Aniello is an alumna of the

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, ...

, an improvisational and sketch comedy group founded in 1990 by a group of comedians including

Amy Poehler Amy Meredith Poehler ( ; born September 16, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. Known for her roles in sketch comedy, sitcoms and comedy films, she has earned acclaim and several accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award (out of 26 nom ...

who is an executive producer of ''Broad City''.UBC. "UCB Theatre." UCB Theatre. UBC, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. Aniello and Paul W. Downs met at a Upright Citizens Brigade Level One improvisational comedy class. Aniello and Downs began working together on a series of digital shorts and improv. They started their own website and comedy production company called Paulilu Productions. Together they have been writing, directing and acting in digital shorts since 2007. Some of their most well-known web series include ''The Diary of Zac Efron'' and ''The Real Housewives of South Boston''.

Work on ''Broad City''

Aniello also met

Ilana Glazer Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, and activist. They have received various accolades including a Daytime Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for four Primetime ...

of ''Broad City'' through the same Upright Citizens Brigade class where she met Downs. As Aniello and Downs began to make digital shorts and build the foundations of Paulilu, Glazer and Abbi Jacobson worked on the prototype of ''Broad City''. The two comedic duos occasionally acted in each other's shorts or directed them. When ''Broad City'' moved to television Glazer and Jacobson asked Aniello to direct the pilot and cast Downs as Trey, the trainer and boss of Jacobson's character on the show. After the show was picked up by Comedy Central, they asked both Aniello and Downs to join the group of writers for the show.Press, Joy. "The Secret Weapons of ‘Broad City’ Make Fine Art From Crude Humor." New York Times. New York Times, 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.

Current work

Aniello also co-created ''

''. Her interest in the subject began in college when she wrote a thesis on time-travel movies at

. The movie is a

stoner film Stoner film is a subgenre of comedy film based on marijuana themes, where recreational use often drives the plot, sometimes representing cannabis culture more broadly or intended for that audience. Genre The midnight movie scene in theate ...

comedy about two cousins who acquire a bong that acts as a time traveling device. Aniello directed and, with Downs, co-wrote the comedy '' Rough Night'', which was released in June 2017. It stars

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...

, Zoe Kravitz,

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022, where she became known for her character work and celebrity im ...

Jillian Bell Jillian Leigh Bell (born April 25, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She was a writer for the 35th season of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' between 2009 and 2010. Since her departure from ''SNL'', s ...

, Ilana Glazer,

Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After rising to prominence in the early 1980s, she became the world's highest-paid actress by 1995. List of awards and nominations received by Demi Moore, Her acc ...

Ty Burrell Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor. Burrell is best known for playing Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

and

Colton Haynes Colton Lee Haynes (born July 13, 1988) is an American actor and model. He is known for his starring role as Jackson Whittemore in the MTV supernatural drama series ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'' and as Roy Harper (Arrowverse), Roy Har ...

. During the time of the film's release, Aniello was the first woman to direct an R-rated comedy in nearly 20 years. In 2020, she directed and executive produced the Comedy Central series '' Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens'' as well as Netflix's '' Baby-Sitters Club''. Aniello is showrunning and directing the

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

show '' Hacks'', starring

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...

. The first season of '' Hacks'' garnered 15

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nominations and 3 wins, including “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series,” “Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series,” and Jean Smart won “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.” The series won two

Writers Guild of America Awards The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...

in the categories of “Comedy Series” and “New Series,” and Aniello won a

Directors Guild of America Award The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards. Cate ...

in the category of “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series.” The series also took home two

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

for “Best Musical or Comedy TV Series” and “Best Television Actress in a Musical or Comedy”. Hacks was honored as one of the “Outstanding Television Programs of the Year” at the American Film Institute Awards and won a 2022

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

. Season 1 of Hacks also received various award nominations at the

Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1995 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

, Critics Choice Awards,

Producers Guild of America Awards The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to ...

, and the

Gotham Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

, among others. In its second season, ''Hacks'' received 17

nominations and 3 wins, including “Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series,” “Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series” and “Outstanding Contemporary Costumes.” The series won a

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

in the "Episodic Comedy" category, and was honored as one of the “Outstanding Television Programs of the Year” at the American Film Institute Awards for its second consecutive year. Jean Smart also won a Critics Choice Award for “Best Actress in a Comedy Series” for her second consecutive year. The series was nominated for three

, two

, and a

Producers Guild of America Award Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes ...

, among numerous others. More recently, Aniello and Paul W. Downs signed a deal with

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios, operating under the name Warner Bros. Television (abbreviated as WBTV; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division), is an American television production and distribution studio and the flagship studio o ...

Personal life

Aniello resides in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with her husband and comedic partner Paul W. Downs, with whom she co-wrote '' Rough Night''. After having their wedding delayed for 16 months due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Aniello and Downs got married in a September 2021 intimate ceremony in Italy. A week later, they publicly announced their wedding at the

73rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2020, until May 31, 2021, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award ceremony was held live on September 19, 2021, ...

during Aniello's acceptance speech after winning the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. They have a son, born in 2022.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aniello, Lucia 1983 births Columbia Lions women's tennis players American women screenwriters American women film producers Film producers from Massachusetts Television producers from Massachusetts American women television producers Living people American women film directors American television directors American women television directors Film directors from Massachusetts Directors Guild of America Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Hadley, Massachusetts Italian emigrants to the United States Screenwriters from Massachusetts American women television writers American television writers American showrunners 21st-century American women writers Writers Guild of America Award winners