Rachel Lee Goldenberg (born 1984/1985) is an American film director and screenwriter. She has directed a number of feature films and television episodes. She had her breakthrough after she was discovered by

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 20 ...

, who gave her the opportunity to direct the Lifetime television film '' A Deadly Adoption'', in which he starred. Her 1980s musical film ''

Valley Girl A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, fro ...

'' was released in May 2020. She has also directed films made by

The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and s ...

. In addition she directed web shorts for

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a re ...

, including the series Lady Time. Her next film, ''

Unpregnant ''Unpregnant'' is a 2020 American female buddy road comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg. The film is based upon the novel of the same name by Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie ...

'', premiered on September 10, 2020, on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...

Early life

In 2003, Goldenberg graduated from Algoquin Regional High School in Northboro, Massachusetts. She then attended

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and ...

where she obtained her B.S. in cinema and photography.

Career

After graduating from college, Goldenberg moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

where she worked at the B movie production company

. She soon was given the opportunity to direct various films. Then she began directing and producing for

, a website launched by actor

and screenwriter Adam McKay. As part of her stint at Funny or Die, she served as the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

liaison during the

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

administration. In 2014, she won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series was first awarded at the 63rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards The 63rd Annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 10, 2011 at th ...

for producing the Obama episode of the series ''

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis ''Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis'' is an American talk show hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis which features celebrity guests. Episodes last several minutes, in which the interviewer (Galifianakis) and guests trade barbs and insults ...

''. Will Ferrell and Andrew Steele became interested in her unusual resume of both comedy and Lifetime movies, and hired her to direct Ferrell and

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Canandaigua, New York, she was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York. She moved to Los Angeles, where she joi ...

in the Lifetime television film '' A Deadly Adoption''.

Filmography

Films

Direct-to-video

Television

TV movies * ''Love at the Christmas Table'' (2012) * ''Escape From Polygamy'' (2014) * '' A Deadly Adoption'' (2015) * ''Playing Dead'' (2018) TV series

References

External links

*
''Princess and the Pony''
at

''Sherlock Holmes''
at

Official website
American women film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Ithaca College alumni 21st-century American women {{US-film-director-stub