Jessie Nelson

Jessie Nelson is an American film producer, director, actress and writer.

Nelson began her career acting with the theater group Mabou Mines at the Public Theater in New York and she went on to perform in Shakespeare In The Park.

Nelson began her directing career with the award-winning short film To the Moon, Alice (1990), which she also wrote.

The film starred Chris Cooper and was part of a television program for Showtime titled The Showtime 30-Minute Movie.

Her first feature film was Corrina, Corrina (1994) which she wrote, directed, and produced.

It starred Whoopi Goldberg and Ray Liotta.

The film was suggested by her life.

She co-wrote Stepmom (1998) and The Story of Us (1999), and co-wrote and produced Because I Said So and Fred Claus, the latter of which is based on a bedtime story she would tell her daughter.

She went on to write, direct, and produce I Am Sam (2001) starring Sean Penn.

She received the first Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild for I Am Sam in 2002.

Nelson co-authored the 2011 children's book Labracadabra (Penguin, 2011, ISBN 0670012513) with Karen Leigh Hopkins.

She is married to director Bryan Gordon.

They have a daughter, actress Molly Gordon.

She is Jewish.

In 2014 she produced Danny Collins which starred Al Pacino and Annette Bening.

Her most recent film is Love the Coopers (2015), starring a large ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin.

She wrote the Broadway musical adaptation of the movie Waitress with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, directed by Diane Paulus, which premiered on Broadway in April 2016.

She also co-directed and co-produced the live film recording of the musical's 2021 remounting, which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2023.

She co-wrote and directed the musical Alice by Heart with Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik, which opened Off-Broadway in February 2019.