Plenty of actors say they’d like to direct one day. Some of them actually do it, and a smaller group writes the script as well, taking full authorship of the story from the first page to the final cut.
The women on this list all started in front of the camera and later moved behind it. Each one has written and directed at least one feature, and the films are listed with their release details so you can check the work yourself.
Greta Gerwig
Gerwig built her name in indie films as an actress, then moved into directing with Lady Bird in 2017. She wrote the script herself, and the film earned five Oscar nominations, including nods for directing and original screenplay. Little Women followed in 2019, adapted by Gerwig from Louisa May Alcott’s novel.
Barbie, in 2023, was the biggest result. She directed it and cowrote it with Noah Baumbach, and it grossed well over a billion dollars worldwide. She also served as jury president at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and she is directing a Netflix adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia that is slated for late 2026.
Sarah Polley
Polley was a child actress in Canada, best known for the series Road to Avonlea. She moved into directing with Away from Her in 2006, and her adapted screenplay for it earned an Oscar nomination. Take This Waltz followed in 2011.
She also made the documentary Stories We Tell in 2012, a personal look at her own family. Her biggest awards moment came with Women Talking, which she adapted from Miriam Toews’s novel and directed. It won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the ceremony held in 2023.
Emerald Fennell
Fennell acted on British television, including a turn as Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown. She then became a writer, working on the second season of Killing Eve as head writer. Her feature directing debut was Promising Young Woman in 2020, which she wrote and directed.
That film won her the Oscar for best original screenplay. She followed it with Saltburn in 2023, again writing and directing. Her adaptation of Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, arrived in cinemas in February 2026.
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Gyllenhaal has been acting for decades, with credits including Secretary and The Dark Knight. Her first feature as a director was The Lost Daughter in 2021. She adapted the script from Elena Ferrante’s novel, and Olivia Colman led the cast.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the prize for best screenplay. It also earned Gyllenhaal an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay. Her next feature, The Bride!, which she wrote and directed with Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale in the cast, was set for release in 2026.
Kristen Stewart
Stewart became famous through the Twilight films, then built a career in arthouse cinema with directors such as Olivier Assayas. Her first step into directing was the short film Come Swim, which premiered at Sundance in 2017. She wrote that short as well.
Her feature debut is The Chronology of Water, adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir. Stewart wrote and directed it, with Imogen Poots in the lead role. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2025.
Rebecca Hall
Hall is a British actress who has worked on both stage and screen, with roles in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Prestige. She made her directing debut with Passing, which she also adapted from Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel. The film premiered at Sundance in 2021.
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga starred in the black and white drama, which Netflix released. Hall has said in interviews that the story had personal family significance for her. The film marked her arrival as a filmmaker with a distinct visual style.
Lena Dunham
Dunham acted in her own early work, including Tiny Furniture, which she wrote, directed and starred in. It premiered at SXSW in 2010 and led to the HBO series Girls. She wrote many episodes of that show and directed several of them.
Her later feature work includes Catherine Called Birdy, a 2022 adaptation of Karen Cushman’s young adult novel. Dunham wrote and directed it, with Bella Ramsey in the title role. The film was released through Prime Video.
Angelina Jolie
Jolie is an Oscar winning actress who has also directed several features. She wrote and directed In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011, a drama set during the Bosnian war. The cast spoke in local languages, and it was her first film as a director.
She also wrote and directed By the Sea in 2015, starring herself and Brad Pitt. For First They Killed My Father in 2017, she directed and cowrote the screenplay with Loung Ung, whose memoir inspired the film. Her other directing credits, such as Unbroken, were not written by her.
Natalie Portman
Portman won an Oscar for Black Swan and began her career as a child actress in Léon: The Professional. Her directing work started with the short film Eve in 2008. Her first feature, A Tale of Love and Darkness, came in 2015.
She wrote and directed that film, adapted from Amos Oz’s memoir, and also starred in it. The dialogue is in Hebrew, and it premiered at Cannes out of competition. It remains her only feature as writer and director so far.
Julie Delpy
Delpy is best known to many viewers as Céline in the Before trilogy with Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater. She cowrote the second and third films, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, and the pair of screenplays earned Oscar nominations. Away from that series, she became a filmmaker in her own right.
She wrote, directed and starred in 2 Days in Paris in 2007, a comedy about a couple visiting her hometown. She also composed music for the film. Later features she wrote and directed include The Countess, Skylab and Lolo.
Mia Hansen-Løve
Hansen-Løve began as a teenage actress in films by Olivier Assayas, including Late August, Early September. She then worked as a critic before turning to filmmaking. Her debut feature, All Is Forgiven, came out in 2007, and she has written all her films herself.
Things to Come, starring Isabelle Huppert, won her the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival in 2016. Bergman Island, in 2021, played in competition at Cannes. One Fine Morning, with Léa Seydoux, followed in 2022.
