Jennifer Arnold is an Emmy-nominated director who was raised a drama-geek / skateboard kid in Santa Barbara, California. Her summers were spent living off the grid, without electricity, in the Trinity Alps and Alaskan wilderness with her extended family. She became a world traveler at age sixteen; moved to Kenya at nineteen and continues to work and travel abroad. She credits her story sense to her adventurous upbringing. In the episodic space Arnold has most recently directed "Based on a True Story," "P-Valley" and the pilot for "XO Kitty." which went number one on Netflix within 24 hours. Her other television credits include "Emily in Paris," "American Horror Story," "Younger," "Shameless," "The L-Word: Generation Q," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and "The Last Man on Earth among others. Her independent and documentary work has premiered at prestigious festivals around the world, including four appearances at Sundance. Arnold's feature documentary A Small Act (HBO) won the Humanitas Prize, a NAMIC Vision Award, and was nominated for the Best Documentary Emmy. Her other documentaries include The Diplomat (ESPN), Tig (Netflix), and Thicker Than Water, about Greg Louganis for ESPN's 30 for 30 shorts series. She has been an advisor at the Sundance labs and CNEX workshops in Asia and traveled to Kazakhstan with American Film Showcase. She attended UCLA's Graduate Film School and studied African History as an undergrad at UCLA and University of Nairobi. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife, the esteemed ASC cinematographer Patti Lee.
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Biography from TMDB.
- May 6, 1979 (47)
- Santa Barbara, California, USA
- Director and writer, also producer
- 22 on MovieCove · 27 credits in all
What are Jennifer Arnold's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Society and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 2 · Serious 2 · Dark 0
Grounded 3 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 2 · Intense 0
Steady 4 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 1
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 4 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 0
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy4
- Bittersweet1
- Ambiguous3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Jennifer Arnold's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 17 of their 22 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (8).
Subscription and free streaming for Jennifer Arnold's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
27 credits, 22 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Based on a True Story(2023)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all shows
XO, Kitty(2023)
Midcredits score: 38th percentile of all shows
Emily in Paris(2020)
Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all shows
P-Valley(2020)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all shows
The L Word: Generation Q(2019)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all shows
Dollface(2019)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all shows
Single Parents(2018)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all shows
Good Girls(2018)
Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all shows
A.P. Bio(2018)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all shows
Ghosted(2017)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all shows
Atypical(2017)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all shows
Fat Camp(2017)
Midcredits score: 13th percentile of all films
American Housewife(2016)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all shows
Thicker Than Water (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Tig(2015)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Younger(2015)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all shows
The Last Man on Earth(2015)
Midcredits score: 63rd percentile of all shows
Brooklyn Nine-Nine(2013)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
The Diplomat (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
American Horror Story(2011)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all films
Shameless(2011)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
A Small Act(2010)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Hip Hop Harry(2006)
Midcredits score: 4th percentile of all shows
Where the Girls Are (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
American Mullet (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)
Maid of Honor (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
Career shape
A full career of 26 titles from 1999 to 2023.
Biggest box office
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (2011)
Highest rated
Tig (2015)
Most popular right now
XO, Kitty (2023)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
Nominated for a Sundance award in 2010, Documentary.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Jennifer Arnold's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 76th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 79th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up9
- 50th to 74th8
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
11 of their 22 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved4
- Divisive2
- Crowd Pleaser11
- Mixed5
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Jennifer Arnold work with?
People who share at least 2 of Jennifer Arnold's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Michael Patrick Jann shares the most, 2.
Directors
- Michael Patrick JannShared titles: Ghosted (2017), The Last Man on Earth (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Michael Patrick Jann
Actors
- Mel RodriguezShared titles: Fat Camp (2017), The Last Man on Earth (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Mel Rodriguez
Cinematographers
- Patti LeeShared titles: Fat Camp (2017), A Small Act (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Patti Lee
Producers
- Jimmy TsaiShared titles: Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (2011), A Small Act (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Jimmy Tsai
