Vanessa is an Academy Award, Emmy Honors, DuPont-Columbia and Sundance Award Winning filmmaker with over 25 years of Directing, Producing and Writing social justice documentary features, series, shorts and branded content. Among her work she is the Executive Producer, Writer and Director of the Emmy Honors winning international series, Daughters of Destiny (Netflix Originals), Oscar winner for her film Freeheld (HBO), Director of the Premium Documentary Mary J Blige's My Life(Amazon Originals), as well as Executive Producer, Writer and Director for National Geographic Presents IMPACT with Gal Gadot, an international 6- part series and feature length documentary (National Geographic Originals). Her work has garnered the highest of honors in documentary, film, television and journalism with over 60 awards including the Oscar, The Television Academy Emmy Award for Social Impact, Sundance Prizes, Cine Golden Eagles, Casey Medals, Impact Doc Awards for Best in Show and Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking, IDA nominations, Audience Awards and Jury Prizes at festivals around the world, as well as top honors for work in social impact, social justice, witness to history and legacy, youth empowerment and women's rights. Her projects, known for their intimacy, honesty, and cinematic approach to real life are made around the world; from big cities to the most rural villages, collaborating with children, teens and families that have never been given an avenue to tell their stories, to world leaders. She has made content for Netflix, Amazon, ESPN, PBS, A&E, NBC, National Geographic, Discovery, UNESCO, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The USC Shoah Foundation, Amplify, Storyfile, The Nanjing Memorial Hall, Holocaust Memorial halls, has been a TEDX speaker as well as key-note speaker and adjunct professor for universities, organizations and foundations focused on youth and female empowerment, ethics, legacy, memory, history and storytelling. Vanessa has a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing and Psychology from UCLA and holds a Master's degree in Social Work and minor in family law from Columbia University. Before making films, Vanessa worked as a Child Advocate in New York and California courts, schools and hospitals. Some of Vanessa's film and television work includes, National Geographic Presents IMPACT with Gal Gadot docu-series, Mary J Blige's My Life, Daughters of Destiny docu-series, The Other Side 30 for 30, Liberation Heroes: The Last Eyewitnesses, The Girl and the Picture, Freeheld, American Teacher, The Texas Promise, Taken In, Aging Out, No Tomorrow, Close to Home, 911 Toxic Dust, Third Monday in October. Vanessa lives in New York with her husband and three children. Her eldest daughter is singer/songwriter Maya Donovan and her father is Academy Award Winning Screenwriter, Eric Roth.
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Biography from IMDb.
- Director, producer and writer
- 11 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
Known for
What are Vanessa Roth's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 5
Light 0 · Serious 2 · Dark 3
Grounded 5 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 1 · Charged 3 · Intense 1
Steady 3 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
A split, not a type: Casual 3 · Engaged 1 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 3
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 2
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet4
- Ambiguous2
- Cyclical1
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 Vanessa Roth's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 11 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
- discovery+
Subscription and free streaming for Vanessa Roth'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
16 credits, 11 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Anxious Nation(2022)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Mary J Blige's My Life(2021)
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all shows
The Girl and The Picture (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Daughters of Destiny(2017)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all showsThe Texas Promise (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
American Teacher(2011)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
No Tomorrow(2010)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Freeheld (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)
The Third Monday in October (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Aging Out(2004)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Forrest Gump(1994)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
Melrose Place(1992)
Midcredits score: 14th percentile of all shows
Beverly Hills, 90210(1990)
Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all showsThe Other Side (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 15 titles, 14 of them dated from 1990 to 2022.
Biggest box office
American Teacher (2011)
Highest rated
Daughters of Destiny (2017)
Most popular right now
National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot (2021)
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
an Oscar from 2 major nominations, 2002–2008.
- Oscar, won · Best Documentary, Short Subjects
- Sundance award, nominated · 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 Vanessa Roth's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 74th percentile, the median of all 6; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 73rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 11 titles are Mixed.
- Universally Loved3
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic2
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the atmosphere 60/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 65, detractors 50. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
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 Vanessa Roth work with?
People who share at least 2 of Vanessa Roth's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Arthur Yee shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Roger WeisbergShared titles: No Tomorrow (2010), Aging Out (2004)See all 2 shared titles with Roger Weisberg
Cinematographers and editors
- Arthur YeeShared titles: American Teacher (2011), No Tomorrow (2010), Aging Out (2004)See all 3 shared titles with Arthur Yee
- Emily WilliamsShared titles: Anxious Nation (2022), National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Emily Williams
- Daniel B. GoldShared titles: Daughters of Destiny (2017), American Teacher (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Daniel B. Gold
Producers
- Devorah PalladinoShared titles: National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot (2021), Daughters of Destiny (2017)See all 2 shared titles with Devorah Palladino
- Tara LongShared titles: Mary J Blige's My Life (2021), National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Tara Long