Martha Coolidge

Martha Coolidge (1946, New Haven, Connecticut) studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she made short films. After this training she left for New York where she studied at the School of Visual Arts, Columbia University and New YorkUniversity's Institute of Film and Television. In 1968 she moved to Canada where she made a daily television programme for children, Magic Tom. After having produced and directed several documentaries, Coolidge made in Los Angeles her first long feature Valley Girl (1983), the film in which Nicholas Cage played his first leading role.