Amy Heckerling is an award-winning writer and director known for her humorous explorations of the lives of teen girls. Her quirky directorial style and knack for discovering fresh angles on classic stories led to her popular and critical successes with films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless. Even as a high school student, Heckerling dreamed of becoming a film director, watching screenings of old movies at the Museum of Modern Art. She studied film at NYU and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She directed her first feature, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in 1982, and the film became a cult classic. Her pregnancy inspired her to write, direct, and produce Look Who’s Talking in 1989 and the film’s box office success spawned several sequels and a television show. She both wrote and directed Clueless, her modern take on Jane Austen’s Emma, which became as much a touchstone for teens of that era as Fast Times had been a decade before. She then produced another cult classic, A Night at the Roxbury, in 1998. Heckerling also directed 1984’s Johnny Dangerously, 1985’s National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and a selection of sequels and television shows. She later branched into writing and directing for television, with stints on “Gossip Girl” and “The Carrie Diaries.”