# Lesli Linka Glatter

Lesli Linka Glatter (born July 26, 1953) is an American film and television director. She is best known for her work on the AMC drama series Mad Men and the Showtime series Homeland. For her work in these two shows, she has received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations and seven Directors Guild of America Awards nominations, winning the latter three times. She has also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for short film Tales of Meeting and Parting (1985).

## Life and career

Glatter was born in Dallas to Jewish parents and began her career as a dancer and choreographer. Her early choreography credits include William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A and the music video for Sheila E.'s "The Glamorous Life".
Her first film, Tales of Meeting and Parting (1984), produced by Sharon Oreck, was nominated for an Academy Award in the Live Action Short Film category. She made the film as part of the American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women, of which she is an alumna.
In 1995, Glatter directed her first feature film, Now and Then, a coming-of-age story about four 12-year-old girls during an eventful summer in 1970.
She has made several television films for cable networks, but the majority of her work is in television series. Glatter has received six nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, for the Mad Men episode "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" (2009), and the Homeland episodes "Q&A" (2012), "From A to B and Back Again" (2014), "The Tradition of Hospitality" (2015), "America First" (2016), and "Prisoners of War" (2020).
In 2018 it was announced that Glatter would serve as chair on the advisory council for NBC's Female Forward. An annual initiative to give ten women directors the opportunity to shadow a director on one of NBC's scripted television series for up to three episodes. The experience concludes with an in-season commitment for each finalist to direct at least one episode of the series they shadow.
On February 5, 2019, it was announced that Glatter would be credited as an executive producer alongside Bruna Papandrea and Charlotte Stoudt in the Netflix thriller series, Pieces of Her. More recently, she and Cheryl Bloch launched Backyard Pictures with a first look deal at Universal Television.
In 2021, Glatter was elected president of the Directors Guild of America.
In February 2023, she directed and executive produced Love & Death, an HBO Max limited series written by David E. Kelley and starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jesse Plemons. It premiered on April 27, 2023.
In January 2025, Glatter's house was destroyed by the Palisades Fire.

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1984 | Tales of Meeting and Parting | Short film |
| 1995 | Now and Then | |
| 1998 | The Proposition | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1986–1987 | Amazing Stories | |
| 1987 | Into the Homeland | Television film |
| 1988 | Vietnam War Story | |
| 1990 | Brewster Place | |
| 1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | |
| 1992 | On the Air | |
| 1993 | Black Tie Affair | |
| 1994 | State of Emergency | Television film |
| 1994 | NYPD Blue | |
| 1994 | Birdland | |
| 1995–2008 | ER | |
| 1996 | Murder One | |
| 1998 | Brooklyn South | |
| 1998 | Buddy Faro | |
| 1999–2001 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | |
| 2000 | Freaks and Geeks | |
| 2000–2007 | Gilmore Girls | |
| 2001 | Third Watch | |
| 2001 | Citizen Baines | |
| 2002 | Presidio Med | |
| 2002–2006 | The West Wing | |
| 2005 | The O.C. | |
| 2005 | Numb3rs | |
| 2005 | Jonny Zero | |
| 2005 | Revelations | |
| 2005 | Grey's Anatomy | |
| 2006 | The Evidence | |
| 2006 | The Closer | |
| 2006 | Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip | |
| 2007 | Heartland | |
| 2007 | Heroes | |
| 2007 | Journeyman | |
| 2007–2010 | Mad Men | |
| 2007–2009 | House M.D. | |
| 2008 | Swingtown | |
| 2008 | The Starter Wife | |
| 2009 | The Unit | |
| 2009 | Weeds | |
| 2009 | The Mentalist | |
| 2009–2010 | Lie to Me | |
| 2010 | The Good Wife | |
| 2010–2012 | Pretty Little Liars | |
| 2010–2012 | True Blood | |
| 2011 | The Chicago Code | |
| 2011 | The Playboy Club | |
| 2012 | Boss | |
| 2012 | Nashville | |
| 2012 | Last Resort | |
| 2012–2013 | The Newsroom | |
| 2012–2020 | Homeland | 25 episodes |
| 2013 | The Walking Dead | |
| 2013 | Justified | |
| 2013 | Masters of Sex | |
| 2013–2015 | Ray Donovan | |
| 2014 | The Leftovers | |
| 2017 | Six | |
| 2017 | Law & Order True Crime | |
| 2021 | The Morning Show | 1 episode |
| 2023 | Love & Death | 5 episodes |
| 2025 | Zero Day | 6 episodes |

### Music videos

| Year | Title |
| 2004 | "Keeping Last" |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 1985 | Academy Award | Best Live Action Short Film | Tales of Meeting and Parting | Nominated |
| 1991 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Twin Peaks - "Episode 5" | Nominated |
| 2010 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Mad Men - "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" | Won |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Mad Men - "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" | Nominated |
| 2013 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Homeland - "Q&A" | Nominated |
| 2013 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "Q&A" | Nominated |
| 2014 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "The Star" | Nominated |
| 2015 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "From A to B and Back Again" | Won |
| 2015 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Homeland - "From A to B and Back Again" | Nominated |
| 2015 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Homeland | Nominated |
| 2016 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Homeland - "The Tradition of Hospitality" | Nominated |
| 2016 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Homeland | Nominated |
| 2016 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "The Tradition of Hospitality" | Nominated |
| 2016 | Dorothy Arzner Directors Award | Dorothy Arzner Directors Award | Dorothy Arzner Directors Award | Won |
| 2017 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Homeland - "America First" | Nominated |
| 2019 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "Paean to the People" | Nominated |
| 2020 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | Homeland - "Prisoners of War" | Nominated |
| 2021 | Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series | Homeland - "Prisoners of War" | Won |