Jill Wisoff is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

performer The performing arts are The arts, arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art object ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

film composer A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

best known for original music and songs in ''

Welcome to the Dollhouse ''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' is a 1995 American Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age black comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz. An independent film, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and launched the career ...

'',

Todd Solondz Todd Solondz (; born October 15, 1959) is an American filmmaker and playwright known for his style of dark, socially conscious satire. Solondz's work has received critical acclaim for its commentary on the "dark underbelly of middle class America ...

's critically acclaimed 1996

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Grand Jury Prize winner.

Works

Her original musical scores can be heard in such representative work as ''Second Skin'' by filmmaker

Amy Talkington Amy Virginia Talkington (born 1969) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and author. Background Talkington was born in Dallas, Texas. Her father, Clement Talkington, is a surgeon; her mother, Virginia Savage McAlester, is an architectural ...

, a 1999 Sundance Film Festival selection that sold to television worldwide. For producer Alan Sacks, she scored

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1963) is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous co ...

's 1996 directorial debut, ''Me and My Hormones'', an ABC Afterschool Special; in ''

Smart House ''Smart House'' is a 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) about a teenage computer nerd and contest whiz (Ryan Merriman), his widowed father, and his little sister, who win a computerized house that begins to take on a life of its own – ...

'', a 1999 TV movie for Disney Channel directed by

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''Root ...

, she co-wrote the song "The House is Jumpin'" with

Barry Goldberg Barry Joseph Goldberg (born December 25, 1942) is an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg has co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plus Bob Dylan's ve ...

and Joel Diamond, and contributed additional score. Working with filmmaker Adam Goldstein and produced by William Kennedy, she scored ''Woman Found Dead in Elevator'' (2000), based on a story by Ruth Tarson with special material provided by

Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...

and starring ''

Wit Wit is a form of intelligent humour, the ability to say or write things that are clever and usually funny. Someone witty is a person who is skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip, repartee, and wisecrack. Form ...

'' Broadway star

Kathleen Chalfant Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the ''Law & Order'' fr ...

and

George Plimpton George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was also known for " ...

Biography

Born in Queens, New York, she studied composition in the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

Preparatory Division and at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

under

Vivian Fine Vivian Fine (28 September 1913 – 20 March 2000) was an American composer. Life Vivian Fine was born in Chicago to David and Rose Fine. A piano prodigy, she became at age five the youngest student ever to be awarded a scholarship at the Chic ...

and

Henry Brant Henry Dreyfuss Brant (September 15, 1913 – April 26, 2008) was a Canadian-born American composer. An expert orchestrator with a flair for experimentation, many of Brant's works featured spatialization techniques. Biography Brant was born ...

. She attended the Neighborhood Playhouse and completed an MFA in Writing, concentration fiction, at the New School. She directed, composed music, performed in stock and off-off Broadway. She was lead guitarist for all-girl reggae band, Steppin' Razor, produced by

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

, who later produced her band The Con Artists, including some songs heard on the Welcome to the Dollhouse soundtrack. She later toured as bassist for the legendary

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with ...

as a member of his last band, The Oddballs. Between tours, she completed reshoots co-starring as Sharon opposite Todd Solondz's Ira in his lesser known first feature film, ''

Fear, Anxiety & Depression ''Fear, Anxiety and Depression'' is a 1989 American comedy film written and directed by Todd Solondz and starring Solondz, Stanley Tucci and Jill Wisoff. Production The film was Solondz's first for a major studio, after his work in film school h ...

'', theatrically released in 1989 through the Samuel Goldwyn Company, and was cited for her "comic flair" in Caryn James' New York Times review. She made her film directorial debut with ''

Creating Karma ''Creating Karma'' is a 2006 American screwball comedy film directed by Jill Wisoff about an uptight, New York fashion editor who becomes a poet after losing her job, moving in with her eccentric new-age therapist sister, and meeting Mr. Wrong, o ...

'', theatrically released in 2009. Her documentary produced with Harris F.B. Salomon, ''The Day After'', was completed in 2010 with footage shot at Ground Zero on September 12, 2001. Following a screening series by New York Women in Film and Television called ''Life in the Aftermath of 9/11'', it was included in the memorial library collection of the naval ship

USS New York USS ''New York'' may refer to: * , a gundalow built on Lake Champlain in 1776 that participated in the Battle of Valcour Island. * , a 36-gun frigate commissioned in 1800 and burned by the British in 1814. * , a 74-gun ship of the line laid down ...

, and the archives of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. She also co-wrote "The Collected Letters of Snaps" with Salomon. The adventures of a retired greyhound racing dog in New York.

Film scores

*''The Day After'' (2010) *''

'' (2009) (additional music, theme, sitar, ukulele) *''The New Arrival (2000) *''Woman Found Dead in Elevator'' (2000) *''

'' (1999) (additional music) *''Splinter'' (1999) *''Me and My Hormones'' (1996) *''

'' (1995) *''The Doorman'' (1987) *''In the Night'' (1987)

Discography

*''Diane Murray'' (2000) (on selected songs: Arrangements, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Synth Drums) *''Premears Volume 1'' (1999) (House is Jumpin included (co-written with Barry Goldberg, Joel Diamond and performed by Chane Andre) in this compilation of Disney Channel songs with various artists from original movies) *''IFC In Your Ear Volume 1'' (1999) (Welcome to the Dollhouse Theme Song included in album of selected soundtrack music) *''Welcome to the Dollhouse'' (1996) (Official Soundtrack co-produced with Todd Solondz: Songs from film and by The Con Artists included: Various Artists) *''The Con Artists - Above the Stinkin' Law'' (1992)Emusic.com
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wisoff, Jill American filmmakers Women film score composers American film score composers American film actresses Living people 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American composers 20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American composers 21st-century American women musicians 1953 births 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers