Summer-Joy "SJ" Main Muñoz is an American filmmaker primarily known for directing television and award-winning short films often of the

Western genre The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

or featuring Latino themes.

Early life

Main Muñoz was born in

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

to a

Costa Rican Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

mother (Muñoz) and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

/Irish father (Main) and was raised in

Cambria, California Cambria () is a seaside village in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California State Route 1 (Highway 1). The name Cambria, chosen in 1869, is the Latin name for Wales (Welsh, ...

. At the age of eleven, Main Muñoz was featured on

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

as a member of the dance group "Short 'n Sweet." Main Muñoz worked as a model for surf photographer Dan Merkel in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

. Main Muñoz also modeled for Seventeen at the age of 17. Main Muñoz attended the UCLA Theater Department where she studied directing and acting for the theater. While attending UCLA, Main Muñoz interned at DreamWorks SKG in the Feature Development (

Amblin Entertainment Amblin' Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are lo ...

), Story and

Casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

departments.

Early professional career

While completing a master's degree in directing at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, Main Muñoz worked for directors, producers and production companies including

Michael Hausman Michael Hausman is an American musician and talent manager, known for his collaboration with former-girlfriend and bandmate Aimee Mann. Hausman attended Berklee College of Music and played with a Boston band called The Dark before becoming the dr ...

of Cinehaus, and

Ismail Merchant Ismail Merchant (born Ismail Noor Muhammad Abdul Rahman; 25 December 1936 – 24 May 2005) was an Indian film producer. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director (and Merchant's longt ...

and

James Ivory (director) James Francis Ivory (born Richard Jerome Hazen June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was a principal in Merchant Ivory Productions along with Indian film producer Ismail Merchant (his domestic and professi ...

Merchant Ivory Productions Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During the ...

. She has served as a

Script Reader Script coverage is a filmmaking term for the analysis and grading of screenplays, often within the "script development" department of a production company. While coverage may remain entirely oral, it usually takes the form of a written report, guide ...

Walden Media Walden Media, LLC is an American independent studio that develops, produces and finances feature films and television series for the U.S. and global markets. Its films focus on stories of courage drawn from biographies, historical events, and li ...

and

Radical Media Radical media are communication outlets that disperse action-oriented political agendas utilizing existing communication infrastructures and its supportive users. These types of media are differentiated from conventional mass communications thro ...

, and for other New York-based production companies. She was Executive Assistant to director

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 70th Academy Awards, 1998, and the Golden Lion#Golden Lion – Honorary Award, Career Golden Lion ...

. Upon receipt of her master's degree in Film Directing, Main Muñoz moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a writer, director, producer, line producer, and unit production manager. Main Muñoz established the film and media production company Tica Productions in 2007.

Awards

Main Muñoz's film ''La Cerca (The Fence)'' (narrated by

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Detective List of Blade Runner (franchise) characters#Gaff, Gaff in ''Blade Runner'' (1982) and its sequel ''Blade Runner 2049'' (2017), Lieuten ...

) won Best

Cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

from

Rhode Island International Film Festival Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) takes place every year in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island as well as satellite locations throughout the state. Started in 1997, the Festival is produced by Flickers, the Newpor ...

and

Temecula Valley International Film Festival The Temecula Valley International Film Festival is a film festival held in Temecula Valley, California. Background Launched in September 1995 and held, uninterrupted every September until 2011 (later to relaunch in 2014), the festival proclaims i ...

, among other awards. It was named Best Film Honorable Mention from the

and was a nominee of the

Imagen Awards The Imagen Awards are administered by the Imagen Foundation, an organization dedicated to "encouraging and recognizing the positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry." To be considered for an Imagen Award, a media piece or person ...

. Main Munoz's follow-up

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

''Requiescat'' also garnered awards, including the Clairmont Camera Filmmaker Grant.

Other

Main Muñoz completed a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree (

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

) at the Media and Communications Division of the

European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, ...

of Switzerland. Her doctoral dissertation presents philosophy for cinema production and the role of the American Movie Producer of narrative commercial cinema. Main Muñoz's great-grandfather is the Costa Rican musician José Daniel Zúñiga Zeledón, composer of "Caña Dulce" and other Costa Rican national folk songs. She was formerly a regularly contributing writer to

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

on the subject of Latino Film. Main Muñoz was the only Latina narrative director invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in June 2020. Meet SJ Main Muñoz, the Only Latina Director to Be Invited Into the Academy. BeLatina.com.
2 July 2020

Filmography

Television

*''

Pulse In medicine, the pulse refers to the rhythmic pulsations (expansion and contraction) of an artery in response to the cardiac cycle (heartbeat). The pulse may be felt ( palpated) in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surfac ...

''(

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

) *'' Seal Team''(

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

) *''

Fear the Walking Dead ''Fear the Walking Dead'' is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson for AMC. It is a spin-off to '' The Walking Dead'', which is based on the comic book series of the same na ...

''(

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

) *''

Manifest Manifest may refer to: Computing * Manifest file, a metadata file that enumerates files in a program or package * Manifest (CLI), a metadata text file for CLI assemblies Events * Manifest (convention), a defunct anime festival in Melbourne, Au ...

''(

) *'' The Cleaning Lady'' (Fox) *''

American Horror Stories ''American Horror Stories'' is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for FX on Hulu. Originally premiering on July 15, 2021, the series serves as a direct spin-off/ companion series to ''Americ ...

''(

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

) *'' 9-1-1: Lone Star'' (Fox) *'' The Rookie'' (ABC) *'' Ordinary Joe''(

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

) *'' Chicago P.D.''(

) *''

Chicago Med ''Chicago Med'' is an American medical drama series broadcast by NBC and created by Dick Wolf as the third installment of the ''Chicago'' franchise. It stars Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Torrey DeVitto, Rachel DiPillo, Colin Donnell, ...

''(

)

Short films

References

External links

*
''Huffington Post'' profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Main Munoz, SJ Living people Film directors from California American women film directors UCLA Film School alumni 1978 births Western (genre) film directors Columbia University School of the Arts alumni American people of Costa Rican descent 21st-century American women