HECKERLING, AMY

HECKERLING, AMY (1954– ), U.S. writer, director, producer. Heckerling grew up in New York City. She attended the High School of Art and Design and though she studied photography during her time there, she opted to pursue a different path upon completing high school, and went to NYU's prestigious Tisch School of Arts to study film. Based on the short films she made as an undergraduate student, one of which starred her NYU classmate and future mega-producer Joel Silver, Heckerling was accepted to the American Film Institute's directorial program, from which she received a master's degree. Despite a slow start at breaking into the movie industry after completing her graduate work, Heckerling's feature film debut was wildly successful. This was Fast Timesat Ridgemont High (1982), a comic look at modern, suburban teenagers that included such up-and-coming stars as Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh in its young cast. After Fast Times, Heckerling went on to make several consecutive box office duds, including Johnny Dangerously (1984) and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985). Following these movies, Heckerling came up with the idea for her next project while pregnant with her daughter Mollie Israel. Heckerling turned her inspiration into Look Who's Talking (1987), the box-office smash in which an infant's internal monologue is conveyed by the voice of Bruce Willis. She also wrote and directed the cultural touchstone Clueless (1995), which launched the career of Alicia Silverstone. Besides her many career achievements, Heckerling is a politically active liberal and devoted environmentalist. (Casey Schwartz (2nd ed.)