Former off-off Broadway actress and script supervisor, and a graduate of the AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, whose student film, "August/September", won her a writing job on the TV series "Family" in the late 1970s. Haines then directed several episodes of "Hill Street Blues", "Knots Landing" and "Tucker's Witch", as well as "Under This Sky", a PBS historical epic starring Irene Worth; "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall", starring Geraldine Fitzgerald; and the award-winning drama about incest, "Something About Amelia" (1984). Haines' feature debut, "Children of a Lesser God" (1986), was based on Mark Medoff's Tony award-winning drama about a dedicated speech teacher (William Hurt) and the stubborn deaf woman (Marlee Matlin) with whom he falls in love; the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Her second film, "The Doctor" (1991), again starred Hurt, this time as a callous heart surgeon humanized by his own hospitalization for cancer. Haines had less popular success with the sometimes endearing but uneven study of the friendship of two older men, "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" (1993).
Profession(s):
director, screenwriter, Actor, script supervisor
Sometimes Credited As:
Randa Jo Haines
American Film Institute Franklin J Schaffner Alumni Medal 1993
2006 Directed Matthew Perry in "The Ron Clark Story" (TNT); earned a nomination from the Directors Guild of America
2002 Produced "Antwone Fisher" directed by and starring Denzel Washington
1998 Directed the light but enjoyable "Dance With Me"
1993 Helmed "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway"
1991 Reteamed with Hurt for "The Doctor", about a medic suffering with cancer
1986 Directed first feature, "Children of a Lesser God", starring William Hurt and Marlee Matlin
1984 Helmed the acclaimed TV-movie "Something About Amelia", which dealt with father-daughter incest
1979 Directing debut for TV historical epic, "Under This Sky" (for PBS)
Raised in New York
Acted in off-off Broadway productions
Work with film students at the School of Visual Arts led to her choosing to work behind the camera
Worked at small film production company where she bought props, edited sound effects and became script supervisor (for almost ten years)
Directed and co-wrote student film, "August/September" (based on parts of a Doris Lessing novel) which led to her being hired as a writer for TV series, "Family"
Co-founded with Todd Black, Randa Haines/Todd Black Productions
