Michael Showalter is a prolific, Emmy-nominated director, writer, and producer who skillfully blends drama and comedy to tell unique and heartfelt stories with unconventional lead characters. Alongside his producing partner, Jordana Mollick, Showalter founded Semi-Formal Productions, where he focuses on producing contemporary and socially aware film and television.
On the feature film side, Showalter’s credits include the Prime Video holiday film Oh. What. Fun., The Idea of You, based on the best-selling novel of the same title, starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, and Spoiler Alert, a Focus Features film adaptation of journalist Michael Ausiello’s 2017 best-selling memoir, starring Sally Field and Jim Parsons.
Showalter also directed the two-time Oscar-winning film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, an intimate look behind the extraordinary rise, fall, and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, starring Jessica Chastain, who won Best Actress for her portrayal. Showalter’s 2017 film, The Big Sick, received an Oscar nomination for its script written by Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. Additional feature credits include writing and directing Hello, My Name Is Doris, starring Sally Field, as well as directing and producing the action-comedy The Lovebirds, starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae.
Previous TV projects include Paramount+’s “Happy Face” and Hulu’s “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, for which she won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. The show was nominated for six Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Directing. He also executive-produced “I Love That For You,” a half-hour comedy series on Showtime, starring Molly Shannon and Vanessa Bayer, and executive-produced and directed “The Shrink Next Door,” for Apple TV+, starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. He is the co-creator of “Wet Hot American Summer” and the hit HBO Max original series “Search Party”. On the television side, Showalter is currently set to direct and executive produce A24’s adaptation of the number one true crime podcast, “The Girlfriends”.
