Desiree Akhavan (, born December 27, 1984) is an American filmmaker, writer, and actress. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut Appropriate Behavior, and her 2018 film The Miseducation of Cameron Post.
Early life and education Akhavan was born in Manhattan, New York in 1984. She has stated in interviews she now identifies as American. Her father has not returned to Iran since the 1980s, though Akhavan occasionally visited family overseas as a child. As a child, Akhavan lived in New Jersey before her family moved to Rockland County, New York. As a commuting student, she attended the Horace Mann School, an independent prep school in The Bronx.
Akhavan has attributed her first experiences with American culture through watching TV shows and films. She began writing plays when she was 10 years old and began acting in plays at 13 years old.
Akhavan studied Film and Theatre at Smith College, a women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she was "a bit of a loner". After graduating in 2007, she studied film directing as a graduate student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She also spent a year studying abroad at Queen Mary, University of London.
Career Akhavan made her first short film Two Drink Minimum while studying in London as a graduate student. In 2010, she wrote and directed the short film Nose Job.
Akhavan has regularly appeared in her own work following her writing, directing, and acting in the lesbian-themed web series The Slope. She and Ingrid Jungermann, her creative partner, were named to Filmmakers 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2012. The series premiered in 2011.
She plays a writing student in season 4 of Girls. The role was offered to her after Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner saw her film Appropriate Behaviour.
In 2014, Akhavan's film Appropriate Behavior, in which she plays an alternative version of herself, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was first written as her senior thesis paper as a graduate student at New York University. Although it is inspired by personal events in Akhavan's life, such as the break up of her first same-sex relationship, she has asserted that the film is not autobiographical. That year, she was also selected for the Sundance Institute's Episodic Story Lab for her pilot script Switch Hitter.
In 2015, Akhavan was the President of the Queer Palm jury at the Cannes Film Festival.
She has stated she draws inspiration from people such as Todd Solondz and Noah Baumbach.
Channel 4 commissioned a sitcom called The Bisexual to be written, directed by and starring Akhavan. It aired on October 10, 2018, in the U.K. and on November 16, 2018, in the U.S. The sitcom explores misconceptions of bisexuality. In an interview with UK's Bazaar, she said, "To me that was the perfect way to handle bisexuality, through the lens of a lesbian."
In November 2016, it was announced Akhavan would write, direct and produce The Miseducation of Cameron Post, starring Chloë Grace Moretz, and Sasha Lane. The critically acclaimed film won the 2018 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and was officially selected for the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Toronto LGBT Film Festival, San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, Outfest, and the San Francisco Indie Film Festival, earning multiple additional nominations and awards.
In an interview about her career with The Guardian, Akhavan proclaimed, "The only mainstream queer female stories have been directed by men--it disgusts me." In the same interview, Akhavan explains her intentions behind directing The Miseducation of Cameron Post. "I didn’t want it to be propaganda, though I think that would be a more commercially successful film. I wanted the tone to be right… Every film about teens is really about the moment they realise that none of the adults know what they’re doing."
On November 17, 2018, Akhavan attended the Vulture Festival, speaking at a sit-down conversation alongside actresses Chloë Grace Moretz and Tatum O’Neal to discuss working in the film industry.
In 2024, Akhavan's essay collection You're Embarrassing Yourself: Stories of Love, Lust and Movies was released. It follows Akhavan's life from childhood, to a nose job, to her time as an NYU graduate student, to her success as a filmmaker, all written in her characteristic self-deprecating humour. The book won the award for Bisexual Nonfiction at the 37th Lambda Literary Awards.
Activism Desiree Akhavan is an activist in advocating for the LGBTQ community in the film industry. She recounted in an interview that when she pitched The Bisexual to networks in Los Angeles in 2015, she "was rejected everywhere.” She stated the rejection was “because Americans are terrified of female sexuality,” on Twitter. Her work focuses on queer female stories, such as her films The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Bisexual, and Appropriate Behaviour.
After doing well at Sundance, The Miseducation of Cameron Post had trouble finding a distributor, which Akhavan attributes to the evident sexism in the industry. "Very few women have won the Sundance award, and it’s not escaping me that the one film that’s about female sexuality, directed by a woman, is having a harder time getting out there," she says. "Things are changing in the industry, but female-driven stories, specifically sexually driven female stories, are very difficult. If there is sex in the film, it has to be a man’s pleasure."
Like many, Akhavan is calling for change in the film industry. "There’s clearly something toxic in this industry, a place where women are paid a quarter of what the men are paid for the exact same job. Clearly there’s something diseased here. And now maybe we’ll see that the work won’t suffer because of this, that it will become exciting and diverse and tell stories we haven’t heard before."
When Akhavan was asked about the future of queer TV in her interview with Bazaar, she said, "There’s less of a separatist feeling the way we had at the time The L Word was being produced, so I think more queer subject matter is inching its way into mainstream television."
In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named her one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".
Personal life Akhavan is bisexual. She often explores her bisexuality within her work. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Filmography
Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Role Notes 2009The Feast of StephenSecond assistant director; short film2010Nose JobShort film2010AnkurAssistant director; short film2010YardsaleAssistant director; short film2010PhishingSound mixer; short film2011Lena dhe UnëAssistant director; short film2011Her Seat is VacantProduction manager; short film2013All Her NotebooksAssistant director; short film2013My Mom and Other MonstersProduction manager; short film2014Appropriate BehaviorShirinAlso director and writer; feature directorial debut 2017Creep 2 Sara2018The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Television YearTitleRole Notes 2015 Girls Chandra 3 episodes 2016–2018 Flowers Carol 5 episodes 2016 The Circuit Angie TV pilot 2018 The Bisexual Leila 6 episodesAlso co-creator, writer and director 2020 Briarpatch Director: "Breadknife Weather" 2020 Ramy Director: "Uncle Naseem" 2020 Monsterland Director: "Iron River, MI" 2021 Hacks Director: 2 episodes 2022 I Love That for You Director: 2 episodes 2023 Tiny Beautiful Things Director: 4 episodes 2025 Overcompensating Director: 4 episodes
Web YearTitleRole Notes 20102012The SlopeDesireeAlso director, writer and producer
Personal television appearances YearTitleNotesRoleRef(s)2014How We Make MoviesTV seriesHerself2018Entertainment Tonight CanadaTV seriesHerself2018Dykes, Camera, Action!DocumentaryHerself2019Hollywood InsiderTV seriesHerself
Bibliography
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2014Independent Spirit AwardBest Debut ScriptAppropriate BehaviorSan Diego Asian Film FestivalGrand Jury Award 2018 Sundance Film FestivalGrand Jury Prize - U.S. DramaticThe Miseducation of Cameron PostDallas International Film FestivalGrand Jury PrizeMolodist International Film FestivalSunny Bunny PrizeSeattle International Film FestivalFuturewave Youth Jury AwardSydney Film FestivalSydney Film PrizeSão Paulo International Film FestivalNew Directors CompetitionTransatlantyk Festival: LodzTransatlantyk Distribution AwardValladolid International Film FestivalSilver SpikeValladolid International Film FestivalYouth Jury AwardValladolid International Film FestivalGolden Spike2025Lambda Literary AwardsBisexual NonfictionYou're Embarrassing Yourself
See also List of female film and television directors List of LGBT-related films directed by women LGBT culture in New York City List of LGBT people from New York City NYC Pride March List of Iranian actresses
References
External links