# Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal
**Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal** (born 1946 in New York City) is an American screenwriter and producer who won the Golden Globe Award and received an Academy Award nomination for her original screenplay for *[Running on Empty](https://www.edgepedia.org/running-on-empty-1988-film)* (1988), and who made her directorial debut with *[Very Good Girls](https://www.edgepedia.org/very-good-girls)* (2013). She began her career in children's educational television at the Children's Television Workshop and is the mother of actors Maggie and [Jake Gyllenhaal](https://www.edgepedia.org/jake-gyllenhaal).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/) • [2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1946, New York City, to two doctor parents[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) |
| Signature work | *Running on Empty* (1988), directed by Sidney Lumet; Oscar nomination, Golden Globe, and PEN West Screenplay Award for the original screenplay[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) |
| Early career | About ten years at the Children's Television Workshop, working on *Sesame Street* and *The Electric Company*, and co-creating the PBS drama *The Best of Families* (1977)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) |
| Family | Mother of actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal; formerly married to director Stephen Gyllenhaal and historian Eric Foner[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/) |
| Directing | *Very Good Girls* (2013), her only directing credit to date, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) |
| Teaching | Screenwriting at Columbia Film School, NYU, USC, UCLA, and at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in the US and abroad[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) |
## Early life and television career
Foner grew up in the Ditmas Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, in one of its large Victorian houses; her parents were both doctors.[4](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner) She took a degree in developmental psychology and, after graduate school, joined the newly formed *Sesame Street*, working her way up from production assistant to producer.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-27-et-foner27-story.html) Encyclopedia.com's career entry also records that she served as media director of [Eugene McCarthy](https://www.edgepedia.org/eugene-mccarthy)'s 1968 campaign for president.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/foner-naomi-1950)
Her television work ran through the 1970s. She created animated shorts for *Sesame Street* and served as associate producer on two seasons of *The Electric Company*, where she also appeared on screen as Naomi in the spoof soap opera segment "Love of Chair." She helped create *The Best of Families* (PBS, 1977), a 19th-century drama about three families of different social classes, and wrote episodes of the anthology series *Visions* (PBS, 1976–1980) and the prime-time soap *Secrets of Midland Heights* (CBS, 1980–81).[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner)
## Screenwriting
Her first film screenwriting credit was *Violets Are Blue* (1986), a romantic drama in which a famous photographer reunites with her married high school sweetheart.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) She has described the long apprenticeship before it: at Warner Bros. she was asked what she wanted to write, answered "my mother and my sisters," and was told, "Can you make these Jews Italians?" She wrote for stars including [Barbra Streisand](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbra-streisand) and [Dustin Hoffman](https://www.edgepedia.org/dustin-hoffman), but, in her words, "nothing ever got made."[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-27-et-foner27-story.html)
**Running on Empty.** The 1988 drama, directed by [Sidney Lumet](https://www.edgepedia.org/sidney-lumet) and starring [Judd Hirsch](https://www.edgepedia.org/judd-hirsch), Christine Lahti, and [River Phoenix](https://www.edgepedia.org/river-phoenix), follows a couple on the run because of their politically subversive past, and their son who must choose between their lives and his own future.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-27-et-foner27-story.html) According to the AFI Catalog, producers Amy Robinson and Griffin Dunne developed the idea after reading a New York Times story about a high school student whose radical parents were apprehended by the FBI; Foner was brought on to write a fictional story inspired by true events and drew on her radical friends, including a Columbia University classmate who went underground in 1969 with the Weather Underground.[7](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59101) The film earned Foner an Academy Award nomination, a Golden Globe Award, and a PEN West Screenplay Award, and secured an Oscar nomination for River Phoenix.[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) • [4](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner) She also served as executive producer.[8](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/257919)
**The 1990s and 2000s.** Her next two films as writer and producer, *A Dangerous Woman* (1993) and *Losing Isaiah* (1995), were both directed by her then-husband [Stephen Gyllenhaal](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-gyllenhaal); *A Dangerous Woman* also marked the first time her children Maggie and Jake appeared on screen together.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) After production work on the crime comedy *Homegrown* (1998), she took a break from the industry before returning to write *Bee Season* (2005), the adaptation of Myla Goldberg's 2000 novel about a family's spiritual quest through competitive spelling.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner)
## Directing: Very Good Girls
Foner wrote the script for *Very Good Girls* about 20 years before filming it, after attending the AFI's director's workshop for women; she has said it took a divorce, a move back to New York, and a "now I can do anything" resolve to finally direct.[4](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner) The film premiered at the 2013 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival), starred [Dakota Fanning](https://www.edgepedia.org/dakota-fanning) and [Elizabeth Olsen](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-olsen) as two Brooklyn friends whose bond is tested when both fall for the same street artist, and was distributed by Tribeca Films.[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) The AFI Catalog dates its US release to July 25, 2014, with a 91-minute running time.[9](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/70639-VERY-GOODGIRLS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=1df22de9-76e0-481b-b5b1-7b377f87c338&sr=8.72409) Foner set and shot the film in Ditmas Park, where she grew up, updating the 1970s-period script to the present to keep the budget low.[4](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner)
## Themes and reception
Foner has said that, consciously or not, she is always writing about family as "both a positive and dangerous force," and about the adolescent moment of choosing how much of oneself belongs to the family.[4](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner) Critics received *Running on Empty* warmly; Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "remarkably successful in playing its taut portrayal of 1960s radicals still on the run against a warm evocation of family life and first love."[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/foner-naomi-1950) On Rotten Tomatoes it remains her highest-rated film at 81 percent, while *Very Good Girls* is her lowest at 20 percent.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) Foner herself said publicly, before *Bee Season* opened, that it did not turn out to be quite the movie she had in mind when she began writing it.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-27-et-foner27-story.html)
At the 2013 Sundance women directors' roundtable, she described the industry constraints she had faced: after years as an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, "there are certain things no one will ask me to write," and women are not entrusted with the same budgets as men.[10](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-jan-24-la-et-mn-sundance-women-20130127-story.html)
## Family and other work
Foner was previously married to director Stephen Gyllenhaal and to historian [Eric Foner](https://www.edgepedia.org/eric-foner).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/) When Maggie Gyllenhaal received an Oscar nomination for her adapted screenplay of *The Lost Daughter*, mother and daughter became the second mother-daughter pair both nominated for screenwriting Oscars; Foner was nominated in 1989 for *Running on Empty*.[11](https://www.thewrap.com/maggie-gyllenhaal-oscar-reaction/)
Beyond film, she has served on the Executive Committee of the Writers Branch of the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences), as co-chair of the USC Scripter Awards, on the Nicholl Fellowship selection committee, and on the Writers Guild of America Board of Directors; she has been on the board of 826LA and supports the ACLU.[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229) Sundance Collab also lists her as developing an adaptation of Kathy Hepinstall's novel *The Book of Polly* for Amazon and a sequel to *Running on Empty* with the original producers.[2](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229)
## Note on birth year
Most sources, including IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, give her birth date as 1946, in New York City.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner) Encyclopedia.com's biographical entry, however, heads its profile "Foner, Naomi 1950 (?)-", a discrepancy it leaves unresolved.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/foner-naomi-1950)
## References
1. [Naomi Foner, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/)
2. [Naomi Foner, Sundance Collab](https://collab.sundance.org/people/Naomi-Foner-1603989229)
3. [Naomi Foner Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/naomi_foner)
4. [Naomi Foner and the Importance of Being Earnest, Interview Magazine (2014)](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/naomi-foner)
5. [The kids are all right, and so is their mom, Los Angeles Times (2005)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-27-et-foner27-story.html)
6. [Foner, Naomi 1950 (?)-, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/foner-naomi-1950)
7. [Running on Empty (1988), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59101)
8. [Naomi Foner filmography, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/257919)
9. [Very Good Girls (2014), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/70639-VERY-GOODGIRLS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=1df22de9-76e0-481b-b5b1-7b377f87c338&sr=8.72409)
10. [Sundance 2013: Female directors discuss the challenges they face, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-jan-24-la-et-mn-sundance-women-20130127-story.html)
11. [Maggie Gyllenhaal 'Burst Into Tears' When She Heard the Oscar Nominations, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/maggie-gyllenhaal-oscar-reaction/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Screenwriters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license