Nicole Kassell (born 1972) is an American film and television director who is noted for her work on films such as The Woodsman and on TV in series such as Vinyl, The Leftovers and Watchmen. Kassell has won numerous awards including a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for the Watchmen episode "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice". She has been nominated for numerous Awards including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series for Watchmen. Early life Kassell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in Charlottesville, VA where she attended St. Anne's-Belfiield School. Her father, Dr. Neal Kassell, a University of Virginia medical professor, performed two brain surgeries on Joe Biden in 1988 to repair his aneurysm and the two have remained friends ever since. She earned a BA in Art history from Columbia University, and received her MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. While a student at NYU, she made three short films, including The Green Hour, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. While attending NYU she received full scholarship for two years. Career Film A year earlier, she had won the Slamdance Screenplay Competition for her first feature-length project, The Woodsman (2004 film), adapted from Steven Fechter's 1997 minimalist play she had seen staged at The Actors Studio in New York City. Her enthusiasm for it convinced Lee Daniels, one of the producers of Monster's Ball, to help her get funding for the film version. When he approached Kevin Bacon, the actor was so impressed by the script, about a convicted child molester forced to deal with social prejudice and the fear he will not be able to control his dark urges after he is released from prison, that he suggested he star in the movie opposite wife Kyra Sedgwick. The Woodsman competed at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival, was featured in the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, and eventually was released to the public in 2004. Kassell's second feature film, A Little Bit of Heaven, a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Gael García Bernal, had its first release in February 2011 in the UK. She has adapted Arthur Miller's play The Ride Down Mt. Morgan for the