FILMMAKER

After graduating from UCLA, Tamara Hernandez wrote and directed two short films: The Slap and Baby Fat (starring Jim O’Heir from Parks and Recreation/Better Call Saul). Both films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The Slap was also in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and sold to Canal Plus for theatrical release in France and television release in eighteen other countries, including the Sundance Channel. Her feature directorial debut, Men Cry Bullets (starring Jeri Ryan from Star Trek), turned traditional gender roles surrounding domestic violence on their head. It won Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest, Best American Film at the Avignon Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival, and Best Film at several other festivals.

Hernandez then directed two documentaries: Dial “T” for Torment for Comedy Central (featuring Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Adam Carolla, and Kevin Nealon). She also directed and produced The Chicano Collection for actor and comedian Cheech Marin. The Chicano Collection played at LACMA and other museums and galleries in the U.S. and continues to screen annually in schools across the country during Latino Heritage Month. She directed and produced the music video Pretty Smile for Sangie Davis, Jamaican singer and songwriter for Bob Marley, and directed the behind-the-scenes music video Bedrock Twist for MCA Records featuring The Violent Femmes.

As a writer, she wrote for The Andy Milonakis Show for Comedy Central. Her screenplay, Peppermint Clouds, was selected for the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and has been an IFP Independent Filmmaker Narrative Screenplay Finalist.

Tamara produced Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust segment for The Jimmy Kimmel Show. She also produced The Last Man, with Roger Avary, released by Lion’s Gate.

She recently completed the short Happily Never After, which won the LA Comedy Film Festival and Independent Shorts Award. Currently, she is writing, directing, a couple of online series.

ENTREPRENEUR

Tamara took a break from filmmaking to focus on raising her two children. During this time, she co-founded an educational production company that created the award-winning series Your Child Can Read, distributed worldwide.

She later founded a trilingual immersion private school to give her children and others the opportunity to become fluent in both Mandarin and Spanish. She served as principal there for six years. The school is now entering its tenth year of operation.

MUSICIAN & COMEDIAN

Tamara has been working in recent years to write and create electronic music that incorporates storytelling, comedy, and feel-good cocktail-hour vibes.

As a stand-up comedian, she performs at The Comedy Store, Ice House, Flappers, and Ha Ha Club.