Life and career[edit]

Newman was born in Hoboken, New Jersey and graduated from The Hudson School in 1996.^[4] She holds a B.A. in French and women’s studies from Vassar College and an MFA in film from Columbia University.^[5][6] Her first short film, Blue-Eyed Mary, was shown at the Portland Oregon Women’s Film Festival in 2010.^[7]


Newman made her feature directorial debut with the drama film First Match starring Elvire Emanuelle, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Colman Domingo and Jharrel Jerome, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. First Match was released by Netflix in 2018.^[8]


She directed the 2022 mystery thriller film Where The Crawdads Sing, an adaptation of the 2018 novel of the same name by Delia Owens.^[9][10] Despite mixed reviews from critics, audience reception was more positive and the film subsequently became a sleeper hit at the box-office, grossing $140 million on a $24 million budget.