Joan Tewkesbury began her career at age ten as a dancer in The Unfinished Dance. A few years later she appeared as an Ostrich, an Indian and Mary Martin's flying understudy in Jerome Robbin's Peter Pan. She attended University of Southern California, became a choreographer, a theatre director, a script supervisor for Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller then a writer of feature films, "Thieves Like Us" and "Nashville" and the director of "Old Boyfriends" which was presented at "Director's Fortnight" at the Cannes Film Festival.

She has also written, directed numerous projects for Cable and Network television: "The Tenth Month," "Acorn People", "Cold Sassy Tree", "Sudie and Simpson", "Wild Texas Wind", the HBO's series "The Stranger", "On Promised Land", "Elysian Fields" and was a consulting producer for the CBS series, "The Guardian".

For the stage she wrote, directed and choreographed "Dance Card" for the Oregon Ballet theatre, wrote and directed "Jammed" presented at the Edinburgh Festival and wrote, directed and produced "Retrospective" at the Manhattan Theatre Source in New York.

Ten years ago she developed a class, "Designed Obstacles, Spontaneous Response" which she has presented at Art Center, American Film Institute, Bard College, Chapel Hill, U.C.L.A., N.A.L.I.P. and various film maker labs and emersions though out the United States, Israel, Europe and Japan.

She participates as a creative advisor for the Sundance Institute Native Lab, the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Lab and has created a Writers Forum at Los Luceros in Alcalde, New Mexico.

Her work has been honored by the Writers Guild, Humanitas, Golden Globes, the British Academy Awards, Cable Ace, Academy Awards best picture nomination for "Nashville" and the Los Angeles Critics award for best original screenplay.