Born in New York City, raised in Scarsdale, NY; educated at Northeastern University (psychology). She began using film for clinical psychological studies. Armed with that experience, she started assisting documentary filmmakers as an editor, sound recordist, and camerawoman. She then spent four years (1972-76) in the coal fields of Harlan County, Kentucky, vividly recording in film the brewing struggle of unionized miners against wage cuts. The result was a stirring, openly militant film, HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A., which went on to win the Academy Award® as Best Feature-Length Documentary of 1976 and, in 1991, was named to the National Film Registry by Congress and designated an American Film Classic. The event later inspired her only fiction film, KEEPING ON (1981), originally shown on public TV. She received a second Academy Award in 1990 for her documentary AMERICAN DREAM, which explored the human cost of the rapid economic decline in America's industrial heartland. AMERICAN DREAM also won the 1992 Director's Guild of America Award for Best Feature Documentary and swept the 1991 Sundance Film Festival Awards, winning the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award, and the Filmmaker's Trophy. Her other documentary films include the award-winning "Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson" (1993), the first documentary to be featured as a Movie of the Week on NBC; PRISONERS OF HOPE, which documents the reunion of 1,500 political prisoners at Robben Island in South Africa, including Nelson Mandela, and NO NUKES (1980), a "rockumentary" film featuring Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, and Bonnie Raitt. She produced and directed two short films for the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, a national conference on volunteer and community service that was chaired by President Clinton and General Colin Powell. In 1997, Kopple directed WILD MAN BLUES, an insider's view of Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band's successful tour of Europe. The film explores his love for music and his relationships with his sister, Letty Aronson, and his girlfriend, Soon Yi Previn. In addition, Kopple completed "Defending Our Daughters: The Rights of Women in the World", a 1998 documentary about women's human rights for the Lifetime Channel which was honored with the Voices of Courage Award by the Women's Refugee Committee. WOODSTOCK '94 (also 1998) examined the Woodstock legacy and Generation X. In 1997, Kopple turned her director's eye to episodic television, directing 3 episodes of the series "Homicide: Life on the Street" over the next three years. She also directed an episode of "Oz" for cable TV in 1999. She finished out the decade with 1999's A CONVERSATION WITH GREGORY PECK (also producer). Her film directing credits since 2000 include MY GENERATION (2000, also producer), another musical documentary look at the Woodstock phenomenon; BEARING WITNESS (2005), a documentary on female journalists working in combat zones; HAVOC (also 2005), a feature film about two affluent suburban girls who clash with the Latino gang culture of East LA; and SHUT UP & SING (2006, also producer), a documentary on the Dixie Chicks in the wake of singer Natalie Maines' anti-George W. Bush statement at a 2003 concert. For television, Kopple directed "The Hamptons" (mini-series) and "Confident for Life: Kids & Body Image" (video) (both 2002), episodes of "I Married..." (2004) and a segment for "Addiction" (2007) entitled "Steamfitters Local Union 638". Kopple has been honored with the Cannes Film Festival Critics Chioice Award, the National Society of Film Critics Award, and the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award. She is also the recipient of artistic fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Documentary (Features) 1976: HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. - Producer  Documentary (Features) 1990: AMERICAN DREAM - Producer (w. Arthur Cohn) 2 nominations, 2 Awards