Kristi Zea

New York native Kristi Zea stumbled into the world of moviemaking in the late 1970s. Despite having attended the High School for the Performing Arts, she intended to pursue a career in journalism, but while an undergraduate began working as a stylist for a commercial photographer. Although Zea did not like the work, it was lucrative and she discovered she possessed a flair for the work. Woody Allen hired her as a design consultant on his dramatic "Interiors" (1978), which, although shot in color, had a mostly black-and-white look to it. Alan Parker hired Zea to create the costumes for the high school students in his "Fame" (1980) and her career was on its way. She subsequently designed the costumes for Parker's "Shoot the Moon" (1981) and "Birdy" (1984) and moved up to production designer on "Angel Heart" (1987). Zea also forged collaborations with James L Brooks, creating the period clothes for "Terms of Endearment" (1983) serving as art director on "Broadcast News" (1987) and designing the production of "As Good As It Gets" (1997).

Zea really came into her own, however, working with Jonathan Demme as production designer on "Married to the Mob" (1988). She created settings that ranged from a gaudy and garish look of a Lower East Side tenement to a candy-colored beauty parlor and worked in tandem with costume designer Colleen Atwood who designed the appropriately bright colored clothing. Zea continued to create impressive urban looks for the Martin Scorsese-directed "Life Lessons" segment of "New York Stories" (1989), Scorsese's gangster epic "GoodFellas" (1990), Demme's Oscar-winning thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) as well as his "Philadelphia" (1993) and "Beloved" (1998).

Zea has also begun a secondary career as a director, beginning with a Laurie Anderson music video. She helmed a 30-minute TV-movie, "A Domestic Dilemma" for HBO's "Women & Men II" (1991) and is developing a feature with Demme as producer.

• Born:
  October 24, 1948 in New York City, New York, USA
• Job Titles:
  Production designer, Costume designer, Producer, Director

Family

• Daughter: Norma. born December 17, 1990

Significant Others

• Husband: .

Education

• Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

Milestones

• 1978 First film credit, design consultant on Woody Allen s Interiors
• 1980 Received first credit as costume designer for Fame ; first collaboration with Alan Parker
• 1983 First collaboration with director James L. Brooks, designed costumes for Terms of Endearment
• 1986 Was an associate producer on David Seltzer s Lucas
• 1987 Co-created (with Armin Ganz) the art direction for Parker s Angel Heart
• 1987 First film as solo art director, Brooks Broadcast News ; also an associate producer
• 1988 First film as production designer, Married to the Mob ; first collaboration with Jonathan Demme
• 1989 Designed the Martin Scorsese segment, Life Lessons of the anthology film, New York Stories
• 1990 Was production designer on Scorsese s GoodFellas
• 1991 Made TV directing debut with A Domestic Dilemma episode of the HBO anthology, Women & Men II
• 1991 Served as production designer for Demme s Academy Award-winning, The Silence of the Lambs
• 1993 Served as associate producer, production designer and second unit director on Demme s Philadelphia
• 1997 Re-temed with James L. Brooks for As Good As It Gets
• 1998 Was production designer on Demme s Beloved
• 2000 Served as production and costume designer for the short-lived series, Wonderland (ABC)
• 2002 Collaborated with Brett Ratner, as the second unit director and production designer for Red Dragon
• 2004 Re-teamed with Demme for The Manchurian Candidate
• 2006 Re-teamed with Scorsese for The Departed
• 2008 Was the Art Director for “Revolutionary Road”; earned an Academy Award nomination for Achievement in art direction
• After graduation, spent four years as assistant to photographer Tony Petrucelli
• Moved to France and designed costumes for television
• While attending college began working as a stylist for a commercial photographer