Kendall Goldberg’s origin story begins in the suburbs of Chicago, but she is anything but a sheltered Midwesterner. She has attended UFO conventions in the high desert, gone indoor skydiving, trekked the uninhabited islands of the Galápagos, spelunked Belizean caves, and once floated down a Canadian river in a giant hamster ball. Despite all of this, nothing has ever made her as happy as being on set directing (you can wipe your tears).

At 22, Kendall directed her debut feature, When Jeff Tried to Save the World, assembling a cast including Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Anna Konkle & Maya Erskine (PEN15), and Jim O’Heir (Parks and Recreation). The film went on to an award-winning festival run before being acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films. She is a graduate of Chapman University’s film program and has been recognized as a Panavision New Filmmaker Grant recipient, a Student Academy Awards semifinalist, a Women In Film mentee, and a participant in the Big Vision Empty Wallet Lab.

Most recently, Kendall directed the short film SURPRISE, which she co-wrote with Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), who also stars alongside Ray Wise (Twin Peaks) and Derek Waters (Drunk History).

In the commercial space, Kendall has directed campaigns for brands including Wayfair, Nissan, Disney, The Honest Company, and Carvana, among others.

Kendall’s work is performance-driven, comedy-forward, and grounded in emotional truth – finding humor in restraint, subtext, and the tension between what people say and what they really mean. She is drawn to character-first storytelling with a polished visual sensibility and a sharp, observational point of view.