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Kimmy Gatewood

Kimmy Gatewood is an Emmy Award-winning actor, writer and director whose latest feature as director, Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, premieres on the Disney Channel on July 16, and will be available to stream on Disney+ from July 17. She got her start as an actor, performing improv comedy at the UCB Theatre in New York City, and her first documentary feature film, Nerdcore Rising, about the rise of nerdcore hip-hop, premiered at SXSW in 2008. She went on to direct many acclaimed series like Girls5eva, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Single Drunk Female, Timeline, Ghosts, Up Here and The Big Leap. She won a 2021 Daytime Emmy for Best Directing for her work on Sesame Street, was nominated for directing Emmys for Baby-Sitter’s Club and Muppets Mayhem. Her feature directorial debut Good on Paper, starring Iliza Shlesinger, premiered in Netflix’s top 10 in summer 2021. She also directed Patti Harrison and Tim Hedeicker in Team Coco’s audio movie My Guy Died, streaming on Audible. She was most recently the producing director for Season 2 of Fox’s Going Dutch, starring Denis Leary. You may also recognize her from her on-screen role as Coach Crowley on Netflix’s series Atypical and Stacey on Netflix’s critically acclaimed series GLOW. (Photo by David Astorga / Disney.)

What I Learned Directing My First Franchise Film

Kimmy Gatewood on how she thought big and gained expertise on the fly while helming her new movie, Descendants: Wicked Wonderland.

July 16, 2026