Bethany Rooney began her directing career on the 1980’s iconic television show, St. Elsewhere, where she served as Associate Producer. She has since directed nine TV movies and more than 250 episodes of prime-time narrative shows, most recently Law & Order, Chicago PD, Law & Order SVU, The Rookie, Criminal Minds Evolution, and Chicago Med.

Bethany also served as Producing Director on two series: Bull and The Originals. She has directed Oscar winners and Emmy contenders Denzel Washington, Hilary Swank, Mariska Hargitay, Angela Bassett, George Clooney, Alfre Woodard, Felicity Huffman, Sally Field, and Robert Downey, Jr., among many others.

She has served the Directors Guild of America in numerous ways: as a member of the National Board, co-chair of the Women’s Steering Committee and member of the Western Directors Council. She co-created two of the industry’s leading diversity director training programs: Warner Bros. (2012) and the DGA’s Directors Development Initiative (DDI, 2015.) Teaching rising directors is one of the ways Bethany continues to learn about and love storytelling. She co-wrote (with Mary Lou Belli) the industry’s preeminent directing craft textbook, Directors Tell the Story, which Rooney uses when she teaches the WB Access Craft Intensive and the NBC-Universal Launch program.

Bethany is a wife and mother and lives in Los Angeles.