Joan Cunningham
Joan Cunningham is an assistant director for Hollywood film and television productions. She was First Assistant Director of 2nd Unit filming on Star Trek, along with Hal Olofsson.
Cunningham began her career in show business as a production assistant and stunt woman in the late 1980s. Her first film was Mannequin (1987, starring Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country's Kim Cattrall).
In 1986, Cunningham became a second assistant director on Pee-wee's Playhouse. She then worked as a key second assistant director on Pet Sematary (1989, starring Denise Crosby and Brad Greenquist).
From 1990 through 1992, Cunningham was the Director of Production Administration at the now defunct Carolco Pictures. While at Carolco, she worked on such films as L.A. Story (1991, featuring Iman and Patrick Stewart), The Doors, Chaplin (1992), Basic Instinct, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, starring Linda Hamilton, featuring Joe Morton, Earl Boen and Jenette Goldstein).
After working as a first assistant director at SBK Pictures for two years (1992-1994), Cunningham turned to freelancing as both a first and second assistant director. Her credits as Second Assistant Director include Lolita (1997, starring Frank Langella), The Parent Trap (1998 film)|The Parent Trap}} (1998), and Paramount Pictures' Double Jeopardy (1999, starring Ashley Judd and Bruce Greenwood).
Cunningham was Second Assistant Director under director John Woo on Face/Off (1997, featuring Harve Presnell, Harve Presnell and Robert Wisdom) and Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible 2 (2000). She then served as Woo's 2nd Unit First Assistant Director on Mission: Impossible 2, Windtalkers (2002, starring Christian Slater Holmes R. Osborne and Jason Isaacs) and Paramount's Paycheck.
Cunningham has worked solely as a First Assistant Director since 2001. Her credits have primarily included television series, including NBC's Las Vegas (starring Nikki Cox) and Medical Investigation (starring Neal McDonough). She was First Assistant Director on NBC's My Name Is Earl, and The Closer.