MICHAEL CUESTA was honored with the Best New Filmmaker Award from the Boston Society of Film Critics for L.I.E., which marked his feature debut as a director, screenwriter, and producer. The film was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards including Best Feature and Best Director, winning for Best Debut Performance (Paul Dano); and Brian Cox won the Satellite Award for Best Actor [Drama]. L.I.E. world-premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival; played in the Film Society of Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films series; and was awarded the Prix Du Jury at the Deauville Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award for American Narrative Feature at OutFest. Mr. Cuesta also was nominated for the Gotham Awards' Open Palm Award for Outstanding Directorial Debut; and won the Best Directorial Debut award at the Stockholm Film Festival and the New Director's Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
A graduate of New York City's School of Visual Arts, Mr. Cuesta studied photography and literature, going on to hone a career as a still photographer and a director of commercials; he was honored at the Museum of Modern Art and won a number of advertising awards. After the success of L.I.E., he began working as a director of unique television dramas that have captivated viewers. He directed five episodes of the HBO series Six Feet Under, reuniting with the show's star Michael C. Hall as director of the pilot for the latter's subsequent series, Showtime's Dexter. He directed four episodes in, and was an executive producer on, the program's first season. He returned to HBO to direct the memorable second-season finale of True Blood. Mr. Cuesta later directed the pilot and another early episode of the CBS series Blue Bloods, and has also been an executive producer on the show. Most recently, he was executive producer on the entire first season of another CBS series, Elementary, and directed the pilot episode.
His direction of the 2011 pilot for the Showtime series Homeland brought him an Emmy Award nomination; he won an Emmy as one of the show's executive producers when the program was named Outstanding Drama Series. Lead actors Claire Danes and Damian Lewis also won Emmys for their performances. Mr. Cuesta directed three more episodes in the show's first season, including the finale; directed four episodes in the second season, including the opener and the finale; and was an executive producer on the series for the first two seasons. Ms. Danes and Mr. Lewis also earned Golden Globe Awards for their portrayals, and Mr. Cuesta won a Golden Globe Award as one of the show's executive producers when the program was named Best Television Series – Drama.
The intimate domestic dramatic feature 12 and Holding, which he directed and produced, marked his first collaboration with Kill the Messenger star Jeremy Renner; 12 and Holding was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards. Mr. Cuesta's other features as director include the thriller Tell Tale, starring Josh Lucas, Brian Cox, Lena Headey, and Michael Kenneth Williams of Kill the Messenger; and the relationship tale Roadie, which he wrote with his brother Gerald, starring Ron Eldard, Jill Hennessy, and Bobby Cannavale.
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