Arlene Sanford grew up in New York. After working in production for a number of years she wrote, produced and directed Welcome Home, a short film starring Jamie Lee Curtis. With that as a calling card she was hired to direct one of television’s first half-hour dramedies, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, created by Jay Tarses and starring Blair Brown. Since that exceptional beginning she has directed close to 100 episodes of television – comedies and dramas, single camera and multicam – including numerous pilots and a few family-friendly TV movies.

Highlights include multiple episodes of David E. Kelley’s groundbreaking Ally McBeal. Her season one episode, “Those Lips, That Hand” earned her an Emmy® award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.  She was later honored with another Emmy® nomination, this time for Outstanding Directing for a Drama series for “The Mighty Rogues” episode of Boston Legal.

Sanford was also part of the first few seasons of the hit series Desperate Housewives and received a  Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for her episode, “Pretty Little Picture.” This episode featured Teri Hatcher running around outside her house wearing nothing but a ficus.

Recent credits include Nashville and multiple episodes of The Royals (premiering March, 2015) and Pretty Little Liars.

In addition, she directed the feature films A Very Brady Sequel for Paramount Pictures and Disney’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas.