Karen Leigh Hopkins
Writing
Karen Leigh Hopkins (also Karen Lee Hopkins) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actress born in Sandusky, Ohio. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting but pivoted to writing after her scenes were cut from The Breakfast Club (1985) and Three Amigos. Her first screenplay, The Kindness of Strangers, was written in 12 days and sold to Paramount, launching her career behind the camera.
As an actress, Hopkins is best known for playing Brenda in The Running Man (1987), with additional credits in Corrina, Corrina (1994) and Mafia! (1998).
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Her most notable writing and producing credits include Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990), Stepmom (1998, co-writer, starring Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts, $160M worldwide), Because I Said So (2007, writer and associate producer, starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore), Miss Meadows (2014, writer, director, and executive producer, Tribeca premiere), Little Voice (2020, Apple TV+), and Love Is Love Is Love (2020). She won the Humanitas Prize for Searching for David's Heart (2004) and received an Emmy nomination for What Girls Learn.
Known for
Stepmom
December 25, 1998
Because I Said So
February 2, 2007
Miss Meadows
September 12, 2014
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
October 12, 1990
You Can't Take My Daughter
February 15, 2020
Love Is Love Is Love
October 7, 2021
Searching for David's Heart
November 21, 2004
What Girls Learn
October 14, 2001
A Woman's a Helluva Thing
June 13, 2001
Behind the camera9
- 2021Love Is Love Is Love Screenplay
- 2020You Can't Take My Daughter Writer, Producer
- 2014Miss Meadows Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- 2007Because I Said So Screenplay
- 2004Searching for David's Heart Writer
- 2001What Girls Learn Teleplay
- 2001A Woman's a Helluva Thing Director, Writer
- 1998Stepmom Screenplay
- 1990Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael Writer, Executive Producer