Jill Wisoff

Jill Wisoff is an American filmmaker, performer, actress and film composer best known for original music and songs in Welcome to the Dollhouse, Todd Solondz's critically acclaimed 1996 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner. Born in Queens, New York, she studied composition in the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division and at Bennington College under Vivian Fine and Henry Brant. She attended the Neighborhood Playhouse and completed an MFA in Writing, concentration fiction, at the New School. She directed, composed music, performed in stock and off-off Broadway. She was lead guitarist for all-girl reggae band, Steppin' Razor, produced by Chris Spedding, who later produced her band The Con Artists, including some songs heard on the Welcome to the Dollhouse soundtrack. She later toured as bassist for the legendary Johnny Thunders as a member of his last band, The Oddballs. Between tours, she completed reshoots co-starring as Sharon opposite Todd Solondz's Ira in his lesser known first feature film, Fear, Anxiety & Depression, theatrically released in 1989 through the Samuel Goldwyn Company, and was cited for her "comic flair" in Caryn James' New York Times review. She made her film directorial debut with Creating Karma, theatrically released in 2009. Her documentary produced with Harris F.B. Salomon, The Day After, was completed in 2010 with footage shot at Ground Zero on September 12, 2001. Following a screening series by New York Women in Film and Television called Life in the Aftermath of 9/11, it was included in the memorial library collection of the naval ship USS New York, and the archives of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center. She also co-wrote "The Collected Letters of Snaps" with Salomon. The adventures of a retired greyhound racing dog in New York.