---
name: "Hanelle Culpepper"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/hanelle-m-culpepper"
fi1m_id: "hanelle-m-culpepper"
imdb_id: "nm0191697"
tmdb_id: 139247
wikidata_id: "Q18705002"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "22 September 1970"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 68
average_as: "director"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-09-26T15:00:44.823644+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Hanelle Culpepper

## Identity

Hanelle Culpepper

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/hanelle-m-culpepper
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** hanelle-m-culpepper
- **IMDb ID:** nm0191697
- **TMDB ID:** 139247
- **Wikidata ID:** Q18705002
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanelle_Culpepper, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18705002, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191697/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139247

Director. Born 22 September 1970 in Birmingham.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 22 September 1970, Birmingham
- **Active:** 2005–present
- **Also known as:** Hanelle M. Culpepper, Hannelle M. Culpepper
- **Frequently works with:** [Karen Gaviola](https://film.one/person/karen-gaviola.md), [Alrick Riley](https://film.one/person/alrick-riley.md), [Bethany Rooney](https://film.one/person/bethany-rooney.md), [Félix Enríquez Alcalá](https://film.one/person/felix-alcala.md), [Holly Dale](https://film.one/person/holly-dale.md), [Anna Foerster](https://film.one/person/anna-foerster.md), [Charles Haid](https://film.one/person/charles-haid.md), [Charles Murray](https://film.one/person/charles-murray.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as director, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 66 (2), 2010s 68 (2), 2020s 68 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 68 to 72 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 0 at 80+, 6 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Crime 3, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3, Mystery 2, Action & Adventure 1, Western 1
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanelle_Culpepper, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18705002, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191697/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139247

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Paradise*](https://film.one/tv/paradise.md) (73), [*Castle*](https://film.one/tv/castle.md) (73)
- **Apple TV:** [*Star Trek: Picard*](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-picard.md) (64), [*Criminal Minds*](https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds.md) (60)
- **Peacock:** [*Grimm*](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md) (63)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Hanelle Culpepper

> Hanelle M. Culpepper directs genre television with an eye on the person doing the fighting. We rate her care with actors, though the engaging, uneven *Paradise* shows what happens when the plotting asks too much of them.

Sterling K. Brown keeps *Paradise* (2025) worth watching when its plotting becomes improbable. That is a useful place to begin with Hanelle M. Culpepper, who directs multiple episodes and moves comfortably between intimate drama and large-scale action. We stayed involved because Brown made the emotional scenes convincing, even when we doubted the story.

Her route to that work ran from shorts to *Within* (2009), her first feature, a supernatural thriller, then into episodic television in the early 2010s. The decisive step was *Star Trek: Picard* (2020), for which she directed the first three episodes. Establishing a series gives a director particular responsibility for its look and tone, and that task suits her interest in character. The pilot of *Kung Fu* (2021) followed, before her work on *Star Wars: The Acolyte* (2024).

The fight work gives us a clearer sense of her priorities. She favours choreography that expresses character and, where possible, lets the actors perform the action themselves. That is a useful preference: seeing the performer do the movement can keep a fight connected to the person whose danger is meant to concern us. On *The Acolyte*, that attention extends to collaboration on fight choreography and practical effects.

There are limits to what that can achieve in *Paradise*. Working with series creator Dan Fogelman and cinematographer Yasu Tanida, Culpepper contributes to a drama whose emotional scenes usually work. The second season nevertheless asks for considerable patience with loose plotting and flashbacks. We would not lay the whole series’ writing problems at an episodic director’s door, nor give her sole credit for Brown’s performance. Try it for the acting and the mystery, with some patience set aside for the flashbacks.

## Biography

Hanelle M. Culpepper is an American television and film director. She was born on 22 September 1970 in Birmingham, Alabama. She earned a B.A. from Lake Forest College and an M.A. from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School. After working as an assistant to screenwriter and director Callie Khouri, she completed the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.

Culpepper is known for directing episodes of series including *Lucifer*, *The Flash*, *Westworld*, *Supergirl*, *Criminal Minds*, *Gotham*, *The Originals*, *Grimm*, *Chicago P.D.* and *Castle*. She directed the pilot of *Star Trek: Picard* (2020), becoming the first woman to launch a new *Star Trek* series, and received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing for the episode. She has also directed episodes of *Star Wars: The Acolyte*.

Her recent credits include directing episodes of the Hulu series *Paradise* (2025–), for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the season 2 finale. She co-executive produced and directed the pilot of *Kung Fu* (2021).

*Sources: hillview798.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, deadline.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

- *Paradise* (2025), Fi1m 73, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/paradise.md)
- *Star Trek: Picard* (2020), Fi1m 64, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-picard.md)
- *Westworld* (2016), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *Grimm* (2011), Fi1m 63, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md)
- *Castle* (2009), Fi1m 73, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/castle.md)
- *Criminal Minds* (2005), Fi1m 60, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds.md)

## Complete filmography (43)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Paradise* (2025), series, Director — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/paradise.md)
- *NCIS: Origins* (2024), series, Director
- *Matlock* (2024), series, Director
- *The Acolyte* (2024), series, Director
- *True Story* (2021), series, Director
- *Kung Fu* (2021), series, Director, Co-Executive Producer
- *Big Sky* (2020), series, Director
- *Star Trek: Picard* (2020), series, Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-picard.md)
- *NOS4A2* (2019), series, Director
- *Sorry for Your Loss* (2018), series, Director
- *Mayans M.C.* (2018), series, Director
- *The Crossing* (2018), series, Director
- *Counterpart* (2017), series, Director
- *S.W.A.T.* (2017), series, Director
- *Star Trek: Discovery* (2017), series, Director
- *Westworld* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *American Gothic* (2016), series, Director
- *Lucifer* (2016), series, Director
- *Supergirl* (2015), series, Director
- *Quantico* (2015), series, Director
- *Rosewood* (2015), series, Director
- *UnREAL* (2015), series, Director
- *American Crime* (2015), series, Director
- *Empire* (2015), series, Director
- *The Flash* (2014), series, Director
- *How to Get Away with Murder* (2014), series, Director
- *Gotham* (2014), series, Director
- *Chicago P.D.* (2014), series, Director
- *The Originals* (2013), series, Director
- *Sleepy Hollow* (2013), series, Director
- *Hunt for the Labyrinth Killer* (2013), Director
- *Murder on the 13th Floor* (2012), Director
- *Grimm* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md)
- *Revenge* (2011), series, Director
- *Deadly Sibling Rivalry* (2011), Director
- *Within* (2009), Producer, Director
- *Castle* (2009), series, Director — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/castle.md)
- *90210* (2008), series, Director
- *Criminal Minds* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds.md)
- *Coyote Blue*, Director
- *The Undertaker*, series, Director
- *1000 Miles*, Director
- *Anansi Boys*, series, Executive Producer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/hanelle-m-culpepper