---
name: "Jason Woliner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jason-woliner"
fi1m_id: "jason-woliner"
imdb_id: "nm0938471"
tmdb_id: 147113
wikidata_id: "Q6163800"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "1 June 1980"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-23T11:30:01.601707+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."
---

# Jason Woliner

## Identity

Jason Woliner

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jason-woliner
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jason-woliner
- **IMDb ID:** nm0938471
- **TMDB ID:** 147113
- **Wikidata ID:** Q6163800
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Woliner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6163800, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0938471/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/147113

Director. Born 1 June 1980 in The Bronx, New York.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 1 June 1980, The Bronx, New York
- **Active:** 2009–present
- **Frequently works with:** [Alex Hardcastle](https://film.one/person/alex-hardcastle.md), [Craig Zisk](https://film.one/person/craig-zisk.md), [Donick Cary](https://film.one/person/donick-cary.md), [Matt Sohn](https://film.one/person/matt-sohn.md), [Rachel Axler](https://film.one/person/rachel-axler.md), [Tristram Shapeero](https://film.one/person/tristram-shapeero.md), [Troy Miller](https://film.one/person/troy-miller.md), [Tucker Gates](https://film.one/person/tucker-gates.md)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Woliner, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6163800, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0938471/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/147113

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*New Girl*](https://film.one/tv/new-girl.md) (80)

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

## Fi1m on Jason Woliner

> Jason Woliner is a resourceful comedy director who works closely with performers, from ensemble sitcoms to partly unscripted encounters. We value his attention to character, but his documentary comedy raises harder questions about how fairly the participant is treated.

In *New Girl* (2011), the comedy improves when Jess’s awkwardness stops being the whole joke and the friendships have room to develop. We warmed to those friendships because they gave us reasons to return beyond Zooey Deschanel’s good company. Woliner directed for the programme in 2012, and its character-led humour is a useful starting point for thinking about his work. Even when the romantic plotting becomes overworked, there is pleasure in spending time with this ensemble. We should be careful, though, about giving one episodic director the credit for what a whole programme gets right.

The stranger comedy was there earlier. He directed the sketches in *Human Giant* (2007–2008) without performing in them, then directed and ran the surreal action comedy *Eagleheart* (2011). Alongside that work came three episodes of *Parks and Recreation* (2009–2010), another ensemble sitcom. His collaborators include Brett Gelman and Aziz Ansari, and close work with performers carries through his scripted and partly unscripted projects.

*Borat Subsequent Moviefilm* (2020) gives that collaborative approach a less predictable setting, mixing hidden-camera encounters with improvisation. Handling both within a feature is a substantial directing skill: the encounters cannot be entirely settled in a script. We value his ability to work with that uncertainty, though the ethical questions become harder when a real participant is the central attraction. With *Paul T. Goldman* (2023), his hybrid documentary-comedy series, the filmmaker’s power over his subject becomes a particular concern.

The difficulty there is the uncertain balance between empathy and exploitation. A participant’s self-presentation can be revealing, but that does not settle how fairly the programme treats them. Woliner’s own formulation is blunt: “The villain of a documentary is the filmmaker.” We take that as a reason to watch his decisions closely, rather than permission to excuse them. Start with *New Girl* for company; approach *Paul T. Goldman* with more caution about whom the programme asks us to laugh at.

## Biography

Jason Woliner (born 1 June 1980) is an American director, writer and former child actor. He is the non-performing member of the comedy group Human Giant and directed the bulk of the group's output, including its MTV sketch series that ran for two seasons.

Woliner has directed episodes of television series including *Parks and Recreation* (2009), *New Girl* (2011), *The Last Man on Earth* (2015), *What We Do in the Shadows* (2019) and *Nathan for You*. He directed the feature film *Borat Subsequent Moviefilm* (2020), for which he shared a Golden Globe award.

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

## On Fi1m (1)

- *New Girl* (2011), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/new-girl.md)

## Complete filmography (35)

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

- *Primetime* (2026), as 800lord_12 — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/primetime.md)
- *Never Change!* (2026), Producer
- *The Paper* (2025), series, Director
- *Adults* (2025), series, Director
- *St. Denis Medical* (2024), series, Director
- *Paul T. Goldman* (2023), series, Executive Producer, Director, Creator
- *Borat: VHS Cassette of Material Deemed "Sub-Acceptable" by Kazakhstan Ministry of Censorship and Circumcision* (2021), Director, Executive Producer
- *Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan* (2020), Director
- *What We Do in the Shadows* (2019), series, Director
- *Brett Gelman's Dinner in America* (2016), Director, Writer
- *W/ Bob & David* (2015), series, Director
- *Master of None* (2015), series, Consulting Producer
- *The Last Man on Earth* (2015), series, Director
- *Dinner with Family with Brett Gelman and Brett Gelman's Family* (2015), Director, Writer
- *Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories* (2014), series, Writer
- *Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends* (2014), Director, Writer
- *Eagleheart: Paradise Rising* (2013), Director, Writer, Executive Producer
- *Good Morning Tri-State* (2013), Director
- *Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious* (2012), Director
- *New Girl* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/new-girl.md)
- *Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour* (2011), Director, Producer
- *Eagleheart* (2011), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *Funny or Die Presents* (2010), series, Director
- *Aziz Ansari: Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening* (2010), Director
- *Infomercials* (2009), series, Writer
- *Patton Oswalt: My Weakness Is Strong* (2009), Director
- *Parks and Recreation* (2009), series, Director
- *Patton Oswalt: Werewolves and Lollipops* (2007), Director
- *Human Giant* (2007), series, Creator
- *Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift* (1990), as Matt Jones
- *Weekend at Bernie's* (1989), as Bratty Kid
- *Shining Time Station* (1989), series, as Matt Jones
- *Let's Do This*, Writer
- *One Thousand Cats*, Director
- *House of Joel*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Jason Woliner & Paul Scheer of MTV's Human Giant (2007)](https://film.one/media/person/174811/gallery-195fc1bc83ee.jpg) Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Jason Woliner & Paul Scheer of MTV's Human Giant (2007) — Nate "Igor" Smith from Brooklyn, NY, USA - Drivenbyboredom.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Human-giant.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Jason Woliner at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.](https://film.one/media/person/174811/gallery-397eba562eb4.jpg) Jason Woliner at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere. — Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Jason_Woliner_%285977524246%29.jpg/1280px-Jason_Woliner_%285977524246%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jason Woliner](https://film.one/media/person/174811/gallery-267a27358ff0.jpg) Jason Woliner — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Jason_Woliner_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Jason_Woliner_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© 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/jason-woliner