Michael Uppendahl

Michael Uppendahl

History

Michael Uppendahl is an American television and film director. He is well known for his work on the AMC period drama Mad Men; FX's horror anthology series American Horror Story, and Marvel's Legion; and the Fox musical/dramedy Glee. His first television credit came from directing 4 episodes of the CBS sitcom Becker, from 2003-2004. He wrote, directed and produced the 2009 short film A Hundred & Forty-Six Questions, starring Jamie Anne Allman. Since 2008, Uppendahl has directed 7 hours of the AMC drama Mad Men, for which he has received critical acclaim. In 2011 and 2012, Uppendahl joined the crews of Fox's Glee and FX's American Horror Story, directing 2 episodes of the former and 3 of the latter. In 2013, Uppendahl made his feature film directorial debut with Grounded (formerly under the working title, Quad), a drama about a salesman that becomes a quadriplegic. It was co-written by Michael Burke, Mike Young, Robin Veith, and Brett Johnson. Jeff Daniels, Lena Olin, Aaron Paul, and Tom Berenger star. Uppendahl serves as co-executive producer and director on Marvel's Legion; which airs on FX. The series centers on David Haller, possibly the most powerful mutant on the planet.

Profile

Michael Uppendahl

Movies

Adam
Director
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
The Lion's Mouth Opens
A documentary on filmmaker Marianna Palka, as she confronts her risk of Huntington's Disease.
Are You Here
Officier Norbey
When Steve Dallas, a womanizing local weatherman, hears that his off-the-grid best friend Ben Baker has lost his estranged father, the two return to Ben's childhood home. Once there, they discover Ben has inherited the family fortune, and the ill-equipped duo must battle Ben's formidable sister and deal with his father's gorgeous 25-year old widow.
American Horror Story: Asylum
Director
Set in 1964, the season follows the patients and staff members of the church-owned mental asylum Briarcliff Manor, located in an undisclosed town in Massachusetts, which was founded to treat and house the criminally insane. Kit Walker, accused of being a prolific serial killer named “Bloody Face” after the disappearance of his wife Alma is incarcerated at Briarcliff. This piques the interest of ambitious journalist Lana Winters, who is yearning to find a story for her big break in Briarcliff, where many other patients claim to be unjustly institutionalized. The institution is run under the watchful eye of the stern Sister Jude, as well as her second-in-command, the naïve Sister Mary Eunice, and the founder of the institution, Monsignor Timothy Howard. Briarcliff's inhabitants are routinely subject to supernatural and scientific influences, including demonic possession and extraterrestrial abduction.
American Horror Story: Murder House
Director
Dr. Ben Harmon, Vivien, and their daughter Violet move from Boston to Los Angeles to escape their troubled past. They move into a restored mansion, unaware that the ghosts of its former residents and their victims haunt the house.