Erica Tremblay

Tremblay grew up in Seneca, Missouri, a rural community near Joplin, Missouri. In 2007, she moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.[1] While there she wrote, produced and starred in Tiny Red Universe, a short film which aired on IFC.[2]

In 2012, she released Heartland: A Portrait of Survival.[3] The film documents the effects of the 2011 Joplin tornado which destroyed a quarter of the city and caused about $2.8 billion worth of damage.[4][5] Tremblay, who was living in Los Angeles at the time but had previously lived in Joplin, had relatives still living in her hometown.[6][7] She traveled to the town with a film crew and documented the aftermath for a four-week period.[1][8] The film, which features several stories like the Joplin Found Photos project,[9] was shown at the Omaha Film Festival,[10] and at St. Louis International Film Festival.[11]

In 2014, Tremblay released In the Turn, a documentary film that revolves around a ten-year-old transgender girl from Timmins, Ontario.[12] The film began as a Kickstarter project to profile the Vagine Regime, "a queer roller derby collective," in a documentary film. Tremblay received a message from Crystal's mother that recounted the negative experiences her daughter has had in asserting her gender identity and how she is unable to participate inn sports because of this. Tremblay, who herself identifies as queer, decided to refocus the documentary around Crystal.[3][12]

In 2016, Tremblay was awarded a National Artist Fellowship at the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.[13][14] As of March, 2017, Tremblay serves as Bustle's director of video; before joining Bustle, she worked for Hearst Digital Media.[15]

In 2023, Tremblay made her feature directorial debut with the drama film Fancy Dance, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.[16]