Patricia Cardoso is a director, writer, and producer. Cardoso's feature film Real Women Have Curves was a box office and critical success and has become a landmark of Latino cinema. Cardoso is a graduate of UCLA's film school, an anthropologist, and a Fulbright scholar; her anthropological approach to directing guides her film and television work. Cardoso was the first Hispanic woman director to receive a Sundance Audience Award and a Student Academy Award®. In 2017, Cardoso was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the Directors Branch.