Miranda July is a writer, visual artist, filmmaker, director, and actress. Her expansive body of multimedia works has been heavily influenced by her participation in riot grrrl, an underground feminist punk movement that began in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s. Throughout her rich creative career, July has directed, written, and/or starred in productions including Joanie4Jackie, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Future, Kajillionaire, The Amateurist, Nest of Tens, and several other indie and short films. She also has experience in performance art, music, and spoken word. Her musical endeavors include projects like the 1996 EP Margie Ruskie Stops Time and the 1997 and 1998 LPs, 10 Million Hours A Mile and The Binet-Simon Test. All of these projects, including her written publications, feature feminist themes and conflicts surrounding relationships and intimacy.

Born in 1974 in Barre, Vermont, July grew up with her parents Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger, both writers. They encouraged her to pursue writing and the arts from a young age. She later studied film at the University of California, Santa Cruz, but dropped out less than two years into her program to move to Portland, Oregon. Her experiences in Portland introduced her to the riot grrrl movement and inspired her early film projects.