Elena Ternovaja · CC BY-SA 3.0

Created, wrote, directed and starred in Girls, and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for her work on it. She began her career writing and directing the semi-autobiographical Tiny Furniture, winning an Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay, and has since written two memoirs and directed the films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy. In 2013 she was named to Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.