Joan Tewkesbury (born April 8, 1936) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, playwright, author, producer, choreographer and actress. She had a long association with the celebrated director Robert Altman, writing the screenplays for Thieves Like Us (1974), and Nashville (1975), widely regarded as "Altman's masterpiece", and which earned her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. She has directed numerous hours of episodic television, including for Disney, HBO, CBS, TNT, and NBC.