Overview
Born in Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, Harron grew up with a family that was entrenched in the world of film and theater. Her mother, Gloria Fisher, is a Kansas-born actress, and her father, Donald Harron, is an actor, author, director, comedian, and writer. Harron’s first stepmother, Virginia Leith, was discovered by Stanley Kubrick and acted in his first film, Fear and Desire. Leith's brief acting career partly inspired Harron's interest in making The Notorious Bettie Page. Harron’s stepfather is Stephen Vizinczey, a novelist and screen writer, and another of her stepmothers is the singer Catherine McKinnon. Harron’s sister, Kelley Harron, is an actor and producer.
Harron moved to England when she was thirteen and later attended St Anne's College, Oxford University. While in England she dated Tony Blair, who would later become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She then moved to New York City and was part of its 1970s punk scene. She helped start and write for Punk magazine as a music journalist – she was the first journalist to interview the Sex Pistols for an American publication. During the 1980s she was a drama critic for The Observer in London for a time, as well as working as a music critic for The Guardian and The New Statesman.
During the 90s, Harron moved back to New York, where she worked as a producer for PBS’s “Edge,” a program dedicated to exploring American pop culture. It was at this time that Harron became interested in the life of Valerie Solanas, the woman who attempted to kill Andy Warhol. Harron suggested making a documentary about Solanas to her producers, who in turn encouraged her to develop the project into what would be her first feature film.
In addition to her films, Harron was also the executive producer of The Weather Underground, a documentary looking at the radical activists of the 1970s. She has also worked in television, directing episodes of Oz, Six Feet Under, Homicide: Life on the Street, The L Word and Big Love. She is currently developing a film based on the book Please Kill Me which details the 1970s New York punk scene of which she was so much a part.
She lives in New York with her husband, filmmaker John C. Walsh, and their two daughters.
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