The career of film director Kimberly Peirce was born out of patience and belief. A former photographer and literature student who went on to pursue film in graduate school, Peirce became enraptured with the story of Brandon Teena, a charming transgendered teen who grew up as Teena Brandon before being murdered within the unaware Nebraska community which had succumbed to his charisma. It was a story Peirce knew she had to tell and did, with surefooted direction, after an arduous five-year journey.

Peirce was born on Sept. 8, 1967.in Harrisburg, PA, where she lived until the age of four and where