Nathan Fielder
Vancouver-born comedian Nathan Fielder made Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, then co-directed A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything.
Photo: Northwest, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized and converted to WebP.
A Surprise Screening at Telluride
In September 2026 the Telluride Film Festival added an unannounced screening of You Can See Everything, an A24 documentary about Elizabeth Holmes that Nathan Fielder co-directed with Lance Oppenheim. The film runs nearly three hours. Its crew lived with Holmes, her partner Billy Evans and their children for 34 days before she began her 11-year sentence. Oppenheim, speaking at Telluride and quoted by TheWrap, said Holmes herself had invited A24 to the house just before the sentence started, and that A24 then asked him to pursue the project with no obligation to deliver a finished film.
A24 opened the film in about 800 US theaters on October 16, 2026. Two days earlier TheWrap had projected an opening of at least $8 million, noted a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and set the figure against the $7.1 million opening of Melania. The weekend beat the projection. CBC News reported on October 19 that the film took more than $15 million US from 855 theatres, the second-largest opening for a non-musical documentary in domestic box office history, behind Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. It debuted with a 4.8 rating on Letterboxd. A24 had not said how far it planned to widen the release, and TheWrap was already writing about Best Picture talk for a documentary.
TheWrap's preview had framed the question as whether the film could become the biggest documentary opening since COVID. CBC's answer, three days after release, was a headline about sold-out theatres and a public that could not stop talking about it.
Vancouver, UVic and This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Fielder was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At school he belonged to an improv group whose members included Seth Rogen, and he went on to the University of Victoria, where he took business classes; the Victoria Times Colonist describes him as a UVic graduate. In 2008 CBC invited him to write and act in a weekly segment on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The segment centred on business and on social awkwardness, and on the show he became known as a correspondent who conducted deadpan person-on-the-street interviews.
Sketch work for the second season of Important Things with Demetri Martin on Comedy Central followed, and in 2011 he joined the writing staff of Jon Benjamin Has a Van.
Nathan for You and Dumb Starbucks
Comedy Central premiered Nathan for You in 2013. The second season aired in July 2014 on Comedy Central and on Much in Canada, and by August 2019, when the Times Colonist reported on his next deal, the series had run for four seasons.
The stunt that raised his profile in 2014 was Dumb Starbucks, a coffee shop in Los Angeles with the word "dumb" placed in front of every product on the menu. The Los Angeles Times identified Fielder as the owner before the episode aired, and the Los Angeles health department shut the shop down. When CBC Radio's Q had him on that July, the programme called the shop an art project parodying the chain and credited it with raising his profile that year.
Who Is America? and a One-Year HBO Deal
In 2018 Fielder co-directed and wrote two episodes of the first season of Who Is America?, the series created by Sacha Baron Cohen. In August 2019 Variety reported, and the Victoria Times Colonist repeated, that he had signed a one-year overall deal with HBO. Under it he would write, direct and star in a comedy pilot and serve as executive producer of How To with John Wilson. No dollar figure was reported.
The Rehearsal and a Replica of a Brooklyn Bar
Fielder's HBO series is The Rehearsal, which he stars in, writes, directs and executive-produces. Variety's summary of the first season describes a replica of a Brooklyn bar, built so that a man could rehearse confessing a lie about a master's degree, and a later parenting simulation in which Fielder took the father's role himself. The other executive producers are Eric Notarnicola, Dave Paige, Christie Smith and Dan McManus of Rise Management. The second season premiered on April 20, 2025 on HBO and Max.
At the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2025 the show received two nominations: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Fielder, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Locke-Norton and Eric Notarnicola. Both awards went to The Studio, whose winners included Seth Rogen, the same Rogen who had sat in Fielder's school improv group.
The Curse with Benny Safdie and Emma Stone
The Curse is the series Fielder co-created with Benny Safdie. The two are executive producers through their Elara banner, and the show is a co-production of Showtime and A24. Fielder plays Asher opposite Emma Stone. The first three episodes screened at the New York Film Festival, which ran from September 29 to October 15, 2023; the series premiered on November 10, 2023 on Paramount+ with Showtime and went on air on Showtime on November 12.
A24, the co-producer of The Curse, is the studio behind You Can See Everything. This time the subject, not the director, made the opening move: by Oppenheim's account Holmes invited the camera in, and what Fielder and Oppenheim did with 34 days inside her house is what 855 theatres were selling on its opening weekend.
Sources
- 'You Can See Everything' Could Turn Its Buzz Into The Biggest Doc Box Office Opening Since COVID - TheWrap
- 'You Can See Everything' sells out theatres, and people can't stop talking about it | CBC News
- Nathan Fielder wants to get up in your business | CBC Radio
- UVic grad Nathan Fielder signs HBO deal - Victoria Times Colonist
- Nathan Fielder Movies & TV Shows List | Rotten Tomatoes
- 'The Rehearsal' Season 2 Sets April Release Date on HBO
- 'The Curse': Nathan Fielder, Emma Stone Show Gets Release Date
- Emmy Winners 2025 List
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