Mindy Roffman was born and raised in NYC where she began her creative journey as a Theatrical set designer. After earning her MFA from the Yale school of Drama she spent a year working as an assistant to her esteemed professor, Ming Cho Lee. It was under his mentorship that she refined her skills, drafting and model building on both regional theater productions as well as the striking Broadway production of “K2”. Shortly thereafter, she was referred by a mutual friend, another recent Yale grad, Paul Eads, for a position as an Art Department Production Assistant. Having had similar training indicating a shared language and understanding of design principles, Paul offered her this first job on the film “Turk 182”. Several months later he hired her on his next project, this time as an Assistant Art Director on the film “Brighton Beach Memoirs”. As a Period film which took place in 1937, it was an architectural challenge, one where the Art Department was tasked with turning back time on a six-block radius business district in Brooklyn. This experience changed her life, as it provided a fantastic training ground for her future career. It was hard work, and long hours but an amazing learning experience and training ground. Historical accuracy required that every piece of the existing architecture; molding, doorways, windows signage etc. would have to be measured with great precision and drafted for any additions to the existing architecture to fit into place. This new way forward, was very different from the creative and open-minded fantasy world of the theater, which allowed for much more creativity. It was a new challenge to reproduce reality, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She and Paul worked well together and eventually that partnership blossomed into a romance. In 1985 they decided to relocate to Los Angeles, where the bulk of film work was happening at the time. For the next three decades they not only collected five Emmy awards between them but also raised two wonderful boys who grew up to be artists and musicians themselves.
Fine art had always been her first passion, and it was her ability to draw that she believes earned her admission to Yale as a designer, so when work was slow periodically throughout the years, she began taking classical oil painting classes at the Kline Academy of Art. Now many years later and recently retired she is thrilled to have a home studio where she enjoys the freedom to focus on her own Art as well as other creative endeavors. Mindy is thoroughly enjoying this phase of her life, and quite happily spends a good portion of her day painting,
She is grateful to have been able to take part in what many consider to be ‘the golden age of television’ .she is now equally excited to be able to explore learning new techniques and expressing herself through writing, music and most importantly to making Art that speaks to her heart.