Born in Nagano to schoolteachers and raised in Chiba, Japan, Hirayanagi moved to the Los Angeles area in the early 1990s as a high school exchange student.

She went on to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a MFA in film production.

[8] On June 14, 2017, she was named one of the ″20 Rising Women Directors You Need to Know″ by IndieWire.,[9] and was nominated at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature.

[12] In March 2022, it was announced that Hirayanagi would serve as showrunner of the Amazon Prime Video original series Modern Love Tokyo.

[13] Hirayanagi is a black belt in Kyokushin Karate, and came in 3rd place in the Los Angeles Cup Women's Category.