She grew up in Berkeley, California, and attended UCLA where she received a degree from the School of Motion Picture and Television.
Onodera produced the 1995 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner, Picture Bride, directed by Kayo Hatta,[1] starring Youki Kudoh, Akira Takayama, Tamlyn Tomita, and Toshirō Mifune.
The company developed a number of Asian American projects, and co-financed and co-produced Jule Gilfillan's Restless, a romantic drama set and shot in Beijing, China.
In 2003, Onodera produced the Emmy nominated half-hour PBS television special, Day of Independence for Cedar Grove Productions, which told the story of a young Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) baseball player facing the Japanese American internment during World War II.
Written for the screen and directed by Eric Byler, and produced by Onodera, the film made its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), winning the SXSW Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast.