[1][2] Piven was raised in Evanston, Illinois, a city just north of Chicago on Lake Michigan.

[5] Piven grew up in a Jewish family[8] Piven has directed more than 20 plays in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., including Fully Loaded in 2006,[9] actor Patrick McCartney's one person show Sinister Kid in 2013,[10] and Victims of Duty in 2018.

[15][16][6] In 2014, her second feature, Welcome to Me, was co-produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and stars Kristen Wiig as a woman with borderline personality disorder who wins the lottery and launches her own talk show.

[3][7] Piven has also directed television episodes for Transparent, Claws, Divorce, Sweetbitter, and One Mississippi.

[3][5][11] Piven and McKay both serve as board members of Jail Guitar Doors USA, a non-profit founded by Wayne Kramer that provides musical instruments to inmates.