Todd Solondz (/ˈsoʊləndz/;[1] born October 15, 1959) is an American filmmaker and playwright known for his style of dark, socially conscious satire.

Solondz's work has received critical acclaim for its commentary on the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background in New Jersey.

[2] His work includes Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001), Palindromes (2004), Life During Wartime (2009), Dark Horse (2011), and Wiener-Dog (2016).

[5] During the early 1990s, Solondz worked at NYANA as a teacher of English as a second language to Russian immigrants in New York City and described the experience as positive.

Stanley Tucci appears in one of his early roles as an old, disliked acquaintance of Ira, who takes up playwriting on a whim and becomes the toast of Off-Broadway.

[2] The dark comedy follows the travails of Dawn Wiener, a bespectacled, toothy, and shy 7th-grade girl who is mercilessly teased at school and treated to alternating contempt and neglect at home.

It gave a balanced and sometimes sympathetic portrayal of the bully antagonist Brandon, and its depiction of Dawn, the ostensible protagonist and victim of the story, showed her as deeply flawed and sometimes cruel and selfish.

Solondz's next piece was Happiness (1998), a highly controversial film due to the themes explored in it, which range from rape, pedophilia, incest, suicide, and murder to a bizarre sexual phone caller.

"[9] When Solondz initially presented the film to the MPAA, he was told that if he wished to receive a rating other than NC-17, he would have to remove a scene of explicit sex involving a white female and a black male.

[10] Solondz's next film, Palindromes (2004), raised the eyebrows of many pundits and reviewers due to its themes of child molestation, statutory rape and abortion.

[19][20] Solondz commented that he realized this is because "there's no rape, there's no child molestation, there's no masturbation, and then I thought, 'omg, why didn't I think of this years ago?

[21] Starring an ensemble cast led by Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, Danny DeVito, Greta Gerwig, Tracy Letts, and Zosia Mamet, the film serves as a spin-off from Solondz's 1995 film Welcome to the Dollhouse, which also features the character of Dawn Wiener.

In 2017, it was reported that Penélope Cruz and Edgar Ramírez were attached to star Solondz's next film Love Child, a darkly comedic twist on the story of Oedipus.

[28][29] Principal photography was scheduled to begin in late 2024 in New York City and Texas,[30] but in June, the production was abruptly cancelled due to lack of funding.

Set in New Jersey, Welcome to the Dollhouse included traditional-Jewish-influenced music befitting a bar mitzvah being played at a wedding anniversary party.