Wendy Riva

Wendy (Mickell) Riva (born December 20, 1963) is an American Art Director and Interior Designer.

Career
Wendy Riva graduated from the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. In 1996 Riva moved to London to curate an art exhibition for a National Corporation. She worked as an Art Consultant and Art Gallery director in Los Angeles before pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. She has worked as an Art Director on over 20 feature films since 1991 and also as an Interior Designer since 1996. Riva and decorator Andrea Gibbin collaborated on a pop-up shop, R&G Collective, located in Los Angeles.

Riva has worked with Academy Award-winning Production Designers Richard Silbert, Dean Tavolaris, Polly Platt, and J. Michael Riva creating motion picture sets.

She is currently a member of the Art Directors Union. In 2008-2009 Riva was a member of the National Finance Committee (NFC) for the Democratic National Party. In 2010, Riva was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, PACA, in Washington D.C. She currently serves on the board.

Filmography
All as Assistant Art Director.

Personal Life
Riva was born in Santa Monica, California. Riva's mother grew up in Hollywood and her father, from Chicago, owned furniture stores along the west coast. Her grandfather was TV writer Parke Levy, who wrote many early TV comedy series. Most of his TV shows were based on his wife, Bea Levy, such as Many Happy Returns and December Bride.

In 1994, Riva met her future husband J. Michael Riva, grandson of Marlene Dietrich, whom she worked with on many films. They were married in 1995 and had their first child, Daniel, in 1996. Their second son, Adam, was born in 1999.