Todd Solondz (born October 15, 1959 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American independent writer-director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. He has been celebrated for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia," a reflection of his own background in New Jersey. Solondz broke through with his sophomore feature, the cult hit "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (1995), and went on to write and direct a string of acclaimed yet divisive films in a similar vein, including "Happiness" (1998), "Storytelling" (2001), "Palindromes" (2004) and "Wiener-Dog" (2016), many of which are loosely connected by way of recurring characters.