Ligiah Villalobos is a Writer, Producer, Consultant, Educator and Lecturer. She is best known for writing and executive producing the indie feature film Under the Same Moon, (La Misma Luna). Acquired by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company at the Sundance Film Festival, the film became the highest sale for a Spanish-language film in the history of Sundance. Made for under $2M, the film earned over $23M worldwide.
Villalobos has developed projects for multiple studios, networks, and streaming services including ABC, NBC, ABC/Family, Lifetime, Hallmark Hall of Fame, F/X, Showtime, BET, MAX and STARZ, among others. And she was a Cultural Consultant on the Academy Award winning Pixar movie, COCO and the Disney movie, Planes. Her most recent film, Koati, which she co-wrote, was released in 2021.
Before becoming a writer/producer, Villalobos was a studio executive at The Walt Disney Company, where she oversaw television production in Latin America for five years, launching eight #1 children shows in seven countries. She then oversaw the Writing Fellowship Program and launched the Directors Training Program for the Studio. Villalobos was then hired as a Current Programming Executive at The WB, where she oversaw six prime times shows, including the four highest rated shows on the network.
Recently, Villalobos was the Creator and Executive Producer of the Sonoro/IHeart Media/Mi Cultura scripted podcast titled, Adelita: Changing the Key, which launched in January, 2023 on all platforms, both in English and in Spanish. The podcast is currently being developed as a TV series with Producers Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince Bythewood (Swagger, The Woman King) and Skydance. Villalobos was also the Executive Producer of the Spirit & Friends animated shorts for Dreamworks TV Animation, which can be seen on Peacock TV. And, she was a writer on the Annie nominated PBS/9 Story animated series Rosie’s Rules. Villalobos is currently attached to write the American adaptation of the South African feature film Sink.
Villalobos is the recipient of the Humanitas Prize for the TV film, Firelight. She is a tenured Associate Professor at Cal State LA and has been an adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts and at LMU. Villalobos is on the Board of Immigrant Defenders Law Center and on the Honorary Board of The Point Foundation, the largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit. She received her MFA from Antioch University in Creative Writing.