Akiva Penaloza is a prolific screenwriter and director from New York City. After a distinguished career in magazine publishing, Akiva switched careers and returned to her first love, making movies. She was selected to attend the American Film Institute (AFI), widely considered "the best film school in the world," (Hollywood Reporter, 2011.) As a Screenwriting Fellow, she studied under the tutelage of Academy Award Nominee Anna Thomas (Frida, El Norte,) and was personally selected by Academy Award Winner Diane Keaton to receive a $10,000 scholarship.
She wrote and directed her first film, La Chiva, winning $10,000 from Mercury Latino Lens Film Challenge. The Mexican-themed film won Best Short at the Long Island International Film Festival in Southampton, New York.

Other distinctions include Best Screenplay in ScriptShark’s annual contest with a feature Western, Brazen, an Urban Artist Initiative/New York City Fellowship and acceptance into the renowned Tribeca Film Festival’s All Access Program representing her award-winning romantic comedy script, Hannah Henri. Hannah Henri also won Best Screenplay honors at the esteemed Newfest Film Festival in New York City. In 2012, Akiva completed the short film version of Hannah Henri called "A charming New York story," by Sony Pictures Classics.

Penaloza writes across genres and her portfolio of original scripts includes romantic comedies, romantic dramas, westerns, sci-fi, dramas, mythological adventure as well as crime and medical one-hour TV/Cable dramas. Currently, Akiva teaches the art and craft of screenwriting privately to aspiring screenwriters in New York City.