Born in
Helsinki, Finland, Friedman spent her childhood years growing up in
Nummela in southern Finland before moving to the United States to study at the
University of Rochester in New York. She remained in the United States. Before becoming a director she worked in several roles for television films and documentaries including roles as script supervision and location manager. She directed her first production, a television series called
Team Suomi in 1994. Friedman directed the short film
Certainly Not a Fairytale in 2003 for the
Fox Searchlight Searchlab development program. It starred
Linda Cardellini and
Jason Segel. Her sole feature-length film was the 2011 black comedy
The Family Tree starring
Hope Davis,
Keith Carradine,
Dermot Mulroney and
Selma Blair. ==Personal life and death==