CR 038: Dana Schneider on Bringing Bling to the Big Screen

The acclaimed jewelry designer discusses her extraordinary career, from “The Matrix Reloaded” to “The Hunger Games” and beyond.

Photo courtesy of Dana Schneider

In the 1980s, Dana Schneider was making a successful living as a jewelry designer, selling her pieces in stores around the country. But a few years into her career, she realized it might be time for a change. “I started not being satisfied with selling wholesale jewelry to boutiques and stores,” she says. “I was doing well at it. Getting a name. But I felt really confined by trends. Stores would say, ‘This is selling. Can you give us something new, but not too different?’ It was really restricting and boring. I was making all this crazy, wild, heavy metal jewelry, and I knew that I didn’t have an outlet for it.”

Despite having no connections to the entertainment industry, Schneider decided to move to Los Angeles and pursue work in film and television. Within two years, she was designing jewelry for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Today she has more than 80 high-profile credits to her name. Her jewelry has been seen in The Hunger Games, To…