Kopple grew up in Scarsdale, New York and started working with the Maysles Brothers, an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the direct cinema style. Barbara first debuted direction was the film “Winter Soldier”. She was among the 19 filmmakers, under the rubric Winterfilm Collective to produce the film “Winter Soldier”.
Kopple has directed an episode of the television drama series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Oz”, which won Directors Guild of America award for the former. Kopple has done films for the Working Group, directing the 30-minute short documentary “Locked Out in America: Voice From Ravenswood” for the We Do the Work series.
Heading towards Kopple personal life, she previously married Hart Perry and has one son Nicholas Perry. The couple could not keep up with their relationship and separated with a divorce due to some personal problem. Currently, Barbara is happily married to Gene Carroll.
According to sources, in the beginning of making the film “Harlan County, USA”, Barbara was promised with $9 thousand grant then later it was denied, which happened countless times until she was eventually given the money through funds.
