Discouraged from watching television as a child, Arlene Sanford first explored her interest in television production at the University of Rochester, where she created short films while majoring in psychology. After graduating, she secured a job as a game show writer for Goodson-Todman Productions. She worked her way from writer to production assistant and eventually to associate director while based in New York. Persuaded to move to Los Angeles by veteran television director James Burrows, she made the move and began as an associate director in daytime television, ultimately directing Days of Our Lives. Seeking to direct episodic television, she produced, wrote and directed Welcome Home, a short starring Jamie Lee Curtis, which was picked up by HBO. This project led to her first episodic television assignment on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.
Since her first assignment in 1987, Sanford has amassed more than a hundred episodic directing credits in all genres, including Designing Women, The Ellen Burstyn Show, The Wonder Years, The Torkelsons, Dream On, Friends, Caroline in the City, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Arrested Development, Boston Legal, Medium, My Boys, Desperate Housewives, Nashville, Bones, Pretty Little Liars, and Grace and Frankie among many others. Along the way, she has also directed feature films including A Very Brady Sequel (1996) and I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998), as well as movies for television Camp Bicknell (1992), More, Patience (2006), and 12 Men of Christmas (2009).
For her directorial efforts, Sanford has been nominated for a DGA Award in 2004 in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series category for Desperate Housewives and again in 2006 for Boston Legal. She has also received two Emmy nominations for her work on Ally McBeal and Boston Legal. She has been a Guild member since 1976, has served on the 1999 Negotiating Committee and served as a Directors Guild Foundation trustee from 2002 to 2017.