Cherien Dabis (born November 27, 1976) is a Palestinian-American director, producer, and screenwriter. Her father is Palestinian and her mother is Jordanian. She spent many summer months of her childhood in Jordan. After a series of racist and Islamophobic incidents against her family when she was 14, Dabis wanted to change how Arabs are portrayed in Western media. She earned a bachelor's degree with honors in creative writing and communications from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Fine Arts in filmmaking from Columbia University School of the Arts. She began her career as a writer on the television series The L Word from 2006 to 2008.

Dabis's first short film, Make a Wish, screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and won awards at Aspen Shortsfest, the Cairo International Film Festival for Children, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Her debut feature film, Amreeka, screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and received critical acclaim at other notable venues. Her second feature film, May in the Summer, opened Sundance in 2013.

Dabis's films are somewhat autobiographical, as she seeks to convey the unique perspective of someone who grew up between the Middle East and the American Midwest. Her films address themes of immigration, discrimination, cultural assimilation, and family.