Patricia Riggen was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. She began her film career as a writer for a television documentary series produced by Bertha Navarro (PAN’S LABYRINTH) in her native Guadalajara. She later moved to Mexico City to work as a Creative Executive for the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) where she produced short films, commercials and documentaries. She is a recipient of the National Fund for the Arts and Culture in Mexico.

Patricia moved to New York City in 1998 where she studied a master's degree in Directing and Screenwriting at Columbia University. Her first short film, LA MILPA, which she directed as a thesis film, screened in over 30 international film festivals and received 20 awards; among them the Student Academy Award, the Mexican Academy Award for Best Short Film, the Student “Emmy” and the DGA Best Latino Student Filmmaker Award. It aired on television in many countries, including on HBO in the United States.  Patricia's next film, FAMILY PORTRAIT, a documentary about poverty in Harlem featuring Gordon Parks,  also screened at numerous festivals collecting several awards, among them the Jury's Prize for Best Short Film at Sundance '05, and the Best Documentary Award at the Aspen Short Film Festival.

Patricia directed and produced her first feature, UNDER THE SAME MOON (LA MISMA LUNA), which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to a standing ovation, and was quickly acquired for worldwide distribution by Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company.  Other festivals featuring the film include the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and Opening Night of the 2008 Miami International Film Festival.  It was released theatrically in March 2008 to opening-weekend record numbers for a Spanish language film in the US. It is the 3rd highest grossing Mexican film of all times in the US and the 5th in its own country.

Patricia released a short film for the ensemble feature REVOLUCION, which premiered at the 2010 Berlinale Festival followed by screening at the Cannes Critics’ Week and the 2010 New York Film Festival. 

She directed LEMONADE MOUTH for the Disney Channel which premiered in April 2011. In the first two airings, the two hour telecast garnered 12.5 million viewers.

Most recently, Patricia completed filming SEE IF I CARE staring Eva Mendes.