Top Canadian Female Directors

1. Sarah Polley

Actress | Dawn of the Dead

Sarah Polley is an actress and director renowned in her native Canada for her political activism. Blessed with an extremely expressive face that enables directors to minimize dialog due to her uncanny ability to suggest a character's thoughts, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her ...

2. Deepa Mehta

Director | Fire

Deepa Mehta is a transnational artist and a screenwriter, director, and producer whose work has been called "courageous", "provocative" and "breathtaking". Her visually lush and emotionally resonating films have played at every major international film festival; receiving numerous awards and ...

3. Tara Flynn

Director | Vita Bella: The Dogumentary

4. Nadia DiMofte

Producer | Buyers

Nadia DiMofte is an Emerging Filmmaker who moved to Vancouver in 2010 with her husband, actor Raresh DiMofte. DiMofte has written, produced and directed her first short - FRaiLNeSS, in 2014, which stars Raresh DiMofte. Her short was accepted at the Short Film Corner section of the Cannes Film ...

5. Brianne Nord-Stewart

Producer | The Dangers of Online Dating

Brianne Nord-Stewart is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker known for writing and directing comedy films and series, and directing music videos around the world.

She got her start in Edmonton, Alberta, before moving to Vancouver, BC where she built a foundation for her work. After producing a ...

6. Kate Johnston

Producer | Tru Love

Kate Johnston is an award winning filmmaker known for Tru Love, Stormcloud and Click and Slow Burn. She grew up in her father's projection room, dazzled by the magic of the dancing light. Her dedication to telling the stories of the LGBTQ community with passion and integrity has garnered her 15 ...

7. Katrin Bowen

Writer | Random Acts of Romance

From growing up in a Mennonite community in Linden, Alberta,to acting in B-movies in Los Angeles, to modeling in Italy, to directing independent films in Vancouver, Katrin Bowen has led a diverse life.

Katrin's first feature film: Amazon Falls is loosely based on her experiences as an 18 year old ...

8. Helena Thom

Producer | The Quiet Canadians: The Web Series

Helena Thom is an assistant director and producer, known for The Quiet Canadians: The Web Series (2016), 13 Miles (2021) and Android Employed (2017). She is married to Anthony Epp.

9. Jacquie Gould

Writer | Victory Square

Jacquie Gould is a Canadian Writer / Director based in Vancouver. A member of the Directors Guild of Canada since 1988, Jacquie started her Film/TV career as an Assistant Director on series including 'WiseGuy', 'Dark Angel' and 'Smallville' and feature films including 'Cadence', 'Alive' and 'Snow ...

10. Lisa Jackson

Director | Savage

She is an Anishinaabe filmmaker and writer. She originally planned a law career, then got into writing. She returned to school to study documentary filmmaking. She has also worked in animation, performance art film, and music video.

11. Annie Bradley

Director | Blowback

Raised in the arresting landscapes of Muskoka, award winning writer/director Annie Bradley is known for her striking cinematic work and strong storytelling. She is an alumna of the Sundance Film Festival, TIFF, the TIFF Talent Lab, TIFF Pitch This!, the CFC Directors Lab, Film Fatales LA, AWD and ...

12. Orsy Szabó

Writer | Lead and Follow

Orsy Szabó is an actor and writer, known for Lead and Follow (2014), Lillian Code (2011) and Authentic Kids (2016).

13. Sophie Ann Rooney

Director | Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Sophie grew up in France and is a British and French National and Canadian Permanent Resident

She studied at E.I.C.A.R, (International Film School-Paris), where she took a BFA Directing degree and had tutoring with Bosnian-born, award-winning Director, Nenad Dizdarevic. Since living in ...

14. Siobhan Devine

Director | Kim's Convenience

Siobhan Devine is known for her work on Kim's Convenience (2016), Matching Hearts (2020) and The Birdwatcher (2015).

15. Cat Hostick

Director | The Meaning of Life

Cat Hostick is a Canadian Director and Actress. Her feature debut was an official selection at Dances With Films which screened at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and won multiple best feature awards. Cat studied art in Amsterdam, Berlin and Spain in high school, and worked part time at Walt ...

16. Gail Harvey

Camera_department | Murder at 1600

Gail Harvey is an award-winning film director and photographer who has studied under Norman Jewison, Wim Wenders and Arthur Penn. She was the third woman ever hired as a staff photographer at United Press International wire service. Her most recent venture is a production company called "Straight ...

17. Mina Shum

Director | Double Happiness

Mina Shum was born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, Canada. After earning a diploma in film production, she went on to make 5 short films, including Me, Mom and Mona (1993), which was honoured with a Special Jury Citation at Toronto in 1993.

18. Lynne Stopkewich

Director | Kissed

Lynne Stopkewich was born in 1964 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. She is a director, known for Kissed (1996), Suspicious River (2000) and The Atwood Stories (2003).

19. Anne Wheeler

Director | Loyalties

Born in Alberta, to a doctor father and musician mother, Anne earned degrees in mathematics and music, putting her way through university as a performer. She came to film-making after working and traveling around the world for a couple of years, exploring Europe, Asia and Africa. She returned home ...

20. Patricia Rozema

Director | Into the Forest

Patricia Rozema was born on August 20, 1958 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She is a director and writer, known for Into the Forest (2015), Mansfield Park (1999) and Grey Gardens (2009).

21. Mary Harron

Director | American Psycho

Mary Harron (born January 12, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her role in writing and directing several independent films, including I Shot Andy Warhol (1996), American Psycho (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She co-wrote American Psycho and ...

22. Jen Soska

Actress | American Mary

Identical twins, writers, directors, actors even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and snuck into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the bloody ...

23. Sylvia Soska

Actress | American Mary

Identical twins, writers, directors, actors, and even stunt players, the Soska sisters have always loved twisted film. Even at an early age, they devoured Stephen King novels, one after another as fast as they could read - and would sneak into the over 18 sections at video stores, to critique the ...

24. Amanda Tapping

Actress | Stargate SG-1

Born In England, raised in Canada. BFA Acting University of Windsor. Amanda spent 12 seasons on Stargate SG-1 (1997) and its spin-offs, Stargate: Atlantis (2004) and Stargate Universe (2009), as "Samantha Carter". She then took on the lead role of "Dr. Helen Magnus" on the television series ...