Biography
Colleen is a multi-award-winning feature film & TV director and a Semi-Finalist in Shondaland's SeriesFest director contest. With a penchant for crafting stories that dare to straddle the realms of comedy and drama, she is drawn to message-oriented ideas, with characters who embody resilience and hope in the face of adversity. She excels at ensemble explorations of the darker side of the human condition - with a nod to the absurd - but also appreciates the opportunity to slow down and truly explore the moments in between.
She is in development on a New York City based feature with Ged Dickersin, Co-Producer of Oscar® winner "Coda".
Her most recent feature work has received distribution via Tubi ("Out of Bounds" with Karen Obilom and Sterling Sulieman). Other projects can be seen on Lifetime Movie Networks, Passionflix and Prime Video. Her short films have screened and garnered attention and awards internationally, including the Oscar® qualifying Holly Shorts Film Festival and Soho International Film Festivals.
A recipient of a New York Foundation of the Arts artist's grant "Anonymous Was a Woman", Colleen is a member of Film Fatales, Women In Media, Primetime Network, Alliance of Women Directors, and was honored by SHOOT Magazine at the DGA as a "New Director to Watch".
With decades in the business, Colleen began her career in film as a Production Assistant in feature films. She later became a sought after Production Coordinator in commercials, music videos and features, working with such directors as Oliver Stone, Brian DePalma, Robert DeNiro, Hype Williams, John Bayer, Jonus Ackerlund and M. Knight Shyamalan. In between coordinating positions, Colleen directed and produced commercial spots: Edge Auto Rentals, Chelsea Guitars Series (DiMassimo NY).
She is an actor's director as a conservatory trained actor in Meisner as well as Strasberg and other Method techniques. She overlapped her acting work with stand-up comedy, performing in over 20 venues internationally, as well as directing theater in NYC: "Merde, Melissa!" at Theatre Studio Inc. (TSI) "Cowboy Mouth" at The American Theatre of Actors (ATA) and "The Paradox of Authorship", awarded a place in the Samuel French Competition of Plays Off-Broadway at the Harold Clurman Theatre.
Her work has taken her from Iraq to LA, and she includes the Oscar® short listed feature documentary and Sundance Grand Jury nominee "Quest for Honor" as a particular honor.
Colleen's debut screenplay "The Family Remains" was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Page International Screenplay Contest.
She is a graduate of Boston University with a BS in Communications/Film with a concentration in Acting.
