Biography
Tonya Hurley is a critically-acclaimed writer/director, author (creator of the ghostgirl books), screenwriter and filmmaker, whose credits span film, television, live performance and interactive media.
Hurley began her career after earning a degree in writing from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was an active member of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers, shooting several experimental films on Super 8. She then moved to New York City and became a publicist for such artists as John Lydon, Paul Westerberg, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Erasure, Prince, Morrissey, George Michael, John Cale and Bush.
Hurley has been nominated for the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation Award in film and has also made the semi-finals of the Sundance Institute's Writer's Lab for her feature film script, "Good Mourning."
In addition, she has written and directed five animated and live-action docu-shorts -- Kiss My Brain, The Biblical Real World, Solo-Me, Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles.
These award-winning films have been screened around the world at such festivals and venues as The TriBeCa Film Festival, The Edinburgh Film Festival, The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, Poetry Festival DVD -- which is currently being distributed world-wide by the United Nations, The Budapest Film Festival and the Anthology Film Archives in New York City.
Several of her shorts have been broadcast on such outlets as PBS, IFC - Independent Film Channel, amazon.com, CBS Jumbotron in Times Square and AOL moviefone.com.
As well as her work as an indie filmmaker, Hurley is the co-creator and co-producer of the ABC family sitcom So Little Time, featuring Mary-Kate And Ashley Olsen in 2001. She is also co-producer and a co-writer of Mary-Kate and Ashley In Action!, an animated series which aired on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC during the 2000 - 2001 season. She has also written for episodic children's television including the popular PBS series Big, Big World.
Hurley has written and directed television commercials for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Warner Home Video. She was the primary provider of original content for the mary-kateandashley.com website. In addition, she is the creator and co-executive producer the of mary-kateandashley brand video games. She has also created two board games and developed dolls for Mattel.
Tonya's most recent creation the New York Times best-selling book series, ghostgirl, which is published by Little, Brown & Company.
