Biography
Shawn Tolleson is an award-winning director, writer and producer. She co-wrote, executive produced and directed her third feature, SANTA'S BOOTS, with Megan Hilty, June Squib, and Noah Mills for Lifetime. She directed her second feature film, UNDERGRAD NIGHTMARE, for Lifetime with Greer Grammar and Moira Kelly. Her debut feature as a writer/director, SATURN RETURNS has played 30+ festivals and won 10 awards. The film stars Jordan Belfi, Miles Gaston Villanueva, Nicholle Tom, and Alison Haislip. She created and wrote the television script GREAT WHITE NORTH for CBC. She's won several screenwriting awards, as well as being named a fellow for both the Oprah Winfrey/Meryl Streep sponsored Writing Lab for Women over 40 and the Pacific Screenwriting Program.
She has directed five short films that have played around the world in film festivals, including her proof-of-concept short film SHAKESPEARE'S HENRY IV with Martin Sheen as King Henry. She wrote and directed 13 episodes for the first web-series created parallel to a network televisions show, FOX's THE VISITOR with John Corbett, produced by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich. She has directed 14 plays including a Sam Shepard world-premier for the MET Theatre in Los Angeles, Shakespeare, and Tennessee Williams.
As a producer and production manager, she worked on 50+ commercials, music videos and high-fashion stills shoots. Projects include music videos with the Rolling Stones, Prince, and the Dandy Warhols, and shoots for ITALIAN VOGUE, VOGUE, and Calvin Klein with photographer Steven Meisel.
Shawn started her career as an actor, performing in over 100 plays from Shakespeare to Shaw and Chekhov. She holds her B.F.A. in Acting and Directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Drama. She is a duel US and Canadian citizen and the mother of twin girls.
