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Roxanne Messina Captor is an Emmy-nominated writer, director, and producer, recognized as a directing protégé of her friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola. In 2005, she was honored with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France. Her CBS movie Home Sweet Homeless (1988) earned her the Humanitas and Ohio State Awards. She currently serves as Chairperson of the California Arts Council, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Messina Captor began her career as a professional ballerina and was regarded as a triple threat on Broadway. She worked as assistant choreographer to Gene Kelly on One from the Heart (1981) and The Cotton Club (1984). Additionally, she contributed as a production assistant on The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983).
She has written, directed, and produced numerous network and cable movies of the week (MOWs) and series. She executive produced and wrote the story for the Hallmark Channel movie Dream Moms (2023) and executive produced the Christmas film Dickens of a Christmas. Other produced works include Her Married Lover (1999) for Lifetime TV, Dead on Sight (1994) for HBO, The Trujillos for ABC, and for CBS the Emmy-nominated Home Sweet Homeless (1988), Fatal Vows (1996), and In Dreams (1998).
Her award-winning projects also include the digital series The Salon (2020), featuring Harry Shearer, Sam Rubin, Kate Linder, and Mason Grammer, which won Best Ensemble at the Indie Series Awards and Best Digital Series at the iHollywood Film Festival. Homecoming: Veterans, Wives, Mothers (2018) received the Five Star Award Best of Festival at the iHollywood Film Festival and honors from the San Pedro International Film Festival. Homecoming is available on Amazon Prime and has been showcased at special screenings for the United Nations, New York Bar Association members, and Common Defense, with support from First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Continuing her focus on military women, her film Thank You for Your Service (2017) was featured at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and won Best Narrative Feature at the Hall of Fame Women’s History Month Festival. Both films are accessible on Shorts TV and EMEA TV.
In 2023-2024, Messina Captor was commissioned by BroadStage to produce and direct a documentary on Jazz Grammy winner Stanley Clarke. The film highlights Clarke’s career and his three-year residency at BroadStage collaborating with music students from Santa Monica College. In 2024, she produced a documentary about Emmy-winning actress Barbara Bain for the Mitzi Blahd grant program.
An accomplished theater director and choreographer, Messina Captor has worked on the Pre-Broadway production Summer Stock, Stephanie Liss’s The Vow, Vincent Canby’s After All (1998) featuring Hal Linden, and Trotsky’s Garden starring Dina Merrill, Kurtwood Smith, and Ayre Gross.
Another notable project is the Oscar-qualified short film A Couple of White Chicks at the Hairdresser (2007), which screened at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner and was featured on Comedy Central and Tubi. The comedy stars Shelley Long and Harry Shearer.
Messina Captor was among the founding original program executives at Turner Network Television. She also served as executive director of the San Francisco International Film Festival and Society, boosting box office and attendance by 40%.
She has been a guest speaker at Havana, Cuba’s International Festival of New Latin American Cinema and served on policy-making committees for higher education and runaway production under Governor Gavin Newsom. She is also active on the policy committee for the California Community Colleges Faculty Association.
As an educator, Messina Captor leads documentary production programs at New York Film Academy and Santa Monica College, and has previously taught at Emerson College LA, UCLA, and CalArts. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Who’s Who in America, NATPE, and Greenlight Women.
