Photo by Steph Girard

Award-winning Australian director Leah Patterson grew up in Campbelltown, a working-class suburb of Sydney, Australia. She was the first in her family to attend university, attain a passport, and travel.

In 2021, she was one of eight global filmmakers selected for the Australian Screen Forum’s Women in Screen Workshop. She is a Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Fellow, and was named a Top 10 Women In Film To Watch by Diversity in Cannes.

Leah works as a Dubbing Director and has directed 50+ episodes of UNVO for English localisation. All work is currently on Netflix, including breakout Korean hits Physical 100 and Zombieverse.

Her film Bridget and Iain was based on the play of the same name by Norelle Scott. Damian Sommerlad won Best Actor at Diversity in Cannes. She previously directed the play and was awarded Best Director of the 60+ play festival, Best Play, the People’s Choice Award presented by the City of Los Angeles at the Short+Sweet Festival.

She directed the North American debut of Oracles & Miracles a play written by Norelle Scott based on the best-selling novel by Stevan Eldred-Grigg. The production marked the 30 year anniversary of this powerful novel and won an Encore Producers Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Leah was the Literary Manager for Los Angeles based Australian Theatre Company, curating and producing its popular annual Summer Reading Series.

She graduated from the University of New South Wales with a BA (Theatre/Film & Philosophy) and from William Esper Studio, an acting conservatory in New York City.

Contact: pattersonleah3@gmail.com