COHORT 2 PARTICIPANT

Emily Schooley is an award-winning actor and emerging filmmaker whose multi-disciplinary foundation informs her overall practice. She is the founder of Laughing Cat Productions, a Toronto-based company that focuses on telling intelligent, women-driven stories.

Emily has worked extensively in independent stage and screen media, with projects ranging from small, intimate sets to large-scale productions involving over 100 cast and crew members. She is a proud associate member of Film Fatales Toronto.

Within Canada and in the United States, she has led several guest workshops and lectures on the practices of independent filmmaking and performance. She has appeared as an on-camera expert in several documentaries, including A Big Set of Lungs (examining the horror genre) and MeAfterToo (discussing the MeToo movement).

Several of Emily's films - along with projects that Laughing Cat was hired to help create - have won awards and screened internationally, including in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, and China. These include the short films Mom Jail, Sidney, Abnegation, and Two Mates, and the feature film Blood Child. Emily's last two short films - Psyche, and Life and the Art of Lying - have both won awards, with the latter being included in CFMDC's 2019 Queer Compilation, and available on VOD on platforms including Amazon Prime.

As a believer in lifelong learning, Emily continues to hone her skills through various organizations including Workman Arts, Charles Street Video, Toronto Business Development Centre, Second City, The Actor's Foundry, and more.