Biography

47 Features, 29 Series, over 160 credits, David Winning is a US-Canada Dual Citizen and veteran film & television Director and Producer. Experience in all genres: Sci-Fi, horror, drama, action, theatrical release, movies-of-the-week, episodic, romance, westerns, Christmas movies, comedy, family, kid's series, live audience multi-cam, situation comedies, web-based, etc. Has directed for Netflix, Hallmark, SYFY Channel, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Disney, BBC, ABC Television, Paramount, MGM, 20TH Century FOX, HBO, Lionsgate, etc ... Has worked in Scotland, Budapest, Vancouver, Montréal, Los Angeles ... At 22, he directed his debut feature Storm (1985) with just $50K. It was released theatrically by Cannon International in April 1988 and distributed by Warner Home Entertainment in 1989; selling 20K copies. His second feature Killer Image (1992) starring Michael Ironside and veteran character actor M. Emmet Walsh released through Paramount Home Entertainment received its US Premiere as a Finalist at the 1992 Houston International Film Festival. Writing and producing two early independent features led to an award-winning three decades also as a television director. His episodic work has garnered over 100 international awards and nominations including the Houston International Film Festival, the 1995 Gold Hugo & Two Silver Hugo's from the Chicago International Film Festival, and four national Gemini (Emmy) Television nominations for Best Director-Dramatic Series. In 2002 he received a National Award from the Director's Guild for Outstanding Achievement in Drama; nominated again in 2006. His third feature, the Lance Henriksen thriller Profile for Murder (1996) debuted on HBO, followed by the release of the Kim Cattrall/Eric McCormack thriller Exception to the Rule (1997) for Artisan and Lion's Gate Films which won Best Thriller at WorldFest Houston. He began directing network television at 27 for Paramount's series Friday the 13th: The Series (1987). 30 years of episodic production has included the Showtime-Disney western anthology Dead Man's Gun (1997), Matrix (1993) (USA Network) with Carrie-Anne Moss, and the pilot and first six episodes of UPN-FOX's Breaker High (1997) with Ryan Gosling. In the summer of 1996 he re-teamed with Michael Ironside and Frederic Forrest for the Universal military thriller One of Our Own (1997). His theatrical release, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997) (20th Century Fox), was the 4th Highest selling film in the U.S. in August 1997 (Billboard). Winning spent that fall shooting in Scotland with Jason Connery on the Merlin (1998) project. Next he directed the Patrick Duffy-Pam Dawber thriller Don't Look Behind You (1999) (Fox Family). Further work followed: ABC's Dinotopia (2002), in Budapest, Pax's Angel series Twice in a Lifetime (1999), Jack London's Call of the Wild (2000), and Gene Roddenberry's twin sci-fi series Earth: Final Conflict (1997) and Andromeda (2000) starring Kevin Sorbo. His Stargate: Atlantis (2004) Season One episode "Childhood's End" won 3 Best Director awards in 2005; New York, Houston and Chicago. Winning directed Kevin Sorbo, Robert Englund, and Bruce Dern in a trilogy of monster movies for SYFY and Hallmark (RHI New York) and also episodes of the Lifetime vampire series Blood Ties (2007). In 2011 he supervised and directed the far north adventure series Yukonic! (2011) and helmed episodes of the comedy-horror series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (2010) (Space), Lost Girl (2010) & XIII: The Series (2011) (Stuart Townsend) (SYFY Showcase). He has done multi-cam live audience series' Max & Shred (2014) (Nickelodeon) and Mr. Young (2011) (Disney Channel) and the heart-warming romantic comedy The Town That Came A-Courtin' (2014) (UP TV) starring Lauren Holly and Valerie Harper. In 2014 he directed the NY Times Top #5 Rated movie The Tree That Saved Christmas (2014) with Lacey Chabert, as well as the inspirational Paper Angels (2014) (UP TV) -- and the post-apocalyptic action thriller Mutant World (2014) (Sony-SYFY) with Kim Coates and Ashanti. In the 2016 season he directed six movies in seven months; thrillers, Christmas and family movies. Premiering that year Unleashing Mr. Darcy (2016) broke a Hallmark network record for social media with over 47 Million tweets. Recent work includes a dozen new Hallmark and UP TV features; including directing (and producing) The Rooftop Christmas Tree (2016) (Tim Reid, Michelle Morgan), Tulips in Spring (2016) (Fiona Gubelmann), Finding Santa (2017) (Jodie Sweetin), While You Were Dating (2017) (William Baldwin), A December Bride (2016) (Jessica Lowndes), Winter's Dream (2018) (Dean Cain), A Summer Romance (2019) (Erin Krakow, Ryan Paevey), Blake Shelton's Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas (2018) and two of its sequels -- and two films in the Father Christmas Series (Erin Krakow). David helmed six episodes of the (SYFY Netflix) hit series Van Helsing (2016), a post-apocalyptic take on the vampire rising based on a graphic novel, directing the 3rd Season Finale and opening the explosive Fourth season. Three new movies: Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. By:. Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. By:. By:. Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. By:. By:. By:. Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. By:. By:. By:. By:. Field Day (2023), Blessings of Christmas (2023), & a NEW Mystery Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit (2024) premiere this season. By:
- IMDb mini biography by: Diana Parsons

"The creative side of me believes filmmaking is an art form, but I always tell people the process is a little like painting a picture when seven people are holding the brush. The director is the ringleader: the job is to get creative forces working together to get the best result. I like to create an environment that's fun for people to work in. It's such a delicate balance, especially when you're trying to coax the best performances out of actors, especially when the material is tough. You have to create a little cocoon for them to work in." (Vancouver Sun, December 1999)

"When someone that close to you is gone, you realize how much of your life was spent trying to impress that person. I always thought of my dad as my chief adviser. He knew I had an interest in film and pushed me to keep doing it. I miss him a lot. For four years, I was writing a film about dealing with a death, and now I'm dealing with a death. It seems like it should have happened the other way round." (January 1991)

My big complaint about Storm was that it was a little too personal, I'm going to be stricter with myself this time.

"The goal here is to make a really dramatic, tear-jerking, beautiful, family movie that outlives you." (January 2023)