Biography

Leah Johnston is an award-winning filmmaker from Nova Scotia, Canada. She began her career as a child actor and went on to earn her B.F.A. at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Musical Theatre program. After graduating, she transitioned into photography before breaking into film with her National Screen Institute Drama Prize funded short, 'Some Things Won't Sleep' ('14). She has since written and directed six short films which have played at festivals around the world, including 'Ingrid and the Black Hole' ('16) which won Best Short at Edmonton International Film Festival and 'Mother's Skin' ('22) which premiered in competition at Shanghai International Film Festival and won Best Short and the Joan Orenstein Award for Outstanding Performance at the 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival.

She is in development on her first feature 'Shopaholic' which was incubated at the Canadian Film Centre Directors Lab and won the 2025 Writers Guild of Canada Sondra Kelly Award - a prize given out annually to a female-identifying writer in mid-career to develop their project.

Leah is the recipient of the Corus Fearless Female Filmmaker Award, the $35,000 Bravofact/WIFT Prize and the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. She is an alumna of the Academy of Canadian Cinema Inaugural Women's Directing program, the National Screen Institute, the Reykjavik Talent Lab and the Directors Lab at Canadian Film Centre.

May 5, 2025.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jason Buxton

Leah Johnston is a filmmaker from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her short film, Ingrid and the Black Hole premiered at Fantasia Film Festival and was showcased at dozens of film festivals, winning eight awards, including Best Canadian Short at Edmonton International Film Festival. Her most recent film Mother's Skin was the only live-action film from North America selected to premiere in the 2023 Golden Goblet Competition at Shanghai International Film Festival. It took home two awards at Atlantic Film Festival, including Best Short and the Joan Orenstein Award for Outstanding Performance for its six-year old leading actress, Briar Ainslie. Leah is the recipient of the Corus Fearless Female Filmmaker Award, the $35,000 Bravofact/WIFT Prize and the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. She graduated with a B.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and is an alumna of Canadian Film Centre's Feature Film Directing Lab, the National Screen Institute, the Reykjavik Talent Lab and the Academy of Canadian Cinema Inaugural Women's Directing program.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jason Buxton

Graduated New York University's Musical Theatre Program.

Born and raised in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.