Biography

Kate Cheeseman is a BAFTA and multi-award winning director working in both film and television. She is presently lead director on Season 6 of Outlander and was previously lead director on series 9 of Call the Midwife, also directing the finale of season 8. She has directed five short films and is developing several feature film projects one of which has interest in the States for production in the near future.

Kate began her career in film editing, before moving to direct documentary films where she took crews abroad, and directed large scale reconstructions of train crashes, life boat rescues and house fires. Moving to fiction she was awarded a BAFTA, the Prix Danube Jury Prize and several further prizes and nominations for the serial and TV Film, Pig Heart Boy. Furthermore, she won an RTS Award and a BMA medal for previous scripted productions.

In high-end drama, Kate has directed high calibre stars as well as actors new to the screen. She has filmed large cast scenes as well as fights and stunts, and has worked on both period drama and contemporary material.

Kate’s short #MeToo thriller, "What Happened to Evie", received world acclaim winning awards at a number of major festivals. It stars Olivier Award winning Mike Jibson (HamiltonLdn) and Bessie Coates. Amongst other awards, the film won Best International Short Fiction at Galway Film Fleadh as well as at San Jose International Film Festival and Best Short by a female director in the Cannes Short Film Corner. Her most recent short, Blue Room is a short about a young woman trapped in a strange room. It is a film about recovering from grief and stars Georgia Henshaw. Kate has also made a comedy horror short with Phil Davis which was chosen as one of the top 5 thrillers and a highlight of Aesthetica Film Festival and finally an animated opera which is still in post.

Kate is now dividing her time between high-end drama and developing her feature projects including a thriller and a psychological drama. More information and examples of her work can be found on this website.

She is represented by Olivia Gray, Independent Talent
Referees: Guy Tannahill or Barbara Stepansky at Outlander, Pippa Harris at Neal Street Productions and Annie Tricklebank, email on request