Leah Johnston

Leah Johnston is an award-winning filmmaker from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Leah began her acting career at the age of eight, starring in numerous Canadian plays and musicals at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre and the Charlottetown Festival. After graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Musical Theatre, she transitioned into a career in photography, before breaking into film in 2013 with her National Screen Institute Drama Prize funded short film, SOME THINGS WON’T SLEEP.

Her subsequent shorts, MY YOUNGER OLDER SISTER (2015) and INGRID AND THE BLACK HOLE (2016) have played in festivals around the world including Telefilm’s Not Short on Talent at Cannes and Fantasia International Film Festival, winning numerous awards, including Best Canadian Short Film at the Edmonton International Film Festival and the Corus Fearless Female Filmmaker Award from National Screen Institute. Her most recent short 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. The film recently took home two awards at Atlantic Film Festival, including Best Short and the Joan Orenstein Award for Outstanding Performance for her six-year old leading actress, Briar Ainslie.

Leah is an alumna of Canadian Film Centre’s Norman Jewison Film Program, the inaugural Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Female Directing program, National Screen Institute’s Drama Prize program and the Reykjavik Talent Lab.

She is in development on her first feature film along with two television series (supported by Bell Fund/CMF) through her production company PRETTY FIERCE FILMS .