Kirsty Hamilton

Kirsty was born and raised in New Zealand and is of Maori (Tuhoe), Scottish (McKenzie and Ross), Irish, French and English descent. Hamilton trained as an actress at Toi Whakaari - The New Zealand Drama School. She played Catherine in Simon Bare's short film - Eau De La Vie and Grace in Costa Botes feature film Saving Grace (1997). Kirsty has played numerous roles in theater including Rosalind in Miranda Harcourt's production of Shakespeare's play As You Like It, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Mouse in Riwia Brown's Roimata, Mrs Cheavely in An Ideal Husband directed by Patrick Graham, Valerie in Connor Mc Pherson's The Weir, Lorraine in Elaine Murphy's Little Gem and a host of classical roles. In 2007 Kirsty was chosen as a Shakespeare Globe Center of New Zealand's Fellow at Shakespeare's Globe theater alongside Rawiri Paratene in London, where she studied acting Shakespeare for the summer with a number of tutors including Patsy Rodenburg and Giles Block. In 2009 she graduated from European Act a three- month screen acting and Meisner course in London, Paris and Berlin through the London Actor's Center, showcasing at RADA playing Charlotte in Harold Pinter's Party Time directed by Harry Burton. Kirsty returned to NZ from two three year long stints in London to obtain a place in the creative writing Masters at the International Institute of Modern Letters under the tutelage of Ken Duncum. After earning her masters in 2012, she went on to gain an honors degree in screen production at the University of Auckland under the tutelage of Jake Mahaffy (Free In Deed) and Shuchi Kothari (Firaaq) . She made her first two short films there, Kat and Breathe (formerly Sunset). In 2016 she was chosen by the New Zealand Directors Guild alongside nine other up and coming female directors to take part in a series of workshops for female writer/director making the move to features. That same year she was picked by the New Zealand Film Commission as an Accelerator participant at MIFF. She completed her third short film in 2018 - Cold, starring Matthew Sunderland which Kirsty is submitting for festivals in 2019. Kirsty is now in development with her first feature Without Sin (Harakore) previously named Lockhart. The screenplay has been submitted to Sundance Writers Lab 2019 (achieved second round), Iris Writers Lab 2019, Seed Development 2017 & 18, Film Up 2017 & 19, Tribeca All Access, Screenwriters Lab - Hamptons Film Festival and other labs. Kirsty is seeking a lead and executive producer {2019} to get the script to screen. Her associate producers are Boianna of Red Oxygen Films and Emma Mortimer.