Shelagh O'Brien

Shelagh O'Brien is a top-tier music and entertainment live television director, artistic director and producer based in Toronto, Canada. From Galas to Olympic Ceremonies to state celebrations in front of crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands and watched by millions on television, she has directed specials with international super stars including Steve Martin, John Cleese, Christopher Plummer, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Short, Celine Dion, Leonard Cohen, Andrea Bocelli, Willie Nelson, Kanye, Pitbull, Wyclef Jean and numerous other artists of note. Shelagh has been honoured by her peers with 25 awards and nominations, including 4 Gemini Award wins in a range of categories including Best Director Variety, Best Director Comedy, Best Director Reality, and Best Director Non-Fiction. But perhaps the greatest acknowledgement of the versatility, creativity, originality and precision of Shelagh's work comes from a glance down her attached credit list - producers and networks who hire her once just keep bringing her back. In the summer of 2015 Shelagh was the world feed director for the Pan Am Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Toronto, viewed by an audience of over 400 million people. In the fall of 2015 she directed the taping of the Stratford Festival production of Hamlet, soon to be released on Cineplex screens across Canada, and in December Shelagh will be in Abu Dhabi, UAE, directing their live National Day spectacle. Highlights for Shelagh include being the Creative Director for the Toronto Handover Ceremony at the Pan Am Games Closing Ceremonies in Guadalajara, Mexico....a welcome foray into the world of artistic direction that she misses and loves. She has also directed the live national broadcast of the Canadian Country Music Awards 6 times, and she spent many weeks in Sochi, Russia in the winter of 2014, where she was hired by OBS (Olympic Broadcast Services) as Director-2 for the world feed of the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic Winter Games, and as the world feed director of the nightly Medals Ceremonies. Long before Shelagh was calling cameras her career started in the world of dance. She won dozens of international Highland dance championships and was also a member of the Alberta Ballet Apprentice Program with rigorous daily dance training in ballet, modern, jazz, character and Spanish. Shelagh owned and operated a dance studio in Edmonton for 12 years, and she continues to teach and choreograph worldwide. In her late teens Shelagh developed a passion for photography and these musical, performance and visual disciplines became the touchstones of her directing tool kit. When you think about it, what is great live television direction if not an elegant dance of photographic images? In a documentary about the making of the film she directed titled 'Caesar & Cleopatra' starring Christopher Plummer, Shelagh had this to say: "...the cameras and I become like a member of the cast - we blend ourselves into the performance from every perspective and bring the detail and emotion to the screen in ways that are beautiful, powerful and artistic. We move silently alongside the performer and take the viewer inside their world..." After logging literally thousands of hours in the director's chair in every imaginable genre - from prime-time specials and music, to daytime talk, documentary, current affairs, lifestyle, reality, children's, factual entertainment and sports, Shelagh has earned the fierce loyalty and respect of production and technical personnel from coast to coast to coast. She brings a spirit of fearlessness and a detailed passion for the craft of creating award winning television to every production. Shelagh's on set demeanor is legendary - at once both calm and highly productive, her profound understanding of the minutia of the creative, technical and editorial departments keeps her team motivated, no matter how exhausting a production schedule might be. "....something amazing appeared on television last night....it makes for solid entertainment...especially as skillfully directed by Shelagh O'Brien" ....RICHARD OUZOUNIAN, The Toronto Star In addition to her highly respected work as a live multi-camera director, Shelagh also has a background in drama, single camera production, and dance. She is regularly invited to give master classes in acting at the renowned Armstrong Acting School in Toronto, and for 11 years was the Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed Scottish Dance Company of Canada whose performance at the Lincoln Center in New York City garnered rave revues and standing ovations.