Biography

Dawn Wilkinson is an award-winning director and screenwriter born in Montreal and raised in Toronto. She is an alumni of the 'Norman Jewison' Canadian Film Centre and a graduate of the University of Toronto.

Wilkinson combined comedy, fantasy and scathing social satire in her visually stylized short film Instant Dread (1998) which had its broadcast premier on CBC's Canadian Reflections.

Like her mentor 'Norman Jewison' (she was his apprentice on The Hurricane (1999)) Dawn Wilkinson is an actor's director who knows how to get the best performances out of her cast. Her short drama Girls Who Say Yes (2000) showcased the complicated emotional journey between two young women whose friendship ends in a menage a trois. Girls Who Say Yes (2000) had its premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2000.

In 2005 Dawn wrote, produced, and directed her first feature film Devotion (2005) which stars 'Jasmine Richards' Camp Rock (2008). Devotion (2005) is a coming of age story about eleven year old Alice Hope who struggles to deal with her mother's death and her father's alcoholism. The fictional film is based on her personal experiences growing up biracial in small town Ontario. Wilkinson explored the universal human themes of her specific ethnic experience by making visible the perspective and emotional journey of her characters. (Her mother is from Jewish Montreal and her father was born in Barbados, West Indies).

Devotion (2005) went on to win the the Star! Audience Award at Toronto's Reel World Film Festival in 2005 and Best Feature at the San Francisco Black Film Festival's Urban Kidz Program in 2005.

Dawn grew up watching films by 'Steven Spielberg' and shares his vision that movies can be entertaining and enlightening. Wilkinson's feature film script "Love Child" won Best Screenplay at the African American Women in Cinema Film Festival.

Dawn went on to direct the short films "Instant Dread", "Dandelions", "Wilderness", and "Girls Who Say Yes." Dawn was awarded the WIFT and DGC Emerging Television Director Award, and she directed many of Canada's top drama series including "Heartland", "Murdoch Mysteries", and "Degrassi", which she was nominated for a DGC award for Best Family TV Series, in addition to comedies "Sunnyside", and "Kim's Convenience" in which Dawn was nominated for a Best Directing DGC Award.

In addition to being a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, and the Writers Guild of Canada, Dawn became a member of the Directors Guild of America and has went on to directed a number of hit television series. Some of the shows she has directed include: Empire (2015), How to Get Away with Murder (2014), All American (2018), All American: Homecoming (2022), Locke & Key (2020), Nashville (2012), Dynasty (2017),Greenleaf (2016), Riverdale (2017), Power Book II: Ghost (2020) and the Starz series Step Up: High Water (2018) (Season 3) in which Dawn served as executive producer and director for numerous episodes.

Dawn received rave reviews for Hallmark's TV movie A Nashville Christmas Carol (2020) was filmed during the height of the global pandemic. In 2022 Dawn Wilkinson directed the BET+ Original film Block Party (2022) the first ever Juneteenth Family Comedy. The film is the first of its kind to have a theatrical, streaming, and linear release in the same month of its release.