Heather Murphy

Born and raised in Connecticut, as a teenager Heather went to Hartford Public High School in the morning and attended a regional performing arts high school in the afternoon, majored in drama and worked professionally in Hartford theater. She went on to drop out of Syracuse University's acting/directing program, moved to New York City and renovated an old bleach factory in Chelsea with twenty-five others to form aTheaterCo. where, under the Associate Artistic Director, Mike Rego (producer of the Broadway shows Wicked, Urinetown and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune), she was the Managing Director, performing there as well as in independent films and commercials. Heather later moved to Los Angeles, performed original plays at The Hudson Guild, shot a Crocodile Hunter parody for Animal Planet, was one of the leads in a Mike White pilot, Crashers, and was then cast as the lead in a New York independent film, Whiskey River, where she became involved in the development, fundraising, casting and was a production assistant on various days she wasn't acting. Although the film was never completed, during Whiskey River, Heather realized she preferred the other side of the camera more, so she stopped auditioning with the intent to learn how to make her own films. In Los Angeles, Heather was at MTV for 3 years, starting out working for Trip Taylor in production and ending up in the Development Department where she began writing and reading screenplays. She eventually moved back to New York City where she continued writing while taking directing and production courses at The New School, Third World Newsreel and Rockport College Workshops and has her certification in Final Cut Pro. She co-wrote Sound Barrier, directed by Amir Naderi, which premiered in the Showcase/Star Directors category at Tribeca Film Festival, 2005; she was additional camera for Street Fight; executive produced by Liz Garbus and Rory Kennedy; she worked camera for a documentary on religion sponsored by IFP and continues to work production and/or camera for different film projects. Heather recently finished her first solo screenplay The Hog, which she will direct (and not appear in) but, continues to act commercially.