Cynthia Wade
Lecturer
Film and Media Arts, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
Email: cwade@chapman.edu
Biography
Cynthia Wade is an Academy Award- and Emmy-winning director, producer and showrunner
whose work spans documentary, fiction, episodic television and commercial filmmaking.
She was showrunner and director of the four-part Netflix docuseries MerPeople, rated 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Her directing and producing credits include
the Emmy-winning The Flagmakers (Disney+), the Emmy-nominated Grit (PBS), the Oscar-nominated Mondays at Racine (HBO), the Oscar-winning Freeheld (HBO), Born Sweet, Shelter Dogs, Generation Startup (Netflix), Gamechangers: The Ashlyn Harris Story (Roku Sports), and three episodes of the Critics Choice Awards-nominated series Gutsy (Apple TV).
Her fiction work includes executive producing the drama Freeheld, starring Julianne Moore and Steve Carell, and directing the award-winning short Sproutland. Collectively, her films have received 55 awards worldwide.
Wade has taught film production at Santa Fe Community College and led lectures and master classes at The New School, Smith College, Reed College and the University of Michigan, among others. Through U.S. State Department film and media programs, she has taught filmmakers in Serbia, Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates.
A former cinematographer, Wade holds an M.A. in Documentary Film from Stanford University and an MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
She is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a member of the Directors Guild of America.
Her fiction work includes executive producing the drama Freeheld, starring Julianne Moore and Steve Carell, and directing the award-winning short Sproutland. Collectively, her films have received 55 awards worldwide.
Wade has taught film production at Santa Fe Community College and led lectures and master classes at The New School, Smith College, Reed College and the University of Michigan, among others. Through U.S. State Department film and media programs, she has taught filmmakers in Serbia, Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates.
A former cinematographer, Wade holds an M.A. in Documentary Film from Stanford University and an MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
She is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a member of the Directors Guild of America.