Thada Catalon
THADA CATALON began her film career in 2008 as an actress. Her acting and filmmaking career thus far includes work in several short films, commercials, webisodes, music videos, and seven feature films; to include her latest production efforts “Created Equal,” which was directed by Bill Duke and stars Aaron Tveit, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Edy Ganem. The film has gone on to win over a dozen awards, including Best Feature Film (BronzeLens Film Festival) and Best of the Festival (Lady Filmmakers Film Festival), and also earned NOMINATIONS (Best Actor and Best Actress) for the Imagen Awards. Recently, she co-wrote, directed, and produced the short film "Karma: The Tale of a Woman Scorned," which had its television premiere on Revolt TV's Short & Fresh series.
Catalon’s first foray into producing was the urban crime drama “Because I Love You,” starring Chico Benymon, Billy Sorrells, and Courtney Cameron. Her follow-up feature-length production was “Alternate Realities,” starring Donny Boaz, Tom Sizemore, and Christopher Judge, in which she was the winning recipient of the inaugural Houston Filmmaker Grant. The film went on to WIN Best Sound Design at the 10th Annual 2014 Action on Film Festival.
Catalon’s first feature-length screenplay, “Amber’s Alert,” has been selected as a finalist, runner-up, and semi-finalist at a half dozen film festivals to include UrbanWorld and the Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards. Her screenplay, "Bad Romance" reached the quarterfinals in ScreenCraft's Screenwriting Fellowship competition and the Atlanta Film Festival Screenwriting competition, as well as the semifinals in The Film Empire's diversity screenplay contest. In fall 2019, Catalon was selected in the top 3% of over 11,000 applicants for Imagine Impact’s screenwriting community.
Aside from holding three academic degrees, including a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Full Sail University, a Master of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Catalon further cultivated her experience in film by pursuing a degree in filmmaking from The Art Institute of Houston. Catalon later taught filmmaking and screenwriting classes at the Art Institute of Houston.
Catalon is also the founder of Diversity in Cinema Academy-- an online multi-media company that creates educational content for aspiring filmmakers via its social media platforms, company's website, and online courses.
