Laurie J. Gardiner is an award-winning writer, director, singer and musician whose work bridges cinema, opera, and stories of resilience. She holds an MFA in Film & Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and a B.S. in Music Education, Vocal/Choral from Oakwood University.

A member of the Alliance of Women Directors and the American Guild of Musical Artists, Gardiner brings over 15 years of professional music experience to her filmmaking, with opera and concert credits spanning LA Opera (Ainadamar and Nabucco), Houston Grand Opera (Porgy and Bess), The Industry LA (Comet/Poppea), the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and most recently, being selected as a soloist in esperanza spalding and Wayne Shorter’s new Opera …Iphigenia as Iphigenia of the Sea.

In film and television, Gardiner currently works as a Directing Educator with George Lucas and Mellody Hobson at Skywalker Ranch and was selected to direct the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture’s first narrative feature film in the spring of 2027. Prior to this, she has worked across Paramount+, Fox, GRB Studios, and Big City TV as an associate producer, story editor, and executive. 

In 2021, she launched Laurelwood Studios and released her debut short film Remedial, which screened at over 40 festivals, including Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts, LA Shorts, Pan African Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, and BronzeLens, earning multiple awards before securing distribution on Omeleto and Aspire TV. 

Her writing has been recognized by the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, Austin Film Festival, Humanitas, Essence Film Festival, and many more. In 2025, she won the Children’s Resilience in Disability Stories Award Grant for her feature screenplay Remedial in collaboration with Shine Global and ReelAbilities Film Festival. She was also a 2024 Ryan Murphy Half Initiative directing fellow at 20th Century Studios on the hit TV show 9-1-1 and selected as a directing fellow in Issa Rae/ColorCreative’s Find Your People Program in 2025.

Through the medium of film and music, Gardiner continues to center stories that deepen empathy, expand representation, and spark change by building a body of work rooted in music, memory, and invisible and visible disabilities.