Stephen Dunn (born January 18, 1989) is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2015 with '' Closet Monster'', which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

Early life

Dunn was born and raised in St. John's,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

."TIFF spotlight: Stephen Dunn spotlights urban Newfoundland in 'Closet Monster'"

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

, September 13, 2015. He later studied at the Canadian Film Centre and at Ryerson University.

Career

Dunn attended film school at Ryerson University in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and produced several

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s as a student, many of which screened at festivals. One of his early short films, titled ''Life Doesn't Frighten Me'', starred Canadian actor

Gordon Pinsent Gordon Edward Pinsent (July 12, 1930 – February 25, 2023) was a Canadian actor, writer, director, and singer. He was known for his roles in numerous productions, including ''Away from Her'', ''The Rowdyman'', ''John and the Missus'', ''A Gift ...

and won various awards, including the CBC Short Film Face-Off, with a cash prize of $30,000. The film also won awards at the Toronto Student Film Festival and the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in 2013. His other short films have included ''Lionel Lonely Heart'', ''Words! Words! Words!'' and ''Swallowed''.

''Closet Monster''

Dunn's feature film directorial debut, '' Closet Monster'', won the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival."Stephen Dunn's 'Closet Monster' Wins Toronto's Best Canadian Feature Award"
. '' IndieWire'', September 20, 2015. He was also named the inaugural winner of the Len Blum Residency, a Toronto International Film Festival program for emerging directors.

Other work

Dunn directed and produced the web series '' Pop-Up Porno,'' which streams on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. He also directed "The Son", a 2020 episode of the Apple TV+ series '' Little America'' focusing on a gay immigrant from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and has been writing a planned reboot of '' Queer as Folk''.

Personal life

In 2022, Dunn told the public that the new location for '' Queer as Folk (2022 TV series)'' is set in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

because he wanted to give a contribute to his close drag queen superstar friend Chi Chi DeVayne, who is deceased. Dunn is also an openly gay man."Exclusive: Closet Monster Movie Poster"
'' Out'', September 8, 2015.

Filmography

Film

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Stephen Film directors from Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian male screenwriters Canadian LGBTQ film directors Canadian LGBTQ screenwriters Canadian gay writers Writers from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Living people 1989 births Canadian Film Centre alumni Toronto Metropolitan University alumni 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian television directors LGBTQ television directors Gay screenwriters Film producers from Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian television producers 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Screenwriters from Newfoundland and Labrador