Jacintha Charles is a Singaporean Indian Filmmaker and Actress based in San Francisco, California.
She started her career as an actress in Singapore with the 1997 beloved hit feature film 'Army Daze'. What followed were smaller and insignificant roles on television at which point she decided to take a break from acting to work behind the scenes as a Producer instead.
Her move to the U.S. offered more opportunities for auditions and projects however, she also fell in love with creating, writing and visualizing stories for the screen. Her motivation was further re-enforced when she realized from her experiences in Singapore to now in the U.S., the roles for women and minorities or people of colour, were limited or stereotyped - where their strengths and choices were downplayed or seen as flaws. She decided to head to film school to develop her craft as a filmmaker and change that narrative. Jacintha has been fortunate enough to have her works funded by the Singapore Film Commission and have screened her films at several film festivals. Her latest effort is the award-winning short film, The Gift.
As a filmmaker, her journey is to constantly learn, be open and evolve. Her goal is to share stories of the underrepresented, include diversity in front of and behind the camera and champion and encourage others like her to tell stories of their own.
She just wrapped production of her proof-of-concept short film, Madhavi, which she wrote and directed. A story touching on the aftermath of domestic violence within the South Asian community, the screenplay earned her a placement as a Quarter Finalist in both the Final Draft Fellowship and the prestigious Page International Screenwriting Awards. It also placed as a Quarter finalist in the Filmmatic Screenplay Awards and is a Finalist for the WoodsHole Screenwriting Competition. 'Madhavi' was selected for the renowned Stowe Story Lab where the story has been further developed. She has also completed a feature script, SINGAPURA, a coming-of-age story which is inspired by the 1964 Race Riots in Singapore.
Jacintha is member of the Alliance of Women Directors, Women in Film, Film Independent, The San Francisco Film Society and Screen Actors Guild.