Jacintha Charles is a Singaporean Indian Filmmaker and Actress based in San Francisco, California.

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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. 

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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. 

 

Her latest short film, Madhavi, is currently in the festival circuit where it has won the Best Short Film at the Oregon Short Film Festival and the prestigious UK Asian Film Festival. A story touching on the aftermath of domestic violence within the South Asian community, the screenplay has also been placed in several screenplay competitions including the prestigious Final Draft Fellowship and Page International Screenwriting Awards. Madhavi was also selected for the renowned Stowe Story Lab where it has been further developed for a feature script. She has just completed her screenplay, SINGAPURA, a coming-of-age story which is inspired by the 1964 Race Riots in Singapore and is in development of another story, The NIGHT SHIFT, a semi-autobiographical story based on her relationship with her father.

 

Jacintha is member of the Alliance of Women Directors, Women in Film, Film Independent, The San Francisco Film Society and Screen Actors Guild.