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Susanna White
Susanna White (51474) (cropped).jpg
Susanna White at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival
Born 1955/1956 (age 68–69)
England
Occupation TV and film director
Years active 1985–present
Children 2

Susanna White (born 1955/1956) is a British television and film director.

She spent twelve years making documentaries for BBC2, but is best known for directing the BBC miniseries Jane Eyre, HBO miniseries Generation Kill, and Disney+ Star Wars series Andor. She has won multiple awards, including one BAFTA Television Award, and received numerous nominations, including nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two BAFTA Awards.

Early life and education

Susanna White was born in England in 1960/1961. She first became interested in films at eight years old and asked her parents to buy her a Super 8 film camera. One source reports that she said that the inspiration came from when she visited the set of the BBC children's TV show Crackerjack, but she wrote in 2010 that it was after her father took her to see Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison that she asked for the camera.

She read English at Oxford University, and then won a Fulbright scholarship to study film at UCLA.

Career

After graduation, White spent 12 years making documentaries for BBC2. In 1999, she failed to win a place on a BBC training scheme and was turned down for a BBC drama director trainee course. In 2001, she was supported by BBC2 controller Jane Root, who eased her into drama with a £200,000 budget drama for BBC2, Love Again, about Philip Larkin. She said in 2010 that it was seeing Jane Campion's 1993 film The Piano at a cinema on King's Road that inspired her to become a maker of feature films rather than documentaries.

White won a BAFTA award for best drama serial for her work on the 2005 version of Bleak House. She directed the BBC mini-series Jane Eyre, for which she was nominated for an Emmy award. She also directed four episodes of the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, and all five episodes of the 2012 series Parade's End.

In film, White directed Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and most recently Our Kind of Traitor.

White directed three episodes of the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor, which were released in 2022.

She is directing the film version of Australian playwright Suzie Miller's award-winning play Prima Facie, in pre-production as of September 2024. The film stars Cynthia Erivo as Tessa, the only role in the stage version.

Personal life

White and her husband, an Oxford academic and part-time dairy farmer, live on a dairy farm in Sussex with their twin daughters.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Title Result Notes
2013 British Academy Television Awards Best Mini Series Parade's End Nominated
2010 British Academy Film Awards Best Children's Feature Film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nominated
2009 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Generation Kill Nominated
2007 Primetime Emmy Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Jane Eyre Nominated
2006 British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Serial Bleak House Won

Filmography

Film

Year Title Notes
2017 Woman Walks Ahead
2016 Our Kind of Traitor
2010 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
1997 Bicycle Thieves Short

Television

Year Title Notes
2023 The Buccaneers
2022 Andor 3 episodes
2018 Trust 2 episodes
2016 Billions Episode: "Where the F*** is Donnie?"
2015 Masters of ... Episode: "Party of Four"
2012 Parade's End 5 episodes
2011 Boardwalk Empire Episode: "A Dangerous Maid"
2008 Generation Kill 4 episodes
2007 The Diary of a Nobody TV film
2006 Jane Eyre 4 episodes
2005 Bleak House 7 episodes
2005 Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle TV film
2004 Lie with Me TV series
2003 Love Again TV film
2002 Teachers 5 episodes
2002 Attachments 4 episodes
2001 Holby City 3 episodes
1995 Modern Times 2 episodes
1988 40 Minutes Episode: "The Gypsies Are Coming"
1985 Bleak House Episode 7
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