Sophie Hunter

Sophie Hunter (born 16 March 1978) is a British theatre and opera director, playwright, actress, and singer. She directed the experimental play 69° South (2012), which dramatized the almost fatal voyage of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton by having performers on stilts manipulate marionettes, the New York production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia (2011), the African tour of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute (2011) for arts charity Opera for Change and the 2010 revival of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts at Access Theatre in New York City among others.

In 2007, she received the Samuel Beckett Award for writing and directing the avant-garde play The Terrific Electric which used moving images, absurd humour and vivid tableaux to evoke the shock and wonder of the dawning electrical era. Hunter released a French-language music album in 2005 titled The Isis Project in collaboration with songwriter Guy Chambers and released an English-language album with Chambers in 2011 titled Songs for a Boy.

Early life and education
Hunter, the eldest of three, grew up in Hammersmith, London and Edinburgh, Scotland. Her father, Charles, was an insurance executive who later became a professional card player and her mother, Katharine, worked as an administrator; the couple are now divorced. Her grandfather is the General Sir James Michael Gow GCB, Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath, who worked with Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester in the 1950s

Hunter attended St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith before studying Modern Languages with a concentration in French and Italian at Oxford University.After graduating from Oxford, Hunter moved to Paris to study avant-garde theatre for two years at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. She then trained at the Saratoga International Theatre Institute in New York City under the mentorship of theatre and opera director Anne Bogart.

Career
Hunter is an artistic director of the Boiler Room and an associate director at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. She also co-founded the Lacuna Theatre Company. In addition, she also serves as collaborating director and dramaturge on marionette and puppetry production with the Phantom Limb company.

She has directed and conceived theatre productions throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America. She directed the experimental play 69° South (2012), the New York production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia (2011), the African tour of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute (2011), the 2010 revival of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts as well as the Italian production of Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen and Palestinian production of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio. In 2007, she received the Samuel Beckett Award for writing and directing the avant-garde play The Terrific Electric at the Barbican Centre.

In addition to directing, she has also acted in film and television. She has had small roles on the television series Midsomer Murders (2004), Keen Eddie (2004), Mumbai Calling (2007) and Torchwood (2009). In 2004, she played Maria Osborne in the costume drama film Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon. She was cast as Annabel Blythe-Smith in the 2009 drama thriller film Burlesque Fairytales.
In 2005, Hunter recorded a French-language music album titled The Isis Project in collaboration with songwriter Guy Chambers. In 2011, she released an English-language album titled Songs for a Boy, again with Chambers