Bio

Zoe Hopkins is a Heiltsuk and Mohawk woman, born in her mother’s community of Bella Bella, a fishing village on the coast of BC.  She is now raising her son in her father’s community of Six Nations, Ontario, where she learned to speak and teach Kanyen’kéha (the Mohawk language.)

Hopkins drew upon her personal connection to the Great Bear Rainforest for her award-winning first feature film, Kayak to Klemtu, about a girl who leads her family on a kayak journey to fulfill her late uncle’s dying wish and save her people’s waters. Kayak to Klemtu received a theatrical release in Canada, and is distributed by Mongrel Media, and available on most Canadian streaming platforms.

Run Woman Run is Zoe’s second feature film. It had a successful theatrical release in Canada and thrilled the pandemic-fatigued audiences with its story about gratitude, family, hope and health. It is distributed in Canada by Level Film and is the winner of multiple audience awards, best film awards, and was nominated for Best Director by the Director’s Guild of Canada. It streams on CRAVE and CBC Gem.

With her dynamic range from comedy to drama, and as a writer and director, Zoe’s work expands to premium spaces on the small screen. She is a writer and Canadian Screen Award Nominated director of three episodes of the award winning limited series, Little Bird (Nominated for 19 CSA Awards), for CRAVE, APTN and distributed by Fremantle. It is available in the US on the PBS streaming platform. She was also a writer and consulting producer on CBC’s dramatic series Trickster, a director on the two most recent seasons of Run the Burbs, a half hour comedy for CBC and CBC Gem and Hulu in the US. Most recently, Zoe directed all six episodes of Don’t Even, a half-hour comedy series for CRAVE and APTN that will air in 2024.

Zoe is a member of the Writer’s Guild of Canada, the Director’s Guild of Canada, and a VIP at Boston Pizza Ancaster where they let her write til late.