Founder and President of Painted Saint Entertainment, Kathleen Davison strives to honor her company motto:
Endeavor. Empower. Enlighten. Endure.
Her work as writer/director is pervaded with themes of redemption, introspection on the nature of humanity, and strong unconventional female characters facing enormous challenge -- easy parallels to her own life history and career of choice.
Hailing from a small town in Pennsylvania, Davison had no connections to Hollywood and stood stiff odds to ever land there. She grew up in severe family dysfunction and spent her teenage years in foster homes, an experience that would lead her to spend her adult life volunteering with foster youth.
After completing a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Theater at Penn State University, Kathleen spent a year writing/directing/and performing for stage and film in Chicago. It was her involvement with David Schwimmer's directorial debut feature which inspired her to make the leap to the West Coast.
Kathleen built her career and film education with years of practical experience spent in the working trenches of her industry heroes, including prized apprenticeships with Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Frank Darabont, Glen Morgan, and James Wong.
Talent and unyielding determination fueled Davison's climb to director, shooting her first short film, Effloresce, in 2004. The journey was interrupted when the film, just as it was reaching completion in post-production, was lost in a series of drive failures and had to be rebuilt. Kathleen took a several year hiatus to build family and re-build her film.
Claiming her two children as her "most important productions," Kathleen incorporated them as cast members when she returned full-force to career with her directorial feature debut, Primrose Lane (2015), for which she also wrote, produced, and played the starring role.
During post-production of Primrose Lane, Davison was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She refused to take another career hiatus and pushed through major brain surgery (successfully removing the tumor) and a lengthy rehabilitation, while also pushing through post-production of her film, which would garner a long line of award winnings including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, and many other technical and performance awards, starting with the First Place Audience Award and a Jury nomination for Best Director at its debut screening.
In 2015, Davison released her, now re-built, directorial debut short film, Effloresce, which also upholds Davison's winning streak with an abundance of festival accolades, including Best Director, Best Original Short Screenplay, Best Actress and a host of other technical and performance honors. Effloresce began its festival run with the Third Place Audience Award (in competition with features) and a Jury nomination for Best Actress (Davison) at it's very first screening. Davison plays "Amelia," a woman who makes an unconventional lifestyle choice in her determination to prove that love is not disposable.
2015 also marked Davison's debut as commercial director, winning a Bronze Telly Award for her first spot for We Care Dental.
Kathleen lives in the Los Angeles environs where she continues to write, direct, and produce under the banner of Painted Saint Entertainment. She is a proud alumna of the Sundance Institute, a member of The Alliance of Women Directors, Women in Film, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), and the Actors' Equity Association.
Kathleen is a committed volunteer and activist. She enjoys mentoring foster children and young adults coming out of the system. Davison volunteers her talents as director for public service announcements targeted at awareness and enhanced quality of life for those dealing with disabilities and disease. She is a spokesperson for gender parity in the film industry and strives to lift the voices and equality of women through her work and writing.
