Yvonne Russo is a multi-talented award-winning producer, director, and writer in the film, television, and animation industries. She is the director and producer of the 4-part docu-series "Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae," based on the life of Annie Mae Aquash, an activist who fought for Indigenous rights with the American Indian Movement. The series is being produced with Amy Kaufman, Caroline Waterlow for ONYX Collective/HULU.
Russo is also producing "Kelly's Bar," an indie drama about a Mi'kmaq Indian man and an Irish-American woman who fall in love in an impoverished and racially divided 1980's South Boston, alongside Casey Affleck.
Additionally, she is the creator, director, producer, and writer of the animated children's series "Tiny Tot Nation," currently in development. Russo has also directed, written, and produced the feature documentary "Viva Verdi!," which explores life inside Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan, the home Giuseppe Verdi established in 1896 for retired opera singers and remarkable musical artists. The film had its world premiere at the 25th Anniversary Woodstock Film Festival in 2024.
Russo worked as a Production Advisor on "Woman Walks Ahead," a period epic feature film circa 1889, which follows widow Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain) as she leaves behind her unsatisfying life in New York City to pursue her dream to be a painter and bravely travels alone to the Dakota Territory to paint the infamous Lakota Chief, Sitting Bull.
Russo has recently entered a television development deal with Handmade Films to adapt the 1989 cult classic film "Powwow Highway" based on a novel by David Seals. She is executive producing with Sterlin Harjo, Bobby Wilson, and Heather Rae.
As an independent producer, Russo has worked on a range of national and international productions in the United States and over 17 countries from Rajasthan, India, to Rwanda. Her projects include "40 Under 40," a documentary featuring America's top 40 visual artists under 40 years of age, a CBS/Smithsonian Network production; the National Geographic series "Nat Geo's Most Amazing Photos"; National Geographic's "Capturing the Deep," as well as Nat Geo's "All Roads Film Project" and TLC/Discovery's "Bringing Home Baby" series, which she also directed.
Russo has produced over 75 "Behind the Photo" segments that were syndicated on the National Geographic International Channel and for NGM digital studios. Her feature film work includes the 2012 feature documentary "The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust," where she served as Co-Producer; the film was nominated for "Outstanding Documentary" at the 2012 NAACP Awards.
Russo has also served as Producer on the award-winning indie feature "Naturally Native" that had its launch at Sundance, played theatrically at Landmark theaters, and was acquired by Turner Classics. She produced the feature documentary "True Whisperers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers" in association with Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures.
Russo started her film career as a voice-over actor on the animated film "My Neighbor Totoro" and segued into television series and feature film. Her acting credits for television include "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and "Stolen Women, Captured Hearts," a television special; "Naturally Native" and "American Indian Graffiti" are among her feature film acting credits.
Russo is a member of the Directors Guild of America, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, where she served on the Board of Governors. She is a long-standing member of SAG/AFTRA, a Board Member of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) and the Co-founder and Director of The Akatubi Film/Music Academy, with Kimberly and Johnny Guerrero, which focuses on teaching Native American youth entertainment and new media production.
Russo has received several awards and grants, including The Redford Center grant for "Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae" and a recipient of the NIA TERO Grant for Indigenous Filmmakers. She was accepted into the Sundance Institute and Women in Film's Financing Intensive for Women Filmmakers in April 2014.
In 2004, she was a Sundance Producers Lab Fellow; a Tribeca All Access Program Fellow in 2005 and a Juror of the National Geographic Society's All Roads Film Festival in Washington, D.C. Russo received the "Producer of the Year Award" from the American Indian Film Festival, and the "Outstanding Achievement in Producing" from the First Americans in the Arts.
She has been a guest lecturer at The Royal Film Commission in Amman, Jordan, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the University of Miami. Russo is a contributing blogger