Clare Cooney is a filmmaker and SAG actor. Her feature directorial debut Departing Seniors, made its domestic premiere on Opening Night of the Chicago International Film Festival. The darkly comedic thriller also screened with BFI Flare, FrightFest UK, Screamfest LA, Nightmares Film Festival, and the inaugural Fantastic Pavilion at Cannes. After a limited theatrical run and digital release on Apple TV, the film made the Top 10 on iTunes on both the Horror and Independent charts and received positive reviews from NPR and Dread Central.
Her award-winning short films Runner, Pick Up, After (A Love Story), and The River have all played at major U.S. festivals, notably at Academy-Qualifying festivals including Cleveland International, LA Shorts International, Indy Shorts International, Flickers’ Rhode Island, and Atlanta Film Festival, where Cooney received a “Filmmaker to Watch” nod. Runner and Pick Up, both written and directed by Cooney, went viral on the prestigious short film channel Omeleto, where she is a senior programmer.
As an actor, she had a recurring role on The CW series 4400, guest starred on NBC’s Chicago Med, starred in the indie feature film Relative, and has a supporting role in a soon-to-be-announced Shudder feature film. Other film/tv credits include Steve McQueen’s Widows, NBC's Chicago PD, Pop TV's Hot Date, NBC's Shrink, and lead roles in the independent features Rendezvous in Chicago and Soul Sessions.
Cooney originally hails from Detroit, has trained extensively in Chicago, and is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland. She is a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf and the University of Notre Dame. She is surprisingly tall.
