Judy Cairo
Film and television professor
Education
- B.A., radio, TV & motion picture, religious studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Credentials
- Professor of film and television, 2024-present, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
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Partner/producer, 1994-present, Cairo Simpson Entertainment and Informant Media, Los Angeles
Produced 20 television films and seven independent feature films, including The Upside of Falling Down, Candy Jar, Dirty Dancing, Boychoir, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken, Stuck In Love, Erased, Hysteria, Crazy Heart, Queensized, The Staircase Murders, A Perfect Day, Mayday, Elvis, The Brooke Ellison Story, Infidelity, Lucky 7, Student Seduction, Gleason, The Pilot’s Wife, Sex, Lies & Obsession, The Price of a Broken Heart, Vanished Without a Trace, What We Did That Night, Perfect Body, Twisted Desire, and Her Deadly Rival.
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Executive producer, local programming, 1983-93, WSB-TV, Cox Communications, Atlanta
Wrote, directed and produced prime-time programming for Cox Communications' flagship TV station. Produced documentaries around the world (Africa, China, Europe) and won 15 Regional Emmy Awards, as well as the George Foster Peabody award for narrative film, The Boy King, about the childhood of Dr. Martin Luther King.
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Executive producer/producer, 1981-82, PM Magazine, Nashville, TN
Created a half hour of weeknight primetime content for a nationally syndicated TV magazine show.
Awards, recognitions, and honors
For Crazy Heart
- Winner, two Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Song)
- Winner, two Golden Globes (Best Actor, Best Song)
- Winner, two Independent Spirit Awards (Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay)
- Winner, two Grammy Awards (Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Best Compilation Soundtrack)
- Nominated, two BAFTA Awards (Film Music, Best Leading Actor)
- Won, two Broadcast Film Critics Association Award (Best Song, Best Actor)
- Nominated, Casting Society of America
- Won, Costume Designers Guild Awards
- Won, two Denver Film Critic Society (Best Actor, Best Original Song)
- Won, two Gold Derby Awards (Original Song, Lead Actor)
- Won, Intl Online Cinema Awards (Best Original Song)
- Won, two Iowa Film Critics Awards
- Nominated, London Critics Circle Film Awards
- Nominated, Motion Pictures Sound Editors
- Nominated, National Society of Film Critics Award
- Won, two Online Film & Television Association (Best Actor, Best Music)
- Nominated, Online Film Critics Society Awards (Best Actor)
- Won, two Palm Springs Intl Film Festival Awards
- Won, three Prism Awards
- Won, Screen Actors Guild Award (Jeff Bridges)
- Nominated, USC Scripter Award
- Nominated, Writers Guild of America
- Won, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
- Won, Boston Society of Film Critics Award
- Nominated, two Chicago Film Critics Association Award
- Nominated, two Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
- Nominated, two Houston Film Critics Society Awards
- Nominated, Indiewire Critics' Poll
- Won, two Los Angeles Film Critics Association
- Nominated, New York Film Critics Circle Awards
- Won, two New York Film Critics/ Online
- Won, Phoenix Film Critics Society Award
- Won, Satellite Awards (Best Original Song)
- Nominated, two St. Louis Critics Association
- Nominated, Village Voice Film Poll
- Nominated, Women Film Critics Circle Awards
For Elvis
- Won, Golden Globe Award (Best Actor - Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Nominated Best Actress (Camryn Manheim and Best Actor (Randy Quaid)
- Nominated, six Primetime Emmy Awards
- Won, Costume Designers Guild Award
- Nominated, Directors Guild of America Award
- Nominated, Casting Society of America
- Nominated, Gold Derby Awards
- Nominated, for six Online Film & Television Association Awards; Won 1 (Best Supporting Actress)
- Won, three Satellite Awards
For The Brooke Ellison Story
- Nominated, Directors Guild of America
- Won, Gracie Allen Award (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)
- Won, two Christopher Awards
For Gleason
- Nominated, Primetime Emmy Award
- Nominated, Screen Actors Guild Award
- Nominated, two Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards
- Won, Hollywood Make-Up and Hair Stylist Guild Awards (Best Make-Up)
- Nominated, Directors Guild of America Award
- Nominated, Casting Society of America Award
For The Boy King
- George Foster Peabody Award
Organizations
- Producers Guild of America
- National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences