BIOGRAPHY

Laura Checkoway is a filmmaker and writer known for intimate character-driven stories that dive deep into the heart.

Her breakthrough film Edith+Eddie received an Academy Award® nomination and Emmy nomination in 2018 and won numerous awards including the IDA Documentary Awards Best Short. Executive produced by Steve James and Cher, it’s a love story about a nonagenarian newlywed couple who are in danger of being torn apart.

Laura directed The Cave of Adullam which premiered at Tribeca in 2022 winning Best Documentary Feature and the Audience Award. It follows a martial arts sensei who teaches boys emotional stability and helps them confront unresolved trauma. In an interview with Deadline, producer Laurence Fishburne said: “She has a cinematic sensitivity and a doctor’s bedside manner... Laura doesn’t impose her personality or her energy onto anything. It boils down to her humanity and her ability to see the humanity in all.” The film is available on ESPN+.

On World Refugee Day 2025, Al Jazeera English released her latest documentary The Cat Man Eshete, garnering rave reviews: “There are stories that whisper gently at first – until they change how we see the world.” The film has won multiple festival awards including the jury prize for Best Documentary Short and the Audience Award at the Charlotte Film Festival.

She served as the series director on an original documentary series reframing perceptions about refugees for YouTube and the UNHCR. Laura’s work has been noticed by some of the world’s biggest brands, with documentaries that she directed winning the Brand Entertainment Webby Award in both 2024 and 2025.

Laura received a social impact grant from NBC Universal and the American Film Institute and a fellowship with the Carey Institute for Global Good. A short doc series that she produced was nominated for two Emmys in 2020. Spanning several years with a young homeless mother masked in tattoos, Laura’s award-winning debut film Lucky premiered at Hot Docs and Doc NYC and screened at film festivals across the globe and on TV.

With a background in journalism, Laura wrote for many publications and was senior editor of Vibe magazine. She co-authored acclaimed celebrity memoirs, most notably My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy which the Ringer described as "one of the best music autobiographies ever".