bio

Debbie Formoso is an award-winning director who was raised a math nerd and a high school athlete by two Filipino accountants in LA’s San Fernando Valley. Her passion for travel led to her studying a summer abroad at Oxford University, working abroad in Australia and traveling internationally. This drive exploded well into her career as a filmmaker, working on projects in 28 states and directing award-winning short films in Nicaragua and the Philippines. Her personal experiences inform her love to tell stories about first generation immigrants seeking their identities, unconventional heroes in imaginative new worlds, teenage dreams that have gone awry and the triumphs of unsung athletes.

Formoso is an alum of Ryan Murphy’s Half-Initiative program, a semi-finalist of the Page Screenwriting awards, a fellow of Film Independent’s Project:Involve and a Clios Bronze award recipient for her commercial work. Her short film Nagpapanggap premiered at Tribeca, and won Best Short Film at the Hawaiian International Film Festival and Outstanding Screenwriting at HATCHFest. Her short documentary Casa Llanta was a Semi-Finalist for the Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition. Formoso also directs cinematic, emotionally compelling ads for major studios and brands like Disney, ABC, Land Rover, Stella Artois and Powerade. 

As a member of the Directors Guild of America, she is an active participant of the Women’s Steering and Disability Committees, and is serving as the Alternate Co Chair of the Asian American Committee.

Formoso is currently developing several feature length and television projects. On her days off, you may catch her devouring churros at Disneyland with her husband, son and daughter.

fun facts

• 5th grade spelling bee champion

• 1st job at Universal Studios Hollywood as a carnival game attendant 

• MVP for high school varsity volleyball and JV basketball teams

• High school valedictorian 

• Been to Club 33

• Made a movie in the Philippines