A consummate artist on stage, film and television, Adetoro is a first generation Nigerian-American filmmaker and  graduate of Georgetown University and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. She began her award-winning career as an actress, where her performances received reviews of “excellent” and “compelling” by The New York Times and The Washington Post, respectively. However, disheartened by the continual lack of opportunities as an actress, she expanded her efforts in 2000 and formed the production company Backdoor Films.

 

In its first year, she wrote, starred and produced "For Charity’s Sake" immediately following this with the award-winning, "WHOA" (2002 Sundance Film Festival). This success led to an invitation to Universal Studios' Chrysler Extreme Filmmaking Challenge where she cast, shot, edited and premiered "Cop Block" in ten days during the Cannes Film Festival. A subsequent invitation to Fox Searchlight’s Filmmaker Searchlab Program, produced, "3 Minutes". She returned to the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 to premiere her award-winning, "In Time", once again wearing multiple hats as actress, director, writer and producer. The film has screened at over 50 venues world-wide. As a selected finalist for the American Black Film Festival, the film was acquired and released by HBO. Other productions include the award-winning, "Steep" (finalist in the Lifetime Move Network's "Every Woman's Film Competition), "It Takes A Village" (Chase Legacy Film Challenge co-sponsored by HBO, Kodak, Chase Bank and Blackfilm.com) and "The Question" co-directed with Academy-nominated director Bennett Miller.

 

Behind the scenes, Adetoro was an Executive Assistant in Business Affairs at Paramount Pictures on several television shows including "Everybody Hates Chris", "Medium", and "NCIS". Frequently collaborating with fellow filmmakers, she also served as Co-Producer and Casting Director for the much buzzed about premiere of "A Good Day To Be Black And Sexy". It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival where it was acquired for distribution by Magnolia Pictures.

 

Currently as writer and producer her current project "KELLER" (aka "The American Can") a narrative biopic of an unsung Hurricane Katrina hero, was optioned for development by Sony Pictures as a star vehicle for Will Smith. The screenplay made the rounds of the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab where the following comment was made:

 

"It really is a terrific and powerful script Adetoro. The story that you are telling is AMAZING. I'm definitely not just saying that -- we considered it through and through... I was actually very surprised by how moving it was. Not only that-- for being a drama, it sure is action-packed. Very suspenseful... and very well written on the page to show that. And of course, feel free to submit projects to us in the future; we're big fans of yours over here, so the door is always, always open."

 

 

With several film projects in the pipeline, she is developing a docu-reality tv show "Here To Serve" which spotlights non-profit organizations around the world; adapting the award-winning novel "Zahrah the Windseeker" into an feature animation film; as well as writing the memoirs of John Keller titled "Keller: Living In The Gray". She recently directed the documentary short "Fashion Forward: An Eco Journey" in association with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and was the U.S. Producer for the documentary short "Life Calls for Attitude" for Shell Oil Company. She will make her feature film directorial debut on the South African biopic, "Seven Sisters".

 

Adetoro is a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, and a recipient of several awards and grants including an IFP|New York Council of the Arts grant and a honoree of Kodak's Sundance Emerging Filmmaker Retreat. An educator and art activist, Adetoro holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and utilizes her skill sets to empower through the arts at panels and workshops around the world.  She's a member of WGA, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, IFP, NYWIFT and Film Fatales NYC / LA.

 

Her unique voice is a beguiling breath of fresh air as she aims to entertain, inform and tell stories that need to be told. Not one to back away from a creative challenge, her passion for storytelling and authenticity will serve to offer a fresh perspective to the world of cinema arts.