Keith O’Grady was born in Derry in the North of Ireland. He graduated with a BA degree in Media & Cultural Studies from the University of East Anglia, and then trained as an actor in Dublin, and got work in theatre and film. He then did a Masters Degree in film production from the University of Ulster in 2009.

He is a skilled educator at University level with a PGCFHE (Distinction) in 2010 from the University of Ulster, and has trained youths at various community groups in film production.

Primarily a director, he is also a writer, and at times a producer. He has directed the short fiction films Jam (2009), Not Normal (2010), and the award-winning ‘A short film about fear’ (2014).

His short drama ‘Saving Santa’ (2017) has won multiple awards in the US, Canada and throughout Europe. He made the documentary films ‘Buile Bhaloir’ (2007), about the future of teenagers lives on Tory Island, and the hard-hitting ‘Tubaiste Bhaile Mhanais’ (2011) – about the Ballymanus Mine Disaster in Donegal in 1943, in which 19 young men and boys lost their lives when a sea mine washed up and exploded. His biographical film about the life and inspiration of Bram Stoker – the critically lauded ‘Bram Stoker & Dracula’ (2011), has screened at multiple festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. He made the landmark film, ‘Ballaí Dhoire’ (2013), for the BBC and TG4, a documentary about the 400 year history and developing meaning of the Derry Walls.