Ashley Brook is an award-winning Canadian director, producer and shooter/editor based in Ontario. She works primarily in documentary film, television, and digital media.
Brook launched Jackalope Films with an intent to focus on stories that transcend the ordinary and seek out magic and wonder in everyday life. As an independent creator she gravitates to old stories, natural, and imaginary worlds, drawing inspiration from the folk tales that captured her heart from an early age.
An end-to-end filmmaker and producer, Brook tackles every stage of the creative process in the creation of vibrant factual stories. Her works have screened at festivals and museum exhibitions worldwide, gone viral on YouTube, and are a popular tool for educational use in schools across Canada. She is the recipient of two Canadian Cinema Editors Awards, as well as multiple Canadian Screen Award and Banff Rockie Award nominations.
She’s available for freelance collaborations as a writer, director, cinematographer, editor, or producer.
Résumé
accolades
2024 Canadian Screen Award Nominee - Best Picture Editing
2023 Banff Rockie Award Nominee - Best Short Form Non-Fiction
2023 NZ WebfFest Winner - Best Directing in an International Factual Series
2023 Canadian Cinema Editors Award Winner - Best Editing in a Digital Series
2023 AMC Networks' Female Creators Award Nominee
2020 Canadian Screen Award Nominee - Best Non-Fiction Digital Series
2019 Golden Sheaf Award Winner - Best Research
2019 Canadian Cinema Editors Award Winner - Best Editing in a Digital Series
2019 Golden Sheaf Award Nominee - Best Documentary Series
2019 IWCC (Web Series Canada) Canadian Spotlight Award Winner
2018 Canadian Cinema Editors Award Nominee - Best Editing in a Digital Series
filmmaker talent incubators
Hot Docs Citizen Minutes, 2025
Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices alumna, 2019
DOC Breakthrough Program alumna, 2015
education
Bachelor of Arts, Communication Studies
Post-grad Certificate: Documentary Filmmaking
Post-grad Diploma: Post-Production (major: Editing; minor: Animation)
memberships
Documentary Organization of Canada, Canadian Cinema Editors, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
certifications
drone pilot certified, basic operations
BACKGROUND
Ashley Brook is an all-in-one documentary filmmaker. Most notably, Brook is founder of The Canadiana Project and maker of the award-winning docuseries CANADIANA, with some of the most-watched Canadian history content on YouTube (120K+ subscribers and millions of views). They’re a creative professional with 15 years of experience in documentary film and television production, an endurance athlete, and an outdoor enthusiast.
Brook’s documentary work has been supported by The Bell Fund, Canada Media Fund, Canada History Fund, Parks Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Hot Docs, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) & Vlogbrothers; distributed in schools by McIntyre Media (Canada); aired on CRAVE and TVO, and screened internationally as part of museum exhibitions.
Since launching CANADIANA in 2017, Ashley Brook has built the series from zero to more than 40 short documentaries (5-25 mins.), which consistently top 100K views — often 1M+ views — on YouTube. They work as one of two all-in-one filmmakers on the episodes — from research and writing, to directing and camerawork, to editing and animating — and their work in all areas has been recognized with some of the highest awards in the industry. Additionally, as the sole producer on the series for the past decade, she manages the business, the YouTube channel, and all associated social platforms, with a combined following of more than 150K.