Yvonne Russo is an award-winning producer, director, and writer working across film, television, and animation. Her latest feature documentary, VIVA VERDI!, offers an intimate look inside Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan, the retirement home founded by composer Giuseppe Verdi for aging opera singers and musicians. Produced in collaboration with Christine La Monte, VIVA VERDI! premiered at the 25th Anniversary Woodstock Film Festival and had its West Coast premiere at the 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2025. 

She is also the director and producer of Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae, a four-part docu-series for ONYX Collective/Hulu, exploring the life and legacy of Annie Mae Aquash, an Indigenous rights activist with the American Indian Movement. 

Russo is currently producing Kelly’s Bar, an independent drama set in 1980s South Boston about the love story between a Mi’kmaq man and an Irish-American woman, alongside Casey Affleck. She is also the creator, director, producer, and writer of Tiny Tot Nation, an animated children’s series in development. 

Russo served as a Production Advisor on Woman Walks Ahead, a period drama starring Jessica Chastain as Catherine Weldon, a widow who travels to the Dakota Territory to paint Lakota Chief Sitting Bull. The film was written by Academy Award nominee Steven Knight and produced by The Bedford Falls Company and Black Bicycle Entertainment. 

Expanding her work into television, Russo has a development deal with Handmade Films to adapt the 1989 cult classic film Powwow Highway, based on the novel by David Seals. She serves as an Executive Producer alongside Sterlin Harjo, Bobby Wilson, and Heather Rae. Additionally, she has partnered with Warner Bros Television and Bad Robot as an Executive Producer on a new television series in development with Steven Knight. 

In animation, Russo wrote, directed, and produced Minnie’s War Bonnet, a short film for PBS that is now used in K-12 educational programs across the U.S. 

As an independent producer, Russo has worked on productions in over 17 countries, from Rajasthan, India, to Rwanda. Her credits include 40 Under 40, a documentary on America’s top young visual artists (CBS/Smithsonian Network); Nat Geo’s Most Amazing Photos; Capturing the Deep (National Geographic); and Bringing Home Baby (TLC/Discovery), which she also directed. She has produced over 75 Behind the Photo segments syndicated on National Geographic International and for NGM digital studios. 

Her feature film work includes The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust (Co-Producer), which was nominated for “Outstanding Documentary” at the NAACP Image Awards. She also produced Naturally Native, which premiered at Sundance, had a theatrical run via Landmark Theaters, and was acquired by Turner Classic Movies. Additionally, she produced True 

Whisperers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers in association with Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Motion Pictures. 

Early in her career, Russo served as Vice President of Production for Red-Horse Productions (1996–2002) and began her journey in the entertainment industry as a voice actor in the beloved animated film My Neighbor Totoro. Her acting credits include Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Stolen Women, Captured Hearts, Naturally Native, and American Indian Graffiti. 

Russo is an active member of the Directors Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the Producers Guild of America, where she previously served on the Board of Governors. She is also a longtime member of SAG-AFTRA and serves on the Board of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). Committed to fostering new talent, she co-founded The Akatubi Film/Music Academy with Kimberly and Johnny Guerrero to mentor Native American youth in entertainment and new media production. 

She is a recipient of several prestigious grants, including The Redford Center Grant for Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae and the Nia Tero Grant for Indigenous Filmmakers. She was selected for the Sundance Institute and Women in Film’s Financing Intensive for Women Filmmakers, was a Sundance Producers Lab Fellow, and a Tribeca All Access Program Fellow. 

Russo has been honored with the Producer of the Year Award from the American Indian Film Festival and Outstanding Achievement in Producing from First Americans in the Arts. She has also served as a juror for the National Geographic Society’s All Roads Film Festival and has been a guest lecturer at the Royal Film Commission in Amman, Jordan, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and the University of Miami. 

As a writer, Russo has contributed to The Huffington Post, Indian Country Today, and Produced By magazine, covering media and entertainment. 

A proud member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation, Yvonne Russo continues to elevate underrepresented voices through storytelling, bridging past and present with compelling narratives that inspire and educate.