Sophie Darlington

Sophie Darlington left Ireland at age 19 and moved to Tanzania to chase her dream of wildlife filmmaking. That was 30 years ago, and now, she is one of a handful of female filmmakers working in the wild. Today, she is a BAFTA Award winner who has held the door open for other women to follow in her footsteps.   Darlington is known for her ability to capture exceptionally emotional behavioral content with a strong focus on nature’s beauty. She is one of the directors of photography on National Geographic’s 2024 series “Queens,” focusing on female leadership in nature. Her impressive list of credits includes feature films for Disney Nature and BBC Earth, as well as landmark bluechip series for Netflix, National Geographic and BBC, including “Dynasties I,” “Dynasties II,” “Our Planet I,” “Our Planet II,” “The Hunt,” “Planet Earth II” and “Life Story,” all narrated by the legendary Sir David Attenborough. Darlington was part of the core team that won the BAFTA for Cinematography in 2016 for “The Hunt” (BBC) and was accepted as a BAFTA member in 2018.   Growing up in the U.K., Ireland and Iran, Darlington traveled to East Africa in her early 20s, where she met eight-time Emmy® winner and cinematographer Hugo van Lawick. Van Lawick, renowned for his long-term partnership with National Geographic and Jane Goodall, took Darlington on as a filming apprentice in the 1990s, and she spent several years learning the craft of natural history filmmaking out on the Serengeti Plains. Darlington carries on Hugo’s legacy today. In addition to filming, she is actively and passionately involved in mentoring, public speaking and increasing diversity in wildlife filmmaking.