# Anne Wheeler

Anne Wheeler, OC, (born September 23, 1946) is a Canadian film and television writer, producer, and director.

## Biography

Graduating in Mathematics from the University of Alberta she was a computer programmer before traveling abroad. Her years of travels inspired her to become a storyteller and when she returned she joined a group of old friends to form a film collective. From 1975 to 1985 she worked for the NFB where she made her first feature film, A War Story (1981), which was about her father, Ben Wheeler and his time as a doctor in a P.O.W. camp during World War II. The war is a common theme in her work and she revisited it later in her films Bye Bye Blues (1989) and The War Between Us (1995). Her first non-NFB film was Loyalties in 1986.
In addition to her films, Wheeler has directed episodes of Anne with an E, Private Eyes, Strange Empire, The Romeo Section, The Guard, This Is Wonderland, Da Vinci's Inquest, and Cold Squad.

## Awards and honors

Wheeler has been nominated four times for the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Direction for her films Loyalties (1986), Cowboys Don't Cry (1988), Bye Bye Blues (1989), and Suddenly Naked (2001). Her 1998 television miniseries, The Sleep Room, won Gemini awards for best television movie and best direction.
In 2017 Wheeler won a Leo Award for Best Direction (Television Film) for the Hallmark movie Stop the Wedding.
Wheeler was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Wheeler has also been awarded seven honorary doctorates and is the first woman to be given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of Canada.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 1986 | Loyalties | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1988 | Cowboys Don't Cry | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1989 | Bye Bye Blues | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1990 | Angel Square | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1999 | Better Than Chocolate | Yes | No | No |
| 2000 | Marine Life | Yes | No | No |
| 2001 | Suddenly Naked | Yes | No | Executive |
| 2002 | Edge of Madness | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2011 | Knockout | Yes | No | No |
Documentary film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
| 1975 | Great Grand Mother | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1976 | Augusta | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1981 | A War Story | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2000 | The Orkney Lad: The Story of Isabel Gunn | Yes | No | No |
| 2013 | Chi | Yes | No | No |
| 1977 | Happily Unmarried | No | No | Yes |
| 1978 | Priory: The Only Home I've Got | No | No | Yes |
| 1979 | Triangle Island | No | No | Yes |
| 1979 | Welfare Mothers | No | No | Yes |
| 1979 | Never a Dull Moment | No | No | Yes |
| 1983 | Great Days in the Rockies | No | No | Yes |
| 1983 | From Bears to Bartok | No | No | Yes |
| 1984 | Children Of Alcohol | No | No | Yes |
| 1984 | This Is Only a Test | No | No | Yes |
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Writer |
| 1977 | Happily Unmarried | Yes | No |
| 1978 | Teach Me to Dance | Yes | No |
| 2000 | Legs Apart | Yes | Yes |

### Television

TV movies
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Writer |
| 1984 | Change of Heart | Yes | No | No | For the Record series |
| 1993 | The Diviners | Yes | No | No | 3-hour special |
| 1993 | Other Women's Children | Yes | No | No | |
| 1995 | The War Between Us | Yes | No | No | |
| 1996 | Mother Trucker: The Diana Kilmury Story | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2002 | The Investigation | Yes | No | No | |
| 2003 | Betrayed | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 2004 | A Beachcombers Christmas | Yes | No | No | |
| 2006 | Christmas on Chestnut Street | Yes | No | No | |
| 2007 | Mom, Dad and Her | Yes | No | No | |
| 2008 | Mail Order Bride | Yes | No | No | |
| 2008 | Living Out Loud | Yes | No | No | |
| 2008 | Dancing Trees (Partners in Crime) | Yes | No | No | |
| 2009 | The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger | Yes | No | No | |
| 2012 | The Horses of McBride | Yes | No | No | |
| 2014 | The Color of Rain | Yes | No | No | |
| 2015 | A Country Wedding | Yes | No | No | |
| 2016 | Stop the Wedding | Yes | No | No | Best Direction, 2017 Leo Awards |
| 2023 | Friends & Family Christmas | Yes | No | No | |
TV series
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1984-1985 | Global Playhouse | Episodes One's a Heifer and To Set Our House in Order (Also writer) |
| 1985 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Mom P.I. | 2 episodes |
| 1992 | North of 60 | 2 episodes |
| 1995 | Jake and the Kid | 2 episodes |
| 1996 | The Adventures of Shirley Holmes | Pilot |
| 1998 | Cold Squad | 3 episodes |
| 1998 | The Sleep Room | Miniseries |
| 1998-2003 | Da Vinci's Inquest | 7 episodes |
| 2000 | Mysterious Ways | 1 episode |
| 2000 | Beggars and Choosers | 1 episode |
| 2004-2005 | This Is Wonderland | 8 episodes |
| 2005 | Godiva's | 2 episode |
| 2006 | Jozi-H | 2 episodes |
| 2006 | The Guard | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | Heartland | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Firefly Lane | 2 episodes |