Heather Rae was born on Heather Rae Bybee in California, October 1966 and is an American film and television producer and director.
15 Facts About Heather Rae
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Heather Rae has worked on documentary and narrative film projects, specializing in those with Native American themes, and is best known for Frozen River, Trudell, and Tallulah.
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In 1999, Rae married Russell Friedenberg, the American director and screenwriter.
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From 1996 to 2001, Heather Rae directed the Native program at the Sundance Institute.
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Heather Rae was recognized as one of Varietys Ten Producers to Watch in 2008, and received the Piaget Producers Award and the Cinereach Producers Award.
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Heather Rae directed the 2005 film Trudell, which has been shown at over 100 film festivals worldwide.
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Circa 2006, Heather Rae was an adjunct film studies professor at Boise State University, Idaho.
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Around this time, Heather Rae co-founded True West and the True West Cinema Film Festival.
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Frozen River received seven nominations and won two Independent Spirit Awards, including Heather Rae winning the Piaget Producers Award.
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Heather Rae established a production center in Boise where independent filmmakers such as Gregory Bayne, Randy Redroad and Blackhorse Lowe worked.
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Heather Rae is a current and founding board member of the Sun Valley Film Festival.
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From 2012 to 2015, Heather Rae served as an artist trustee for the Sundance Institute's Board of Trustees.
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From 2020 to 2021, Heather Rae executively produced Amazon series Outer Range alongside Plan B Entertainment.
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Heather Rae has worked with filmmakers in several countries, including the Sami and British Film Institutes in Europe, New Zealand's Script to Screen and Power of Inclusion Summit, and in Egypt with Film Independent's Global Media Makers partnership with the Cairo International Film Festival.
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Heather Rae self-identifies as Native American, and has said that her mother is Cherokee; however neither she nor her mother is an enrolled member of any federally or state-recognized Native American tribe or community.