Gale Anne Hurd is a highly acclaimed and accomplished producer, renowned for her work as the founder of Valhalla Entertainment. Her most recent and notable achievement is the global cultural phenomenon, Emmy-winning and record-breaking TV series, The Walking Dead, along with its multiple spin-offs, including Fear the Walking Dead, Dead City, Daryl Dixon, and The Ones Who Live.
As a documentary producer, Hurd's feature, The YouTube Effect, is a thought-provoking and unsettling film that explores the impact of YouTube on society. Directed by Alex Winter, the documentary premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically in the US by Alamo Drafthouse Films.
Hurd's extensive producing credits include Mankiller, a multiple award-winning documentary about Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and Sundance Audience Award winner The Waterdance. She has also produced iconic classic feature films such as Aliens, The Abyss, Armageddon, Tremors, Alien Nation, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Terminator, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was recently added to the National Film Registry by the US Library of Congress, joining The Terminator, which was added in 2008.
As a sought-after speaker, Hurd has addressed various topics, including the status of the entertainment industry and gender equality, at renowned film festivals such as the Berlin, Deauville, Locarno, and Toronto Film Festivals, as well as the Milken Global Summit Conference and numerous other programs worldwide. She has also been featured on popular podcasts, including "WTF with Marc Maron" and Deadline's "Strike Talk."
Throughout her illustrious career, Hurd has received numerous prestigious honors, including the 2022 Locarno Film Festival's Best Independent Producer Award, the Cartier Award from the Deauville American Film Festival, Women in Film's Crystal Award, the Producer's Guild's David O. Selznick Best Feature Film Producer Award, the Visual Effects Society's Lifetime Achievement Award, and most recently, the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Online Film Critics Association.
