Speakers
Damien Goodwin, Performance Director, Independent
Damien Goodwin is an accomplished director with 25 years of experience across television, film, and theatre. For the past 15 years, he has specialised in directing performance capture and voiceover for video games. He partners with developers, outsource studios and creative teams around the world to push boundaries and shape unforgettable narrative experiences. Damien is passionate about working closely with actors, empowering them to deliver authentic, emotionally resonant performances that always serve the character, story and world. He has performance directed over 90 video games, including numerous multi–award-winning titles. Recent highlights include Alters, Star Wars Outlaws, The Casting of Frank Stone, Unknown 9: Awakening, and Returnal—the latter earning Jane Perry the 2022 BAFTA for Best Performance. Other notable credits include As Dusk Falls, GreedFall 1 & 2, Vampyr, The Witcher 2 & 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Tom Clancy's The Division. His television work includes directing 50 episodes of Hollyoaks (C4), serving as second-unit director on series 3 of The Bay (ITV), and drama-producing two series of The Only Way Is Essex (ITV2). He also developed the BAFTA-nominated The Audience (C4), which sold to 15 countries worldwide. His short films Breakthrough and Lift have screened at numerous international festivals including Clermont-Ferrand, Cinema du Paris and Los Angeles. A former professional actor, Damien had guest-leading TV roles in Teachers II, Silent Witness, Jonathan Creek and Sir Gadabout. His theatre directing credits include Roberto Zucco, Disappeared and Great Expectations. He is a member of BAFTA and regularly delivers workshops and masterclasses for professional actors, directors and at many of the UK's leading drama schools.