Pearl Tan is the founder and director of Pearly Productions, a creative boutique with a focus on diverse stories. She is the Discipline Lead in Directing for the Master of Arts Screen program at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Prior to this she was the Senior Lecturer in Directing at AFTRS, leading the Directing stream of the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production course.
In 2020, Pearl was listed in the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australian Awards and was named the most influential in the Arts and Culture category. In 2017, Pearl was invited to deliver a TEDx talk entitled Reimagining Diversity. In 2016, Pearl was named a Woman of Influence by the Australian Financial Review and Westpac. She has been on the AFTRS Council and the Screen Australia Gender Matters Taskforce. She was Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Equity Diversity Committee within the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and held positions on the MEAA Board and the National Performers Committee (NPC) for Actors Equity. She was the Vice President of New Media on the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Board and also served as NSW Chapter Head for the ADG.
Pearl is a graduate from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Acting). She also holds a Bachelor of Communications (Media Studies) from Edith Cowan University and a Master of Commerce (Strategy, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship), which she completed on a Business Leader Postgraduate Scholarship from the University of Sydney.
Pearl is currently completing her PhD in Creative Practice at the University of New South Wales, where her research focus is on the experience of diverse creatives in the screen industry. As part of her PhD, she released a fictional podcast entitled Diversity Work in 2023. The podcast has won many awards including the Webby Award (critic's choice) and People's Voice Award (popular vote) in the category of Podcast - Scripted (Fictional), a Silver Award for Innovation at the New York Festivals Radio Awards, along with being a Finalist in the categories of Writing, Director and Drama Podcast, and a Radio Today Podcast Award for Best Fictional Podcast.
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