Samuel Leighton-Dore is an award-winning writer, director and multidisciplinary visual artist, known for his distinct illustration and animation style. He has released two books, ‘How To Be A Big Strong Man’ (Smith Street, Simon & Schuster, 2019) and ‘Wow It’s All A Lot’ (HarperCollins, 2023), and has produced animated mental health campaigns for organisations including ReachOut, Man Cave, and the University of Queensland.

In 2015 his short film 'Showboy' screened at Sydney Film Festival and the Irish Prize, before winning Best Short at Melbourne Queer Film Festival. He has had four solo exhibitions and won Visual Artist of the Year at the 2019 Honour Awards, with past artworks being acquired by the Gold Coast City Collection and appearing on the cover of publications including the Journal of Australian Ceramics.

He currently has an adult animated series in development with Ludo Studio and in 2023 was selected for AiF and Screen Australia’s Untapped Program with his animated horror-comedy pilot 'Other Half'.