Dana Youngman is a New Zealand television and screen executive. A Samoan New Zealander, she won a 2021 New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
Biography Youngman spent her early years in the Auckland suburb of Avondale. Her mother, Mata, had emigrated from Samoa to train as a nurse, and her Pākehā father, Brian, was a police officer. The family moved to Dannevirke in the Hawke's Bay region when she was at primary school. During high school, Youngman attended the National Youth Drama school and studied documentary-making with Bruno Lawrence and Chris Verberg. After leaving school she returned to Auckland to study television directing and production management at Unitec Institute of Technology.
While a tertiary student, Youngman had work experience placements at TVNZ, and on graduating was employed as a production co-ordinator. In 1997, she joined the morning television show Good Morning. She became one of New Zealand's youngest and first prime time television producers of Pasifika heritage in 2001 and in 2004, she was appointed head of the network's lifestyle unit and produced a number of drama, documentary and animated television shows until moving to Sky TV as an Entertainment Commissioner in 2019. After three years at Sky, Youngman was appointed strategic advisor to the chief executive at the New Zealand Film Commission.
Youngman has been nominated for television awards. In 2003, she was nominated with Lisa Pringle for the Best Lifestyle Series Award at the New Zealand Television Awards for Maggie's Garden Show. In 2019, she was nominated with Damon Fepulea'i for the Best Pasifika Programme Award and the Best Sports Programme Award for Life After Footy – Legends of the Pacific at the New Zealand Television Awards. Her commissioned series INSiDE won an International Emmy Award for Best Short-Form Series in 2021.
Youngman is one of three New Zealand members of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2021, she won the Diversity Award at the prestigious New Zealand Women of Influence Awards.
Screenography +YearTitleRoleFormat2023 2022The Black Ferns, Wahine ToaNetwork executiveTelevisionWhen Bob CameNetwork executiveTelevisionMoko the WorldNetwork executiveTelevisionThe CasketeersNetwork executiveTelevisionCaged, Kai Kara FranceNetwork executiveTelevisionFamily,Faith and FootyNetwork executiveTelevisionTagata PasifikaNetwork executiveTelevisionA Living Hell, Apartment DisastersNetwork executiveTelevisionProject BraveNetwork executiveTelevisionShepherdessNetwork executiveTelevisionA Question of JusticeNetwork executiveTelevisionRaised by RefugeesNetwork executiveTelevisionThe Food CrisisNetwork executiveTelevision2021Teine Sā – The Ancient OnesNetwork executiveWeb seriesInkedNetwork executiveTelevisionJK's JapanNetwork executive & Executive Producer TelevisionDesigning DreamsNetwork executiveTelevisionA Mild Touch of CancerNetwork executiveFilm2020Tales of the MoanaCreator, director and producer TelevisionSISNetwork executiveTelevisionINSiDENetwork executiveTelevisionThis Could Go AnywhereExecutive producerTelevisionLiving with the BossWriter Television2019Legendary PolynesiaCreator, director and producerTelevision2018Life After Footy: Legends of the PacificCreator and producerTelevision2016Sidewalk KaraokeExecutive producerTelevision2015–2016Kiwi LivingDirector and producerTelevision2014–2017Whānau LivingCreator and executive producerTelevision2014The Art of the ArchitectCreator and series producerTelevisionReal PasifikProducerTelevisionFreshProducerTelevision2010Inside Nature's Giants – The Giant SquidLine producerTelevision2010–2014Annabel Langbein: The Free Range CookCreator, director and producerTelevision2008Build Up To BeijingCreator, director and producerTelevisionNew Zealand's Got TalentWriter, director and producerTelevision2007A Taste of HomeCreator and producerTelevisionAre We There Yet?Executive producerTelevision2006New Zealand House and GardenCreator, director and producerTelevisionNew Zealand's Brainiest KidDevelopment producerTelevision2005Taste Takes Off – BeijingExecutive producerTelevision2005 and 2007Dancing with the StarsExecutive producerTelevision2004 and 2007Mucking InExecutive producerTelevisionGood MorningExecutive producerTelevision2004Ground RulesCreator and executive producerTelevisionTomb of the Unknown WarriorProducerTelevisionFlipsideExecutive producerTelevisionHumProducerTelevisionCountry CalendarExecutive producerTelevisionAre We There YetExecutive producerTelevisionHomeFrontExecutive producerTelevisionMasterbuilder House of the YearExecutive producer Television2002Angela D'Audney – A TributeProduction managerTelevision2000Maggie's Garden Show – Ellerslie Flower Show SpecialCompilation directorTelevisionUnited Travel GetawayAssociate producerTelevision1998–2003Maggie's Garden ShowDirector, producer and production managerTelevision
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