about me

My name is Sam Cartwright, a photographer based in Brighton, specialising in headshot and portrait sessions. As a professional actor I have experience working both in front of and behind the camera which has given me the insight into what makes a successful photography session. I love working creatively with others which is what drew me to taking photos of people.

As a professional photographer and videographer I have worked with some amazing companies & organisations such as The Globe, Meta, the Institute for Contemporary Theatre Training, The Theatre Workshop, Stagecoach, Rah Rah Theatre Company, Brighton & Hove City Council and in 2023 I became the Official Videographer for Brighton Fringe.

I have been a professional headshot photographer, theatre photographer, showreel creator and Screen Acting teacher for over five years now. I’ve been teaching actors who are complete beginners all the way up to professionals who’ve been in the industry 40+ years. Alongside teaching my own workshops I have also taught Acting for Screen on the BA Acting Course at the Institute for Contemporary Theatre and Northbrook College as well as BN1 Arts and Apollo Theatre School.

A still from a scene I shot in my weekly Acting for Screen Wokshops.

Headshot taken by me of Aya Elmansouri.

I’m also a professional headshot photographer and videographer, specialising in actor’s headshots and showreels. I write each showreel for each of my clients and have a huge script database of my own scripts. I have also written and directed my own short film, What Happened, currently doing the rounds at film festivals, but so far has been nominated for Best New Film at the International Feel the Reel Film Festival. My second short film is currently being written. I’ve also worked for Rah Rah Theatre Company, a well established theatre company who’ve been touring work for over 20 years. I mainly spent my time casting their productions and marketing their shows.

Poster for my short film, What Happened.

The Art of Caring poster.

As a writer and director my plays have been nominated for multiple awards and my productions have been toured around the country. My first production which I wrote and co—directed, a TIE ensemble piece, My Headmaster is a Troll!, toured around primary schools in the South East. My next play, Now I’m a Big Boy, performed around Brighton with a small cast of young professionals and was all about the grey area surrounding sexual consent as well as a teenage coming of age comedy. It was met with reviews ranging from average to pretty awful - but we had fun making it! Finally, a one-woman show which I co-wrote, directed and produced called The Art of Caring, was a huge success and performed around Brighton as well as at the Camden Fringe, before stopping it’s tour due to covid. The Art of Caring was a sellout success with glowing 4 & 5 star reviews as well as being nominated for Best New Writing and Best New Play at the Brighton Fringe. I’m currently working on writing my own one man show called Manchild.

As a professional actor, I’m currently represented by one of the UK’s leading co-operative agency, Rogues and Vagabonds. Some of my previous screen work includes an episode of Gundi (Channel 4), working with Mark Davis (editor for The Crown, Peaky Blinders) on his latest feature film, The Dark Channel, appearing in music videos for Jess Glynne and Will Young, a national TV commercial for Go Daddy, short films with critically acclaimed directors such as WIZ and Edilberto Restino (BAFTA), work with educational film creator Pukka Films on films for the British Police Force and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency as well as appearing in the TV pilot, Tales from the Cell, directed by international director Harry Caughty and playing opposite Jamie Kenna.

Screenshot of ‘Tales from the Cell’, dir Harry Caughty. Jamie Kenna (left) & Sam Cartwright (right).

If you have any questions or would like to book in a session with me, check out my contact page where you can ping an email straight across to me.