about

Here is a very long-winded way of saying "I like creating stuff":

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“Be prepared. Work hard. Don’t be a pain in the ass.”—this motto has shaped Payton Daly’s career as an internationally award-winning filmmaker, actor, and photographer. She began directing, shooting, and color grading films at age 15, splitting her high school years between Houston and frequent shoots in New York City.

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Payton is currently a Film & Television Production major at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her training includes the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), the Society of Camera Operators (SOC), Parsons School of Design, Manhattan Edit Workshop, and Liquid Motion Academy (underwater camera operating). She is a YoungArts Winner in Film and a National Gold Medalist in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She recently directed her first feature-length film, Are We There Yet?, and is currently directing the original movie musical Litusical.

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Alongside her filmmaking, Payton studies musical theater songwriting through the New York Youth Symphony’s Musical Theater Songwriting Program, trains in improv at The Second City New York, and writes, shoots, and performs with the comedy group The Law Firm.

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Since first stepping onstage at age three, Payton has performed in more than 60 plays and musicals and has trained in acting, voice, and dance at The Juilliard School, Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Stella Adler Acting Studio, Stonestreet Screen Acting Studios, Theater Under the Stars (TUTS), Stagedoor Manor, HITS Theatre, Wildfish Theatre, Queensbury Theatre, and the Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute (SSTI). She is a two-time Tommy Tune Award Lead Performer nominee and recipient of the North Star Leadership Award.

A voracious learner and passionate soul, Payton dedicates her life to telling stories.