Kholoud Sawaf is an award-winning theater director and filmmaker. Sawaf was born and raised in Damascus, Syria and has worked and trained in theater and film in Syria, Lebanon, the UAE, and the US. Her work is focused on investigating cultural depth, authenticity, and representation.

Recent credits include We Are Here (a short documentary produced by Crystal Bridges Museum for American Art), Theatre For One-Nairobi Edition (Octopus Theatricals, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Nairobi Musical Theatre (Kenya), The Suburbs (Thrown Stone Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), and 10,000 Balconies, which was awarded a $250,000 Building Bridges Grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Sawaf is a recipient of the Creative Impact Award for Northwest Arkansas (2022), the O’Neill National Directing Fellowship (2020–2021), and is a Drama League Fellow (2017). She is an Associate Member with Stage Directors and Choreographers and a member at the Nhna Cultural Club in Damascus, Syria. Sawaf holds an MFA in directing from the University of Arkansas and a BA in mass communication from The American University of Sharjah.