Photo by Wade Hudson / Cover photo by Manuel Salazar

Jono Hunter is a director, writer, producer, and performer based in Toronto. His formative years were filtered through the windows of a tour van, in which he travelled North America and Europe with a handful of D.I.Y. punk bands while attending film school at Humber college. Later, he bought nicer clothes and started directing TV commercials for brands like Nintendo, Kit Kat, and Jolly Rancher (with celebrities like Annie Murphy, Chance the Rapper, Kevin Hart, and Joel Embiid). After graduating with distinction from Humber College in 2005, he studied acting and improv at the Judith Weston Studio for Actors and Directors, The Upright Citizens Brigade in LA, and The Second City Conservatory in Toronto. 

Jono’s work is firmly rooted in comedy, with a focus on performance and a palpable sense of joy. His style covers a broad spectrum within the genre, be it a subtle ode to a dying laptop (Curry’s PC World) or a fantastical journey through an office full of weirdos transformed by a Pizza Pop. His commercials have earned awards from festivals such as the Cannes Lions, the Young Director Awards, and The Webby’s. His film, Modern Classic, won best first feature at the 2017 Canadian Film Festival and his animated series, Night Drives, has screened at the 2024 Slamdance film festival (and took home the Summer Chastant Episodic Award and Episodes Audience Award), Just for Laughs, Toronto After Dark, Blood in the Snow, The Toronto Sketch Comedy Film Festival, and the academy-award qualifying festival ANIMATOR in Poznań. Currently, Jono is finishing the next wave of Night Drives, co-hosts a screenwriting podcast (No ReWrites),  and is in production on Season 2 of the Webby-nominated series, Hot Globe.