Tom Donahue (filmmaker)

Tom Donahue (born May 18, 1968) is an American film director, producer, and showrunner known for historical and cultural documentary filmmaking. He wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated Paramount+ docuseries Mafia Spies (2024), based on Thomas Maier’s book about CIA–Mafia assassination plots against Fidel Castro. In 2025, it was announced that Donahue would direct The Dream Factory of Oz, a feature documentary about the making of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, Verdi Productions, and Danny Strong Productions. His previous work includes This Changes Everything (Netflix/STARZ), Dean Martin: King of Cool (TCM), and the Emmy-nominated HBO documentaries Casting By and Thank You for Your Service.

Other work includes the feature documentary This Changes Everything (STARZ, Netflix), which he directed and produced, about systemic gender bias and discrimination against women in entertainment; TCM's Dean Martin: King of Cool, a portrait of the legendary entertainer; and Netflix's Los Tigres del Norte at Folsom Prison (nominated for two Latin Grammys and winning one). All of these films and series were produced by Donahue and Ilan Arboleda under the banner of their independent production studio, CreativeChaos vmg.

In 2020, This Changes Everything won the Gracie Award for Best Documentary from the Alliance for Women in Media. In 2021, it won Best Documentary from The Los Angeles Press Club. He and Arboleda also recently produced HBO's Bleed Out, about director Steve Burrow’s clash with the American healthcare system. In 2019, The Los Angeles Press Club awarded Bleed Out Best Documentary. Donahue also directed HBO's Casting By and Thank You for Your Service, released theatrically by Gathr Films in 2016.