Nata Zabet-Shirinian (Natalie Shirinian), is an award winning filmmaker. She has been featured in Vogue, InStyle's "Badass Women" issue, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, THEM, Moviemaker, T magazine, AnOther Magazine, and Interview Magazine's, "People of Interview.”
The only child of Egyptian Armenian parents, Shirinian is 1st generation Egyptian-Armenian-American, and was born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. With performance in her bloodline, the desire to act has been innate in Shirinian from a young age. Shirinian was cast in television and film roles, along with national television commercials. This early work garnered her a Screen Actors Guild card. It was an interaction with Steve Martin on the set of the movie Shop Girl that inspired Shirinian to one day want to direct her own films.
Shirinian made her directing debut in 2017, with her award winning documentary film Interior Motives, which launched her production company NES FILMS. Most of Shirinian’s films focus on independent auteur-driven cinema, taking an intimate and dramatic approach to storytelling through narrative, documentary, and conceptual films, that have received widespread critical acclaim.
During the 2020 Covid pandemic, Shirinian wrote, directed, and starred in her renowned short film Parev Mama. The film follows a first-generation Armenian-American LGBTQ+ woman living in Los Angeles. The film won multiple awards, including the Parajanov Institute Award. Parev Mama also won the Audience Award at the 2022 Oscar qualifying HOLLYSHORTS film festival, and was also a participant in the prestigious NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), in conjunction with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Parev Mama is now available to stream on iTunes and is part of Shasha Movies permanent library.
Shirinian has collaborated with her wife Elizabeth Baudouin on a number of films, including Interior Motives 2017, Parev Mama 2020, and Baudouin’s directorial debut, Breakup Text 2023, in which Shirinian stars in, produced, and executive produced. With her wife Elizabeth the couple have been the face of multiple LGBTQ+ campaigns, including David Yurman's Valentine's Day couples campaign, Garance Doré's New York PRIDE campaign, Matches Fashion, an International Want Les Essentials ad campaign, and a Milan travel diary for The Coveteur. The two are partners in their joint production company, NOT ALL FILMS.
Shirinian has written, directed, and produced, a number of short, and conceptual films, which have challenging, yet inspirational subject matters. She is currently in pre-production on a number of film projects, including her first feature film, entitled Ponchik, based on her award winning short film Parev Mama.