Michela Carattini is a SAG-AFTRA accredited Intimacy Coordinator, who has specialised Intimacy Coordination training with Intimacy Directors International (IDI) under the mentorship of founder Tonia Sina and ICEC founder Rachel Flescher, with additional training from Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), Intimacy On Set (IOS), Principal Intimacy Professioals (PIP) and Intimacy Professionals Association (IPA). She was the first in the world to be insured with public liability and professional indemnity under the title of Intimacy Coordinator and Intimacy Director. She developed the only Australia-based training curriculum for Intimacy Coordinators, which later became the only SAG-AFTRA accredited Intimacy Coordination Training Programme in Australasia. She created and instructed the first Intimacy Coordination Workshop for both the Director and Producers Masters at AFTRS, consulted on the MEAA (Australian Equity) panel for the creation of Australia’s National Intimate Scene Guidelines, and is a founding member of the Australasian Intimacy Coordination Network. Her IC credits include Nine Perfect Strangers, While the Men Are Away, We Interrupt This Broadcast, Blaze & Birdeater to name a few.

Michela is additionally a qualified and experienced mental health professional, holding a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology from Columbia University in New York (2005), and a Masters of Criminology from Sydney University Law School (2008). Michela has over seven years’ experience as a caseworker and crisis counsellor, specializing in the area of “Violence Against Women” (which is a misnomer, as it also includes men, spectrum genders, and children with significant intersectionality). In this capacity, Michela has worked with the UN, International Anti-Trafficking NGOs, The Australian and US Red Crosses, Redfern and MacArthur Legal Centres, as well as Women & Girls’ and Rape-Crisis Centres. Michela has comprehensive knowledge and experience of the psychological, legal, linguistic, cultural and practical aspects of consent, duty of care and referrals, and is uniquely qualified in the intimate, professional, gendered and CALD/multicultural spaces.

Michela is furthermore an internationally award-winning stage and screen actor, dancer and singer, having graduated from The American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York (2000), and worked professionally in the Entertainment Industry for over three decades. Michela made her professional debut as a soloist in The Houston Grand Opera’s internationally televised production of Street Scene (1994), and in 2018 was an official candidate for Best Supporting Actress at the AACTAs (Australian Academy Awards) for the feature film Birthday Adjustment Disorder. She has provided professional on-set and on-stage support as a choreographer, director, assistant director, producer, production assistant and pre-production support as a casting director, script editor and writer. She has most recently received acclaim as an emerging filmmaker and content creator.

Michela served for a year on the core committee of Women in Theatre in Screen (WITS) Australia, and is a current financial member of MEAA (Australian Equity), WIFT (Women in Film & Television) Australia, WISE (Women in Screen & Entertainment), SPA (Screen Producers Australia), AWG (Australian Writer’s Guild), ADG (Australian Director’s Guild), ASPAH (Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare) and the APS (Australian Psychological Society).

Michela identifies as queer polyamorous, CALD, mixed (Indigenous Panamanian and Anglo-Celtic Australian), dual national (AUS/USA), multi-local (Sydney, New York, Heidelberg), cis female and able. She is fluent or conversational in six languages, and the primary carer of two young children.