After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Gabriel Olson was taken under the wing of Anonymous Content director Malcolm Venville, where he worked on dozens of global campaigns for clients such as Nike, NASDAQ, Honda, Toyota, California Lottery, as well as two feature films. 

As Gabriel went on his own, his love for storytelling translated well in the commercial arena as evidenced by his work placing as a AICP Show finalist and early success with a Coke Zero piece that was chosen as Overall Grand Prize Winner at the Cannes Lions MOFILM Competition, which lead to a stint working on Coca Cola for Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore. 

The following year he was selected for recognition in the prestigious SHOOT Magazine New Directors Showcase for his growing body of work.  

As he grew his audience and client list, Gabriel’s Guitar Center spot, featuring ‘Questlove’ of The Roots (The Tonight Show Band), premiered during the Super Bowl. Most recently Gabriel helmed a series of films for GOOGLE profiling international innovators, as well as a bold campaign for the 20th anniversary of EA Games’, The Sims, featuring dozens of real players from around the world with unique stories, culminating in a WEBBY AWARD win. 

With an appetite for expanding his expertise, he directed a VFX-intense piece for the Nintendo game, Scribblenauts, a LEXUS spot that involved a ten-hour Facebook LIVE component earning 8.7 million impressions, and a Livestream Experience for Tim McGraw through lili Studios. The successful result led to Gabriel coming aboard to work as an Interactive Creative Director for lili Studios on various interactive livestream projects for Viacom and Apple Music. 

Intrigued by technological potentials but with one foot firmly planted in narrative storytelling, his Hitchcock-ian short film, The Bridge Partner, with Beth Grant (Mayfair Witches, No Country for Old Men), four-time Emmy nominee Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue, Shameless) and Oscar nominee Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, The Descendants) made its International premiere at Raindance Film Festival in London. In little time it racked up multiple awards including the Wes Craven Best Horror Film Award, as well as Best Horror / Suspense Film at the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego and the Audience Award at the D.C. Shorts Film festival, among others. To date it’s played over fifty festivals around the world and was featured in the in, BLOODLIST, Vimeo Staff Pick, GIZMODO, Famous Monsters, The Wrap, InFlux Magazine, The Tracking Board, Dread Central, We Are Moving Stories, CUT.PRINT.FILM, Film Pulse, We Are Indie Horror and NOWNESS. 

Following that success, CBS’s CRIMINAL MINDS brought him on as a Director Shadow in its penultimate season. He is attached to direct a feature film with Mandalay Pictures, and celebrating the release of the feature he produced, THE DEVIL TO PAY, which is now streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime. He is currently in post production on a short documentary about a gifted soccer coach who specializes in working with two to seven year olds, inspiring them to be their own heroes on the field and in life. 

Gabriel has worked with many types of personalities, from CEOs to CTOs to founders to celebrities such as Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O’Neill, Robert Forster (Oscar Nom), Beth Grant (SAG Award Winner), Sharon Lawrence (Multi Emmy Nom), Marsai Martine (Blackish) and Erika Ender (songwriter, Despacito) among others. His passion is uncovering the human emotion within a story, no matter the runtime.