Sally Cookson trained at LAMDA, working as an actor for ten years and co-founding the Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre before embarking on a freelance directing career.

She received an Olivier Award for A Monster Calls (Old Vic London) winning best family and entertainment in 2019, and Olivier nominations for Peter Pan (National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Hetty Feather (Kenny Wax Productions); Cinderella: A Fairytale (Tobacco Factory Theatre). She is a Trustee for new writing theatre company Papatango.

Directing credits include: A Monster Calls (Parco Theatre Tokyo); Dracula: Mina’s Reckoning by Morna Pearson (National Theatre of Scotland); Birthmarked by Brooke Tate (Edinburgh Festival); Emilia by Morgan Malcom Lloyd, Trojan Women by Brendan Kennelly, The Three Seagulls (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School); The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe based on the Novel by C.S. Lewis (Leeds Playhouse, Bridge Theatre London and UK tour); Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Hetty Feather by Jaqueline Wilson (Kenny Wax Productions, Duke of York's and Vaudeville Theatre); La Strada by Fellini (Kenny Wax Productions, The Other Palace); Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (The Rose Theatre); Cinderella - A Fairytale (Tobacco Factory Theatre/The Other Palace), One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, (Tobacco Factory Theatre) and over twenty productions for Travelling Light Theatre.