)
SixTwentySix signs director Luke Orlando
)
Orlando brings a distinctive perspective built through years behind the camera, with work spanning Charli XCX, Selena Gomez, Dunkin’, Apple Music, and Savage x Fenty.
Creative studio SixTwentySix has signed director Luke Orlando for commercial representation, adding one of the industry's most distinctive emerging visual storytellers to its growing roster of creative talent.
Working across music videos, fashion films, and branded content, Orlando has built a reputation for creating cinematic worlds that feel both larger-than-life and emotionally grounded. His work combines meticulous visual craft with a deep understanding of performance, atmosphere, and culture, resulting in films that are as technically ambitious as they are emotionally resonant.
Over the past several years, Orlando has developed a body of work spanning collaborations with artists including Charli XCX, Selena Gomez, Rebecca Black, Lauv, and Sudan Archives, as well as projects for brands including Apple Music, Savage X Fenty, Dunkin', Spotify, and Apple TV. Most recently for SixTwentySix, he directed a new music video-inspired campaign for Walmart, which debuted this week. Whether directing a large-scale choreography-driven music video, a fashion-forward campaign, or an intimate artist portrait, Orlando approaches each project with a singular creative philosophy: to create work that feels transportive, emotionally charged, and impossible to ignore.
Born in Toronto and now based in Los Angeles, Orlando's path to directing has been anything but traditional. Before stepping behind the camera as a director, he worked as a photojournalist, cinematographer, treatment designer, and creative collaborator, developing a multidisciplinary foundation that continues to shape his work today.
His creative journey began with an obsession for storytelling, photography, music, and cinema. While studying Cultural Studies at McGill University, Orlando worked as a photographer and immersed himself in visual culture before discovering the music video industry through the work of directors such as Hiro Murai. That discovery ultimately led him to Los Angeles, where he studied music video production, worked alongside some of the industry's most respected filmmakers, and steadily built a career defined by curiosity, experimentation, and creative ambition.
As a cinematographer, Orlando became known for technically demanding productions, including specialty projects shot on iPhone, POV filmmaking, and LED volume work. During the pandemic, he directed a series of livestream concert productions that culminated in a collaboration with Charli XCX, helping launch what would become his directing career. Since then, he has emerged as one of a new generation of filmmakers operating fluidly across music, fashion, entertainment, and advertising.
"I've been aware of and impressed by SixTwentySix's work for years," shared Orlando. "When they reached out to work with me last year, it was an instant fit. From pitching support to production and post, I've never felt more supported or more empowered to focus entirely on the creative. I'm at a really exciting point in my career and wanted to partner with a company that felt like it was growing in the same way I am. I'm hungry to explore new avenues and elevate everything I do, and with SixTwentySix constantly evolving and entering new spaces, it felt like the right place to build what's next."
Orlando's work is informed by influences that span fashion editorials, gaming, contemporary art, music, and cinema. Known for uncompromising cinematography, ambitious art builds, immersive stage design, and large-scale performance, he has developed a visual language that balances stylized spectacle with genuine human connection. His projects often feel dreamlike, cinematic, and emotionally immediate, creating worlds that invite audiences to pause, lean in, and experience something unexpected.
"The first thing you notice about Luke's work is how beautiful it is. The second thing you notice is that it doesn't look like anyone else's," said Austin Barbera, Partner and Executive Producer at SixTwentySix. "In a creative landscape that's increasingly crowded, originality matters. Luke has developed a visual language that feels entirely his own, blending atmosphere, performance, design, and emotion in a way that's instantly recognizable. That's incredibly difficult to do, and it's why we believe he's one of the most exciting filmmakers emerging today."
Jake Krask, Partner and Managing Director at SixTwentySix, added, "We're not interested in building a roster of directors who fit neatly into existing categories. We're interested in finding filmmakers who are helping redefine them. Luke moves effortlessly between music, fashion, entertainment, and commercial storytelling because he approaches all of them through the same lens: creating work that makes people stop, feel something, and remember it. That's a powerful skill set in today's creative landscape, and it's exactly why we wanted him at SixTwentySix."
For Orlando, joining SixTwentySix represents an opportunity to expand his creative practice into new categories while continuing to evolve the visual language that has defined his work thus far.
"When people watch my work, I want them to feel like they've been transported somewhere else," Orlando said. "I want them to stop scrolling. I want them to ask how something was made or what they just experienced. Whether it's a music video, a commercial, or a short film, I'm always trying to create something that feels intentional, surprising, and different."
The signing comes as SixTwentySix continues to expand its roster of culturally driven filmmakers and creative talent working at the intersection of entertainment, advertising, music, fashion, and design. Orlando joins the company at a pivotal moment in his career, bringing a distinctive creative perspective shaped by years behind the camera and a relentless pursuit of new ways to tell stories through image, performance, and atmosphere.
