Born in Cerignola, Italy, Toni Occhiello wrote and directed his first film ("L'Assassino si Cela nel Buio") at the age of 13, with an 8mm movie camera and his schoolmates as actors and crew.   

After directing a number of other productions, including an adaptation from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, at the age of 18 he moved to Rome, enrolling in La Sapienza University. While a student there, he worked as a photojournalist with a few important Italian and French publications, such as Lui-Vogue, Rockstar , L'Espresso and Paris-Match. After obtaining his Master's Degree in Political Science, he worked as a free-lance director of music videos in Italy for EMI, RCA, Polygram, Cinevox and others. 

Toni Occhiello has written and directed a number of documentaries, educational programs, radio shows and two movies of the week, Tamburo and Aisha & Odette, for RAI, the Italian State Television network; and a documentary TV series he created and directed for WHPA Los Angeles: In My Craft or Sullen Art.

He was commissioned by the Department of Sociology at the University of Rome to direct two documentaries, Rosso Continuo and Las Fiestas de San Luis Rey, that were broadcast by both RAI and Mediaset (the most important Italian private TV network); and widely circulated at international festivals and in academic markets, including Toronto, Mexico City, The University of Bologna, The Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, The Museo delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari in Roma, La Sorbonne University of Paris and others.

As a Writer/Director, he’s also written and directed two 35mm feature films, in Italy: Majidas and Il Gioiello di Arturo, presented in various European film festivals, such as Spoleto's Film Festival of Two Worlds, St. Vincent's Grolle d'Oro, Annecy Film Festival and the prestigious Venice Film Festival, resulting in Toni being awarded as "Best New Director".

Toni lives in Los Angeles, where he is a member of the International Press Academy of Beverly Hills and accredited with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). From 1998 through 2004, he's been the Hollywood contributing editor for a number of industry magazines and websites, including SET Magazine, Filmmaker Magazine, Filmbazaar.com, Vision Magazine and Inwind.it. Toni will soon publish a coffee-table book  of his own photographs and haiku poems: Nights’ White and Cherry Blossoms.

A neo-political thriller, The Sixth Root Race, written by Occhiello, made finalist in the AMPAS' (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) prestigious Nicholl screenwriting contest; he is now writing a new feature film, Winter of Discontent: a sentimental thriller noir, largely autobiographical.

Next, Occhiello will direct his third 35mm feature film, an adventurous dramedy of “love, art and sex“: Lola Goes To Roma, a Canadian-European co-production written by Josefina Lopez ("Real Women Have Curves") and Toni Occhiello. Starring Victoria Abril, Aimee Garcia, Antonella Salvucci and Rade Serbedgia , “Lola Goes to Roma” will be produced by Alain Gagnon.