Born in Birmingham, Venville was a hearing child to deaf parents. He was, in the words of his uncle, "caught in some no-man's land between the deaf world and the hearing world". He attended
Solihull College (1981–83) and
Polytechnic of Central London (1983–86), graduating with honors with a BA in film, video, and photographic arts. in the
Tepito district of Mexico City. Venville's film career began with the award winning
Silent Film (
BBC/
Channel 4. 1997), a short film about his profoundly deaf parents. This was followed with short documentary films;
Remembering Sister Ruth (BBC 1997), that features
Kathleen Byron discussing her role as Sister Ruth in
Black Narcissus, and
Remembering Miss Torso (2004) about
Georgine Darcy, who played the ballet dancer "Miss Torso" in
Rear Window (Therapy Films 2003). Venville directed the short
Zillions (
Nowness 2013) featuring
Karl Lagerfeld which won best documentary at
The International Fashion Film Festival. Venville's feature film debut was
44 Inch Chest (
Anonymous Content 2009), which won the Jury Prize at Seville Film Festival and the
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards for best Ensemble. This was followed by another independent feature ''
Henry's Crime'' (2010), which he filmed in New York City and Buffalo. In 2019,
A&E aired a mini series directed by Venville based on
Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses Grant. Justin Salinger played Grant (
Radical Media). This was followed by the mini series,
Abraham Lincoln (2022) featuring Graham Sibley as
Abraham Lincoln. This show was executive produced by
Doris Kearns Goodwin and based on her book,
Leadership In Turbulent Times. Venville continued his collaboration with Kearns Goodwin, Radical Media and A&E with
Theodore Roosevelt (2022). ==Filmography==