Whitaker was born in Thornton Heath, south London and grew up in the north of the city, and Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham after the Second World War.
[3] She was appointed to oversee the British Film Institute's stills, posters and designs collections in 1968, leaving in 1975 to study for her degree in Comparative European Literature at Warwick University.
By the end of her tenure as director, the LFF had grown to include screenings of over 200 films from around the world, more venues had been added and more tickets were sold to non-BFI members.
[1][9] With others, she co-edited Life and Art: The New Iranian Cinema (1999),[10] and An Argentine Passion, (2000) about the Argentinian film director María Luisa Bemberg.
[11] Sheila Whitaker was a recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for services to French cinema in Britain, an award which coincided with the end of her time as director of the London Film Festival,[8] and received honorary doctorates from Newcastle and Warwick Universities.