Biography
From Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ready to go anywhere.
If I’m behind a camera with a great script in my hand, or even in front of it with the script memorized, I’m in my comfort zone. Ever since being a child playing with Lego’s, I was creating great epics within my mind, and once I got my hands on a camcorder I spent most of my time behind the camera producing shorts. This passion evolved from Lego’s into gathering kids from the neighborhood together to create shorts during junior high teaching myself how to edit on my first laptop at the age of 13. By the time I was in my senior year of high school I had landed the lead role of Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare and found a love for the limelight.
I went to college in pursuit of Law originally, at the encouragement of my family, but soon found my calling back to creating. I began working as a Light Technician and Designer for Hamline University’s Theater Department moving from acting towards tech and then soon enough with the encouragement of some wise mentor’s, I applied and was accepted into the National Theater Institute (NTI) Advanced Directing program in 2019, expanding my working repertoire into directing.
During this time I worked heavily with industry professionals and learned from working directors - both film and theater ranging from Broadway to West End and Los Angeles. During my time here I learned my love for directing, but perhaps in a different medium than the stage. Using nothing but an iPhone 8 and a poorly formatted script, I wrangled together a group of collaborators to create a short titled Pub Mockumentary which is linked and explained on this website.
Before I left NTI, I applied to the Moscow Arts Theater School (MATS) program with an emphasis in acting, and would have trained extensively in Stanislavski’s methods, but returned home to finish my collegiate studies in St. Paul.
Soon after I returned from the program I was in the midst’s of two senior practicums (thesis level courses) when COVID-19 hit and shut everything down. My adaptation of the ending of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov into film for my theater thesis never made it into production due to the pandemic. However my Political Science thesis documentary was produced and presented to peer and professor review to great remarks, diving into the complex issue of why US citizens demanded the economy be re-opened during COVID-19 lockdowns.
After graduating I moved home and applied to film schools to get my masters. After applications had been sent, instead of sitting around to wait and hear back I reached out to an old colleague and began writing, producing and directing a short film with him titled Awkward Dinner Party. Now, I live in Los Angeles looking to break into the industry and share my craft and talent with those from across the world.
In between projects you could find me brewing at home, producing music, spending time with my cats, enjoying meals and time with friends, and of course watching television and films.
Methods of How I work:
All of my projects have a degree of originality, be it in their plot, characters, or development, but that doesn’t mean it always works. Everything creatively to me starts with an idea and not being afraid to fail. To create work in this medium requires play and the need for collaboration is critical. When leading rooms I encourage actors to be “goofy” while rehearsing, with an emphasis of focus of course, but half of the job of filmmaking is the “making”. If we can’t allow the process to be enjoyable, we’re failing as storytellers. That’s not to say there isn’t stress, or times for critical buckling down, but what I bring to the table is an emphasis on collaboration and facilitating a healthy process by engaging with everyone included in the process with kindness, patience and critical thought.
A question I always ask myself in any artistic process is how can I write or direct a scene to show you what’s going on in the first frame of the shot. It is not my job to tell you the audience what is exactly going on, it is my job to show you the story and characters, and to allow you to draw your own conclusions and feelings about the work from what you see and hear from these characters.
It’s impossible to do this work without communicating, which is something I strongly believe in as a collaborator, creator and contributor. Miscommunication costs money, time and resources, it is imperative to the filmmaking process and a facet of which I never neglect.