Biography

I had three wishes as a child: to be happy, to tell stories, and to own an ice cream shop. While that last dream melted with time, I am glad my other pursuits are still thriving. I have always been entranced by the power of stories told in movies, books, or television; but it was not until my Grandma gifted me a book, casting me and my siblings as the protagonists in a tale of adventure, that I realized something: people – real flesh and blood people – created these narratives which I devoured one after another. In that moment I knew I would devote my life to telling stories – be they mine or another’s.

Even before I knew how to craft sentences and dialog, I conveyed my stories by drawing comic books. I soon graduated to short stories featuring me and my friends journeying through space and time. With each new skill I expanded my mind and challenged my limitations. Then I discovered theatre and there was no going back – performing at every opportunity. When there was no play to rehearse I wrote them for myself, resulting in my first ever one-act play,UNKNOwen, which in 2010 won the Texas Playfest Award for Best High School Play. This accolade, along with my good academic standing including an International Baccalaureate diploma, afforded me a full scholarship to the University of the Ozarks where my hunger for performing and writing only continued to grow. I ate theatre, breathed theatre, and slept theatre in college, even keeping a cot in the studio. When I was not acting I was writing; when I was not writing, I ran tech, often doing all three simultaneously. Every summer was spent in a different professional theater. All of my efforts culminated in writing and set designing my first full length show, End of My Rope, as my send-off before I graduated Cum Laude and moved to California to attend the conservatory program at the Stella Adler Art of Acting Studio.

I spent two years at the Studio learning acting from the ground up in almost every field of study including movement, voice, and the specificities of camera versus film. I have crafted two one-man shows and grown in my ability to perform Shakespeare, including both a full length production and performances with the Shakespeare Benefit for Broadway Cares. I have expanded my range, understanding, and expression of the craft I pledged myself to these past nineteen years.

Acting Philosophy

I take pride in making sure all my characters are real people regardless of the size of their role; and the only way to honestly personify them is to know their stories. Every character I have ever played- from the nameless soldier in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot to the lead role of Lt. Ralph Clark in Our Country’s Good – has a perspective to reveal. As in real life, these characters see themselves as the protagonists of their own world and must act accordingly in order to support the overall narrative. Lead roles reveal their character directly through the story arc. Owen Musser, a supporting role from The Foreigner, assumes and projects his point of view as a catalyst for the plot to coalesce. Does this mean these supporting characters deserve the spotlight? No; their story is not the main one being conveyed. But for the supporting characters to resonate, they must have their own worldview firmly established. In the same way a person you might randomly bump into will continue leading a life all their own, so too will every character who supports, yet does not become, the focus of the plot. This is what I bring: I embody the person behind the lines and contribute as much of their personal life as the narrative insists.