Joe Laurean started playing guitar in 1988 one fall afternoon after discovering Guns 'N Roses. He was about 13 then and never looked back at life without having a guitar ever again. Since then, it's been his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a teen, Joe would skip most parties to try and make his fingers fret chords and practice, practice, practice. Fast forward to 2002, Joe was home one day in Pasadena in his living room, staring at his two guitars. Bam!! The idea came to him and his head said to swap out those two necks. At the time, he was a small guitar repair enthusiast and so decided to set up a business with a friend and so they worked out of an old mansion on Lake Ave. Back in 2002, Joe had been customizing old guitars, building them from parts to satisfy the guitars he wished he could have when he first started out playing. Joe is a strat guy so that's what he started out mostly customizing, but he built a few single cut LP styles and even a few basses. In 2018, Joe got to take things a little further and joined Guild USA in Oxnard, CA. Joe Laurean is part of building some of the most iconic acoustic guitars now. The Guild USA famed dreadnoughts, our parlor sized M20s, and of course our jumbo acoustics are off the charts. Although the pandemic has slowed them down a bit, Joe knows to always follow his heart and frequently reminds himself to feel blessed to have found so many of the most amazing fellow musicians along his musical journey.

Stars of the indie movie, PHOENIX, OREGON

phoenixoregonmovie.com

JAMES LE GROS (BOBBY) Thanks in large part to the independent film movement of the late '80s, the boyishly handsome James LeGros went from being an underrated bit player to a well-respected character actor. A Minnesota native, LeGros found steady work when he migrated to Los Angeles after college in the early '80s, but his real break was being cast by Gus Van Sant as Matt Dillon’s drug-addicted cohort in DRUGSTORE COWBOY. Since then James Le Gros’ has established himself as a versatile actor with a diverse body of on-screen work, including numerous Independent Spirit Award-nominated films in which he has starred such as: Nicole Holofcener’s LOVELY AND AMAZING opposite Emily Mortimer, Todd Haynes’ SAFE opposite Julianne Moore, Alan Rudolph’s MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Stacy Cochran’s MY NEW GUN opposite Drew Barrymore. For his portrayal of the dim-witted, rising-A-list movie star “Chad Palomino,” opposite Steve Buscemi and Catherine Keener in Tom DiCillo’s LIVING IN OBLIVION, he was personally nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Le Gros’s other film credits include David Fincher’s ZODIAC, Tony Scott’s ENEMY OF THE STATE, Oliver Stone’s BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY, Cameron Crowe’s SINGLES and Kathryn Bigelow’s POINT BREAK.

JESSE BORREGO (CARLOS) Raised in San Antonio, Texas by professional musician father and dancer mother, young Jesse Borrego would enter dance competitions with his sister, and belonged to an experimental theatre company while in college. He landed a recurring role on the hit television series FAME only a year after transferring to the California Institute of the Arts.

Borrego was recently seen in a guest star arc on AMC’s FEAR THE WALKING DEAD. Other television credits include recurring arcs on ABC’s AMERICAN CRIME and El Rey’s television adaptation of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. He has also guest starred on GOOD BEHAVIOR on TBS and recurred as the serial killer “The Skinner” on the Showtime series DEXTER. Other guest star roles include BURN NOTICE, C.S.I. and C.S.I.: MIAMI and a recurring role on FOX’s smash series 24. He appeared in the Showtime feature THE MALDONADO MIRACLE directed by Salma Hayek, the NBC series E.R. and the PBS series AMERICAN FAMILY.

DIEDRICH BADER (KYLE) is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian. Many know him for his roles as “Oswald Lee Harvey” on THE DREW CAREY SHOW, and “Lawrence” from the film OFFICE SPACE. Bader has had roles in animated features such as ICE AGE, SURF’S UP, THE SIMPSONS, and voicing the role of “Batman” in the animated television series BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND BOLD. More recently, Diedrich played in the comedies BALLS OF FURY, MEET THE SPARTANS, and VAMPIRES SUCK.

Diedrich is currently starring in ABC’s AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE opposite Katy Mixon.

Vocalist, Thought Leader, Songwriter, Theatre/Film Producer, and Innovator in Music Education. Alena Bernardi grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan in a grey brick house that stood on a dirt road with 3 acres of land. In the evenings, as a child, Alena would listen to her mother stumble through and eventually master traditional piano classics from Beethoven to Debussy, while her father would read science fiction novels to her and her brother in the bedroom across the house. At seven, Alena finally had begged her mom and dad enough for lessons that they signed her up. It was around then that the Phantom of the Opera was in the midst of touring around the states, and, at a request to her mother to accompany her in the 2nd grade talent show singing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic, Angel of Music, Alena was off to developing an addiction to the style that perfectly blends musical theatre and classical music.

Alena co-founded Unicorn Music Academy in January 2020 to open up the young people’s hearts and minds to the music around them and give them the tools they ned to organize their ideas and create freely.

Credits include: Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Musetta in La Boheme, Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro, Lily Garland in On The Twentieth Century, and Rapunzel in Into the Woods.

Since moving to AZ from MA,in 1996 Shawn Johnson has played McDowell Music Festival, Apache Lake Music Festival, The Marquee, Crescent Ballroom, Circus Mexicus,Tempe Arts Festival, Hayden Square and numerous other music venues.

You can catch Shawn performing solo, as The Johnson Twins or as Shawn Johnson & The Foundation.

Musical influences: Ben Howard, Ani Difranco, Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Counting Crows,Ray Lamontagne

Discography

Sunshine For Someone 2018

Songs For Scenes 2010

IV 2008

Dangling Live 2005

Strength 2002

Heart Strong 1999

Ego vs Soul 1998

shawnjohnsonmusic.com

The Milkman & Sons is a Brooklyn based band that plays Traditional Blues and Prohibition Jazz. They are known for their ability to take audiences in a musical time machine by playing the music of such varied notables as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael and Little Walter as well as original music written in a similar style. While the band is always fronted by singer, harmonica player and guitarist, Marcus Milius it usually features violinist, Karl Meyer and bassist, Luc Decker. As a trio they have earned a reputation for artfully creating an intimate ambiance and still being able to bring a room to life with contagious energy. They developed this craft playing up to six nights a week at local bars, restaurants and events.

themilkmanandsons.com

Nathan’s Kingdom is a dark fantasy, coming-of-age drama about a young autistic man (Nathan) struggling to survive life’s hardships with his teenage opiate-addicted sister (Laura). When Social Services threatens to upend their lives, Nathan flees and takes his sister on a dangerous, other-worldly journey fraught with monsters, mythical wars and underground civilizations — in the hopes of finding a kingdom with the potential to transform both their lives forever.

nathanskingdom.com

Olicer Muñoz- - A proud bilingual (Spanish) and Orange County (CA) native, Olicer Muñoz earned his M.F.A. in directing from the prestigious American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles. With 15 years professional Filmmaking experience and through his recent narrative feature film – Nathan’s Kingdom, Olicer is empowering diverse audiences around the world. Currently, Olicer is developing and directing high-concept, unlikely hero, Sci-Fi / Fantasy storylines, and is integrating cutting edge CGI.

Emily Beach- - Known for her films, Between the Miles, The Strangeness You Feel and The Bus Ride, Emily Beach has been making movies since 2006. She received a B.A. in Communication Studies from CSU Long Beach. Thereafter, she immersed herself into the local indie film community and interned at Filmmakers Alliance. It became the formative foundation of her career as a filmmaker. She went on to produce several award-winning ?lms that have screened at film festivals all over the world. Emily’s entrepreneurial frame of mind and collaborative attitude led her to be a successful independent film producer dedicated to making authentically original cinema.

Madison Ford- - Madison Ford is a storyteller. As a professional actor and writer, she has mastered page and screen in an effort to learn more about humanity. Ford was raised in a small town on the outskirts of the Dallas/Fort-Worth airport. Her first book was entitled "Kitty's First Trip", published by her 4th grade class. It follows an inexperienced flyer of the feline variety as she navigates travel during the holiday season. She still thinks it could use a few edits. During her acting career, Ford has trained with Terry Schreiber, Cathryn Sullivan, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, among other esteemed studios. Her performance history includes work in film, television, radio, theater, voice-over, and stand-up comedy. Her most recent film project, "Nathan's Kingdom," received "The Heart of the Festival" award at the Sedona International Film Festival. She is represented by Red Letter Entertainment.

Jacob Lince- - Jacob was diagnosed with high-functioning autism when he was 3 years old and with the help of a lot of people, including the Culver City school system, he graduated from high school and is currently attending WLA College while pursuing his acting career. Jacob joined the Performing Arts Studio West (PASW) in Inglewood, which provides an environment where adults with developmental disabilities participate in a performing arts curriculum. It was here that he was discovered by Olicer Muñoz, the writer/director of Nathan’s Kingdom.

Over the past two decades Mark de Sousa has contributed to almost 2 dozen films as an artist and computer graphics supervisor while working on multiple award- winning films including the Oscar VFX winning Titanic and Spider-Man 2.

He started off his career at VIFX in Los Angeles, then transitioned to Sony Pictures Imageworks. During his 15-year tenure at Sony, he helped to create and oversee the Character FX department as well serving as a department supervisor on various shows for both live action and animated features. Mark has also authored an instructional DVD for The Gnomon Workshop and contributed a chapter for a Sybex publication on Autodesk’s Maya software.

Mark now represents Anibrain in North America including Canada and other locations globally. He manages development from concept to release and ensures delivery of high quality VFX attaining financial and schedule goals on time.

He is instrumental in coordinating with multiple cross-functional groups and vendors.

Additionally, Mark also uses his experience on the front lines to improve production and organizational processes.

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anibrain.com

linkedin.com/company/anibrain

facebook.com/Anibrain

twitter.com/anibrainvfx

schoolofmediadesign.com

Anna Wyckoff – seeks to find the intersection where her passions overlap by creating portraits in multiple disciplines. As a painter, she explores the role of physiognomy as an expression of the individual in oil. Her latest project Invisible Cities, uses a series of large scale portraits set in Venice, Italy as emblematic of contemporary environmental decadence. As the Communications Director for the Costume Designers Guild, she serves as editor in chief of The Costume Designer Magazine and produces the Legacy Video Series. This allows her to explore the psychological manifestation of personality in costume design. Anna also creates olfactory portraits in scent on commission.

IG - @astoryitellmyself

Chacko Vadaketh is a lawyer turned actor, host, voiceover artist, creative consultant, producer and corporate trainer. Born in India and raised in Malaysia, he has a degree in Law and Archaeology & Anthropology from Cambridge University (1983-86), is qualified as a Barrister at Law of Lincoln's Inn, London (1987), and is an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya (1988). He is a former ASTRO (Asia Broadcast Centre)’s Arts Ambassador and a judge for the Theatre Category of the Kakiseni Boh Cameronian Arts Awards - Malaysia’s Tonys. He studied Acting and Directing at The New School in New York (1997) and at Carter Thor Studios in Los Angeles (2010-2014). He has been Vice-President of the Voice Guild of Malaysia and is the host for the 2019 & 2020 Counsel of the Year Awards for the Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel in Manhattan Beach, California. He is a member of SAG.

Ailie MacK (pronounced Ay-Lee) is Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who engages her listeners with soulful vocals and thought-provoking lyrics. No matter what style she is inspired by - pop, alternative, rock, jazz, and blues - she aims to deliver lyrics and vocals that do the story justice, musical hooks that convey the emotion of the storyteller, and, hopefully, a spark of some kind - a connection, an inspiration, a laugh, an emotion, or a new perspective - to the listener.

Ailie is extremely grateful for the training she has received as a vocalist and songwriter, with a Bachelors of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a few world-class, Grammy-nominated music teachers, mentors, and collaborators to attribute to it, but she is even more grateful to have learned that, ultimately, music comes from the heart and soul, not the head.