Bio
I first started acting in old home movies I made with my brothers. I played “Frodo” in our homemade Lord of the Rings and was “Peter Parker/Spider-Man” when we decided to do our own version of Spider-Man. At that time I never really thought about going into acting as a profession. It was just a fun thing to do with my brothers and friends. But then, a couple years later, things started to change.
After moving across the country to a town near Charleston, SC, my brothers and I started getting more into filmmaking. I still wasn’t super interested in acting. I mean, I liked it, but it wasn’t really THAT great. But the more experimental projects we did while trying to learn about filmmaking, the more parts I had to play. And then I found that when I wasn’t the one to act in one of our projects, I didn’t have nearly as much fun. That’s when we filmed our second short film that we actually released to the public – The Vision. In The Vision I portrayed several characters, all of whom were different variations of the same person. It was quite the challenge for someone who had never acted in a “real” movie before. For most of the movie I had to act with no one because the other character (also played by me) would be added in later. But even after this project I did not feel like God was calling me to act.
Then, in 2009, my oldest brother Geno decided that it was time for a bigger project. He wrote a script around 40 pages long, and contacted some other filmmakers we had worked with the year before on a project to see if they would want to come down and help film it. The other filmmakers (now very good friends) agreed to help and the project started to get moving. I was cast in the lead role of “Trey Michaels”.
Principal Photography for the film, Bros, took place over 9 days and I must say, those were some of the best days of my life! I had so much fun acting and being around everyone on the film set. Another thing I greatly enjoyed was working with professional actor Gary Moore, who played my father in the film. Just watching him on set and how he acted was a great learning experience.
After that shoot, I felt the Lord really leading me to pursue acting. Over the next year or so we filmed a variety of short films for different contests and for release online. I felt God calling me more and more to pursue acting. Just this year (2010) I’ve been blessed to have been involved in two different short films. I was cast in a small role in the upcoming animation from Standing Sun, Sir Magnus and the Dragon. And I was chosen for the role in Insignia Pictures’ first film, Small Talents.
Although the lack of being able to find a part can be discouraging at times, I think of a line from the Independent Christian film Pendragon: Sword of His Father, “What God calls you to do, He will give you the grace to accomplish”. And I also need to remember why God called me into the acting industry. It’s not to try to get famous or get my name out there. Nor is it to make tons of money. He has called me to acting to for this reason: to further His kingdom through film. To spread His gospel through Christian media that is much needed in our society today.
As I wait for whatever my next project will be, I continue to practice acting and study actors in different films. And I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me next!
