Vanessa Leinani is an American born actress, singer/songwriter (and sometimes model) from Texas who is a quarter Polish, quarter Russian, and half Hawaiian. A tour de force, Vanessa fully embraced many facets of performing-related activities since she was a child, excelli…ng in acting, singing, and songwriting.

Growing up performing in live theater at a very early age, Vanessa sang and danced in her father’s music group where she was exposed to the music of great artists from a wide variety of genres. Musical studies also began at an early age thanks to Vanessa’s west-coast-rocker-old-Hollywood-actor father who would sneak in many lessons under the guise of playing games. Continuing the trend of various musical genres instilled by her father, Vanessa then went on to pursue formal music training in piano, trumpet, and voice in order to become a well-rounded musician. A recipient of various music performance awards and grants, Vanessa loves rnb, dance & hip hop and is frequently invited to musical collaborations by different producers and artists.

A versatile actress, Vanessa enjoys acting in everything from live theater to the current medium of film/tv/webseries portraying roles as just about anything you could imagine: a witch, a grandpa, a werewolf, a free-spirited girl, to a vampire queen, a rock n roll groupie, and a vengeance filled drifter. Although her looks would type her along the lines of leading lady, Vanessa gravitates toward just about any type of role as long as the character is rich with content; however, she has become a little more selective with the overall storyline of a script. “People who have worked with me know that I will not hesitate to take a risk in a role. Why? Because there is nothing to risk. Once I’m the character, I’m the character, and everything is open to interpretation from that point forward as long as it falls into the confines of what the character wants to achieve and how he/she ultimately wants to achieve it. I say he or she because I’m not beyond reading a guy’s part or a role where a character makes decisions that I myself disagree with or wouldn’t ever do in my life. Some people don’t understand that. What do I care? It’s a role. It’s not me. I read the words, it clues me in to what the character looks like and what the character wants to get out of the
situation. In the end, it’s all about the win”.

Vanessa Leinani currently appears in the feature film “180” as Jocelyn which distributes online through several online venues beginning Feb. 21st, and is currently starring in the revenge filled web series “Drifter: Broken Road” premiering March 16th, 2012 on www.drifterseries.com. Vanessa also appears in the principal recurring role as the cyber mastermind Detective Jade in the upcoming web series dramedy “Bail Out” starring Dennis O’Neill and Terry Kiser. Striking features, intelligent, charismatic, charming, an intensity and passion for all that she does, multi-faceted talents, and a good business work ethic make her one to watch.

Connect with Vanessa Leinani on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, IMDB & Soundcloud via http://www.vanessaleinani.com/

Douglas Hoppock has more than 130 college theatre productions to his directing, scene design and lighting design credit. In addition, he has worked as a professional actor with the Moscow Repertory Theatre Company, Moscow, Idaho, actor and stage manager with Casa Manana S…ummer Musicals in Fort Worth, Texas and actor and director with the Roof Garden Dinner Theatre in Cisco, Texas. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association. He has been honored with numerous teaching and community service award’s, including multiple designations as a “Who’s Who Among Teachers of American Colleges,” two-time Minnie Piper Stephens Professor nominee, Outstanding Young Man of America, and is the first recipient of the “Inspire Award for Torch Bearer Mentor” presented by Anointed Works Organization of Pittsburg, Texas. Mr. Hoppock is the author of two plays, Rhubarb! and Perception. He is currently writing his third play.

His directing, lighting design and scene design credits include The Time of Your Life, Fiddler on the Roof, Of Mice and Men, Noises Off, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Lion in Winter, The Fantasticks, Lost In Yonkers, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Harvey, Wait Until Dark, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, The Crucible, The Boys Next Door, Our Town, Les Miserables, The Miracle Worker, A Cry of Players, Waiting for Lefty, The Mousetrap, The Odd Couple, The Bad Seed, The Gentle People, The Cave Dwellers, The Real Inspector Hound, Charlotte’s Web, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-the –Moon Marigolds, T Bone N Weasel, Twelve Angry Jurors, The House at Pooh Corners, Barefoot In The Park, The Hasty Heart, Winnie the Pooh, Thieves, Blue Horses, Rumors, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Sunshine Boys, The Boy Who Stole the Stars, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ,See How They Run, The Goodbye People, The Great Cross Country Race, The Flowering Peach, Crimes of the Heart, The Rope Dancers, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Sylvia, Marvin’s Room, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Gooney Bird Greene and Her True Life Adventures, The Female Version of the Odd Couple and Look Homeward, Angel.

Douglas is married to Sherry Hoppock. He lists as hobbies, reading, writing, hiking, canoeing, and traveling (particularly to see his former students direct and/or act in plays.) Every other year, he and Sherry take a group of Theatre Northeast students to New York to see plays and to “invade the city.” He is exceptionally proud of his current and former students, many of whom have become professionals in theatre education.

Koran Dunbar writer/director/producer/actor

There are very few things you need to know about me from a biographical standpoint.
I was born Hartford Connecticut, but grew up in the Pennsylvania. I moved to Pennsylvanian to live with my grandparents after my mother passed… away, in which my father was not stable enough to raise me. Moving from the projects of Hartford was probably one of the most life changing things that has happened to me.

I attended high school at Greencastle Antrim High School where I was first found a way to exercise my humor and acting skills in television productions class. Until then I really struggled in school, I guess that learning style was not best suitable for me. It wasn’t until T.V production that I got my first taste of the, “film word” so to speak, which I immediately fell in love with. My T.V production teacher at the time help assist me getting an internship at a local TV station. After high school I attended Penn State University where I studied communication media studies.

The struggles of being a single father and raising a child by my self at the age of 20 and still have the dream to be an actor is what kept me restless when I tried to forget about this dream I had. I have to say that without my son I would not be where I am at today nor would I be forced to have to write a bio about a film.

I have always been influenced by art, music and comedy. I was a comedian before and actor. Comedians are the best entertainers there is honestly with comedy and you need in writing directing and acting. Which I relied on when I decided to create my first feature film “Greencastle”, named after the town I grew up in. I have been known to have an underdog persona and a do not quit attitude, which plays a heavy influence on my writing. The under dog story will never grow old and always seems to be the best way to inspire.

I began writing Greencastle in 2010 after my grandmother passed away, who was one of my hero’s, and biggest supporters in my performing dreams. I guess you can say I was at a quarter life crisis. After seeing a local filmmaker create a film that actually, looked like a film that was all the blind confidence that I needed to not just write a script but also turn this script into what is now a “real film”.

I am not the smartest guy in fact I am about as average as they come which always made me push my self in anything I have ever done. I am very competitive to do something and if someone says I cannot do anything then I will try my best to prove him or her wrong.

What I plan to bring to the world of film is a much needed just do it attitude for film while not trying to be to artsy but yet still have that artist mystique about what I do if that makes sense. I want my works and acting to be honest and inspiring.

I’m 29 years old. I can’t dunk. I’m right handed. I like pranks. I’m hate watching sport would rather play them. I’ve probably mispelled a word somewhere in this bio. And after the whole home remodel/indie film summer vacation, I’m, unbelievably, still sane.
Did I mention that I have worked and appeared on MTV, MTV’s The Real World as a guest comedian, Late Night with Conan O Brien and Dumb and Dumber 2, Bamboo Shark, and Dead Woman’s Hollow.

Critically acclaimed author Steven James has penned 30+ books spanning the genres of psychological thrillers, dramas,YA fantasy, and more. Steven has received wide critical acclaim for his work, including four Storytelling World Honor awards, two Publishers Weekly starred reviews, and 2009 & 2011 Christy Awards for best suspense. His thriller, The Bishop, was named both Suspense Magazine’s and The Christian Manifesto’s 2010 Book of the Year and won an RT Book Reviews and an INSPY award in the categories of suspense/mystery. Library Journal listed his latest action thriller The Queen as one of the best novels of 2011. His first thriller The Pawn was optioned by ABC Studios in 2010.

Steven earned a Master’s Degree in Storytelling from ETSU in 1997 and is an active member of International Thriller Writers, The Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, and International Association of Crime Writers.

Steven serves as a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest. He appears regularly as a keynote speaker at events throughout North America.

http://www.stevenjames.net/

Belinda Balaski, born in California with acting skills instilled at birth, began working at age five. The daughter of a famous jockey, Lester Balaski, Belinda’s youth was spent traveling the racetrack circuit, water skiing, or in the theatre. Her mother sang with the big bands from the 30′s on. These electric energies obviously lit that special spark as throughout Belinda’s career (which was prefaced by a 7 page theatrical resume) she has starred in many feature films, movies of the week, commercials along with guest starring in dozens of TV shows. Honored by starring in a an Emmy winning Best After School Special, “The Runaways,” Belinda later received two Emmy submissions for “Are You My Mother” with Michael York and “Proud Men” with Charlton Heston and Peter Strauss. Her theatre expertise earned her the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and two Robbies. Don Knotts, Nick Nolte, Charleton Heston, and Cloris Leachman are just some of the famous actors Belinda has starred along side of throughout her impressive career. Balaski’s more memorable roles include a hippie chick in the hilariously made-for-TV hoot “The Werewolf of Woodstock” with Andy Stevens, and Lynda Carter’s sweet best gal pal Essie in her first film “Bobbie Joe & The Outlaw,” an imperiled pregnant woman again with Marjoe Gortner in H. G. Well’s “The Food of the Gods,” along with Robert Carradine’s surfer girl in the cross country road race romp “Cannonball.” Belinda has starred in a dozen Joe Dante films; her best-ever Dante parts are a summer camp counselor in “Piranha,” a spunky go-getter News Producer in the now classic “The Howling,” a roasting wife in “Amazon Women on the Moon,” and a harried working class mother in the wonderfully raucous “Gremlins I & II.” Among other TV shows Belinda has guest starred on Baywatch, Eerie, Indiana, Father Dowling Mysteries, Falcon Crest, Our House, Simon & Simon, Hunter, The A-Team, Vegas, Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, S.W.A.T., Baretta, among a slew of others. In the late 80′s Belinda created BB’s Kids Acting School where she teaches both kids, teenagers, and adults in theatrical, commercial and musical workshops; passing on the knowledge she has acquired throughout her four decades in the entertainment industry. Balaski also wrote and produced “The T-Files,” with her more advanced teens, which has had three very successful theatrical productions in Hollywood! Belinda also created and ran the Drama Dept in a private school for children with autism/aspergers for the past 3 years. With 20+ years of shooting Rock n Roll, Belinda hopes to publish soon, as she has also spent the last few years finishing her novel “Shadooneh” and more recently a screenplay for her favorite metaphysical writer, Dolores Cannon.

After a self imposed hiatus from music to focus on other ventures, Gary Morris returned to the road and to the studio, much to the delight of his fans. Amidst the 2011 tour, One Voice, One Night, One Guitar; Gary opened the CMA Music Fest singing the National Anthem before more than 65,000 at LP Field, and went on to perform at the annual festival. He toured New England and mid-America with Kenny Rogers; joined George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, and Rosanne Cash in a concert taped for a TV special honoring Johnny Cash; returned to the Grand Ole Opry to a standing ovation; recorded and released the Faith and Freedom CD; returned to the stage in the Broadway bound “Soul Doctor”; held Master Classes at colleges and universities; and retained an extensive production, songwriting, and coast to coast touring schedule.
During the past decade Gary has concentrated on various production projects both at home and abroad. Perhaps his most exciting production credit is that of his own son, Matt, alumni of Disney’s New Mickey Mouse Club and a true talent quickly building his own successful career. The pair frequently perform together and their duets have been called, “…almost an embarrassment of riches, and open treasure chest of sound.”
Beginning in the early 1980’s, Morris recorded for Warner Brothers, MCA/Universal and Liberty records, producing twelve albums which spawned sixteen Top 10 singles and five No. 1 hits, including Wind Beneath My Wings, The Love She Found in Me, Baby Bye Bye, 100% Chance Of Rain, and Leave Me Lonely. Morris then broke new ground with his enormously successful self-produced acoustic album “Plain Brown Wrapper;” far preceding the “unplugged” genre that is so popular today.
In 1984, Gary Morris’ original rendition of Wind Beneath My Wings won both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music Song of the Year Awards. Never one to rest on his laurels, and at the height of his Nashville recording career, Morris boldly opted to play opposite Linda Ronstadt in a New York production of Puccini’s Opera, “La Bohème.” Many thought this transition foolhardy since a country singer of his stature had never before attempted the rigors of a live opera. His detractors were quickly silenced as his inspired and fearless performance took the Opera world by storm.
With seemingly no ceiling on the talent he possessed, his appearance in “La Bohème” led to offers from Broadway where he accepted the daunting task of becoming the first American to play the heroic and challenging role of Jean Val Jean in “Les Misérables,” one of the longest running plays in Broadway history. He received resounding critical praise, including a “Best Actor” nomination from the highly respected Drama Desk, for a performance that would set the standard for this uniquely challenging role. Morris’ famous rendition of Bring Him Home can be found on the platinum-selling, Grammy Award winning cast album creating a new fan base outside the country music world; including Her Majesty, the Queen of England, who, upon meeting him, mentioned how happy she was to finally put a face to the music and asked to shake his hand.
Gary Morris is equally comfortable in front of the camera with acting credits including a recurring-role on The Colby’s, Designing Women, and Mike Hammer, as well as, hosting and producing The Nashville Network’s top rated North American Sportsman, which ran for five years with diverse celebrity guests ranging from Bryant Gumble to Troy Aikman.
Morris could be seen in the powerful and moving Gary Morris and the Art of the Tretyakov, which aired on PBS affiliates around the country. Unlike any other concert special, Gary Morris and the Art of the Tretyakov allowed audiences intimate access to a world of paintings housed in the famed Tretyakov museum in Moscow that have rarely, if ever, been seen in the western hemisphere. As the first musician to ever perform live in this venerable museum that houses over 100,000 Russian masterpieces, Morris seamlessly weaves hauntingly beautiful music (both original and “signature” pieces) with images of classic Russian paintings. This unique and electrifying documentary is a historical homage to the struggles and conquests of a proud and passionate society.
As a producer, Gary quickly established himself by exploring the same types of diversity he enjoys as a performer. One of the most poignant moments of his career came when Olympic Gold Medalist and figure skater, Scott Hamilton, asked Gary to produce a song for his CBS televised comeback special, marking his return to the ice after a battle with cancer. There weren’t many dry eyes when Hamilton took the ice to Gary’s masterful rendition of the ballad With One More Look At You.
Gary produced an animated children’s cartoon, Nine Dog Christmas, which was released on both DVD and VHS and aired on the Cartoon Network. Nine Dog Christmas, featured songs written and sung, by both Gary and his son, Matt, along with additional performances by James Earl Jones and Olympian, Scott Hamilton.
Having been asked for years to record some inspirational music and old-time hymns; Gary released “I Believe,” “Bring Him Home & Other Prayers,” and “Hymns.” The patriotic favorites that he has performed at the NBA playoffs, the Masters Golf tournament, US Presidential inaugurations, US Military Bases around the world, and in his native Texas at Cowboys Stadium for the Dallas Cowboys can be found on the Faith and Freedom CD. Gary is currently working on a CD for release in 2012.
Gary Morris presently divides his time between his home in Nashville, Tennessee, and his hunting and fishing executive retreat in Southern Colorado.
– From the Official Bio of Gary Morris

Danny deBruin is an award-winning cartoonist whose articles and cartoons have appeared in Cracked Magazine, Newsday, Howard Stern’s book, Private Parts, The Long Island Voice, the Connecticut Business Digest, the Long Islander, the Huntington/Smithtown News, Crisis Magazine, InsideCatholic.com, Personality Comics, and numerous other publications. He is also a musician with the band Danny and the Dirtbags.

Gary C. Warren began his career as an actor while attending St. Louis University. After working in the St. Louis area for four years performing in everything from the Robin Hood Show at Six Flags to the St. Louis Science Center’s Educational tour of grade schools, he moved to Los Angeles to continue pursuing his acting goals. While in Los Angeles, Gary studied at Second City and Acme Comedy while going out for audition after audition after audition. Cast as Frat Boy #1 and Surfer #3 numerous times, he decided to begin writing and directing his own short films in order to showcase his acting. This led to him working on the production side at MTV on “Date My Mom” and “Next,” two quality programs. Gary moved back to the St. Louis area and made feature films. His feature directorial debut was “The Path of Torment,” a horror/dark comedy centered on two killers who disguise themselves as Mormons in order to torture a couple which premiered at the Action on Film Festival in Pasadena and was named one of 2009′s Top Ten Horror Films by moviecynics.com. Gary has written and directed several more films since with several making the festival circuit.

Dennis Dziedzic studied English and Spanish at the University of Texas @ Austin. After finishing college, craving a new experience, he went to Europe and began to wander, a journey that would last for the next seven years. From Europe to the Far East to the sub-continent, Dennis has been propelled from one part of the world to another, always hungry to see and know more.

The experience and learning of this incredible and humbling experience form the backbone of his first novel, Manifesting the Monkey. Through the voice of his protagonist, Dennis explores the complexities of modern life and the effects of an increasingly dysfunctional world on the human psyche.

Dennis Dziedzic currently lives in Taichung, Taiwan where he pursues his love for learning languages, swinging kettlebells, and enjoying the relaxed lifestyle of tropical climates.

Sharon Wright was raised in Grandview, MO and discovered her passion for acting and modeling just a few short years ago. Since then she has plowed her way into films, TV, commercials and even magazine spreads. Her natural talent, desire and determination have helped her succeed in every aspect she has focused on – even behind the camera.
“Change for a Dollar”, a short film written and directed by Sharon Wright. An uncouth man sits on the pavement looking for loose change. What kind of change is he looking for? Follow a man as he affects multiple peoples’ lives with just one dollar, proving that it doesn’t take much to be the change in someone’s life. Change for a Dollar won Best Short Film at Maryville Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at Gateway Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at Moonlight Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Female Filmmaker Award — Action On Film Intl Film Festival, Sirrocco Award at Action On Film Intl Film Festival, and Best Silent Film at BareBones Intl Film Festival.