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Talkhouse

Michael Tennant was born and raised in San Diego, California, and attended the University of Arizona (the Harvard of Arizona) where he graduated with a BFA in both Acting and Directing. After graduation, spent the next four years hustling as an actor in New York City, where he did his requisite episodes of Law and Order, wore a peacoat, and then decided he missed having a kitchen and returned to the West Coast. Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, he booked leads in multiple pilots as well as guest starring roles for ABC, NBC, Nickelodeon, and The CW before also working as an actor/producer/writer on productions for STX, IFC Films, Amazon, Neon, and Netflix. <a href="https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/pretty-problems" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pretty Problems</a>, which he wrote, starred in and produced, has won a number of awards, including the Audience Award at SXSW, and is out now in select theaters and on VOD through IFC Films. He currently resides with his dog Leroy in Los Angeles. They have a very nice kitchen.

Michael Tennant

Film

I Made a Movie to Save My Marriage and Then I Got Divorced

Multi-award-winning actress Essie Davis currently stars in <a href="https://filmrise.com/film/the-justice-of-bunny-king" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Justice of Bunny King</a>, opposite Thomasin McKenzie, which is out now in theaters through FilmRise. She is best known for her acclaimed performance in The Babadook, her key role of Lady Crane in Game of Thrones and playing the title character in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. She recently appeared in True History of the Kelly Gang alongside Russell Crowe and Nicholas Hoult, directed by her husband, Justin Kurzel, and her further film roles include Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, the Wachowskis’ The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. An established stage actress, in 2003, Davis won the Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at the National Theatre London and in 2004 she starred in a National Theatre, West End and Broadway production of Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. (Photo by Rachell Smith.)

Essie Davis

Three Great Things: Essie Davis

Rose Bianco has many film and television credits, and is probably best known for her recurring guest star role as Miguel’s grandmother Rosa in the highly successful Netflix series Cobra Kai. She is currently filming Nochebuena, directed by Adam Lopez, in Orlando. Her previous work include the role of drug cartel Matriarch in the Netflix movie Project Power, a guest-starring role as Jane’s grandmother in Doom Patrol, and a role in the Gerard Butler movie Greenland. She was most recently seen in McNamara-Brookwell’s original story, Moonrise, starring country-western singing star Granger Smith, on Pureflix.

Rose Bianco

For the (Puerto Rican) Culture

Vicky Krieps is an internationally acclaimed actress who is currently starring in the contemporary ghost story <a href="https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/went-up-the-hill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Went Up the Hill</a>, which is in theaters now. Her recent notable films include the period drama Corsage, for which she won the Un Certain Regard Best Performance Prize, Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s Beckett, opposite John David Washington and Alicia Vikander, Mia Hansen-Løve&#8217;s drama Bergman Island, opposite Tim Roth, Barry Levinson’s The Survivor, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, alongside Gael Garcia Bernal, Thomasin Mackenzie and Alex Wolff. Krieps had her breakout role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, opposite Daniel Day Lewis, which received an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Motion Picture.

Vicky Krieps

Three Great Things: Vicky Krieps

Melissa Navia is currently starring in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, out now on Paramount+, which follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy. Melissa plays Lt. Erica Ortegas. the Enterprise’s helmsman. Melissa’s recent television credits include a recurring role on AMC’s Dietland and guest roles on Showtime’s Billions and Homeland. In March 2020, she made her Off-Broadway debut in the praised Bundle of Sticks at INTAR Theatre. (Photo by Francis Hills.)

Melissa Navia

An Actor, a Helmsman, and My Brian: Boldly Going Where No Widow Has Gone Before

Wes Studi, who is currently starring opposite Dale Dickey in the light romantic drama <a href="https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/a-love-song" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Love Song</a>, has seen his career journey take him from small-town Oklahoma native to internationally acclaimed actor and musician. Studi credits his passion and multifaceted background for powerful character portrayals that forever changed a Hollywood stereotype. Drawing from his rich life experience, Studi moved audiences with unforgettable performances in Dances with Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, Geronimo: An American Legend, Heat, Avatar, Being Flynn and Hostiles. Breaking new ground, he brought fully developed Native American characters to the screen, and then took his craft a step further by highlighting the success of Native Americans in nontraditional roles. In 2019, Studi received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Award, an Oscar® statuette given to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement.

Wes Studi

Three Great Things: Wes Studi

Born in 1981 in Copenhagen, Elvira Lind graduated from City Varsity School of Media and Creative Arts in Cape Town in 2006, majoring in documentary film. She has worked within that field since directing and shooting documentaries of various lengths for TV, cinema, and web on 4 different continents. Elvira now lives and works out of New York, where she also writes on various fiction projects. Elvira&#8217;s first feature documentary, Songs for Alexis, competed at IDFA in 2014 and screened at a long list of international festivals; she received CPH:DOX new talent award in 2015; and her first international documentary TV series, Twiz and Tuck, launched on Viceland this year. Elvira&#8217;s second feature documentary, <a href="http://www.bobbijene.oscilloscope.net">Bobbi Jene</a>, premiered at Tribeca 2017 and is being released theatrically by Oscilloscope from September 22.

Elvira Lind

Revisited: On Compulsive Home-Movie-Making During Loss, Birth and Hamlet

Samuel Dunning is an award-winning filmmaker and actor from Brunswick, Maine, based out of New York City and Los Angeles. He is currently on a festival tour for his award-winning performance in Tim Travers and the Time Traveler&#8217;s Paradox, as well as the feature film The Ones You Didn&#8217;t Burn, in which he co-directed/AD&#8217;d and had a supporting role. He is also in development on his first feature film, the comedy mockumentary Canoe Dig It?, which he will be directing, producing, writing and acting in. The film is currently raising a portion of its budget on <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/canoedigit/canoe-dig-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kickstarter</a> until the end of July.

Samuel Dunning

A Home From Away

Puerto Rican actress Natasha López can currently be seen as Charisse on HBO’s sci-fi romantic drama series The Time Traveler’s Wife, which has earned her acclaim for her outstanding performance alongside costar Desmin Borges. She has also appeared on the comedy series How Did That Happen? as well as NBC’s hit crime drama series Law And Order: Special Victims Unit. López made her feature film debut in 2013 in the crime thriller Runner Runner alongside Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck. López received her bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in theatre from Sagarado Corazon University. Lopez currently resides in New York. (Photo by Sam Ortiz.)

Natasha López

Pelo Malo, or How Wearing My Natural Hair on TV Helped Heal My Self-Image

Emily Branham is a director, producer and editor in NYC who makes films about artists and creative thinkers. Her debut feature documentary, Being BeBe, about BeBe Zahara Benet (winner of the first season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race), is out now on VOD through Giant Pictures and airs on Fuse on June 21. Her short documentary Legend: a film about Greg Garing won the jury prize for Best Film of the International Doc Challenge at Hot Docs in Toronto, then screened at Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA, Nashville, Big Sky, Rooftop Films, and on the Documentary Channel. Originally from Minneapolis, Emily was a child actor who earned her SAG-AFTRA card at five years old, and found her happy place both on- and off-stage at the Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theater Company. When she discovered that filmmaking combined all of the many varied art forms she loved, she studied Radio/TV/Film (on the directing track) at Northwestern University and has been happily behind the camera &amp; edit suite ever since.

Emily Branham

Being BeBe: No Acting Please

Cecilia Suárez can currently be seen in the indie horror-thriller <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldSbEpwQIdE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Passenger</a>, directed by Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez which is out now through Dark Star Pictures, and the ABC drama Promised Land, opposite John Ortiz. For three seasons, she starred in the hit Netflix series set in Mexico, La Casa de las Flores, and became the first Mexican actress to be nominated for an international Emmy® Award for her role in the HBO series Capadocia. Her other recent TV credits include Amazon Prime&#8217;s 3 Caminos and Lifetime&#8217;s For the People and her past film work includes Overboard, James L. Brooks Spanglish, and Tommy Lee Jones’ Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Based on her long track record of public advocacy for gender equality in her home country of Mexico, Suárez was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to be a U.N. Global Advocate for the Spotlight Initiative, the world&#8217;s largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

Cecilia Suárez

Three Great Things: Cecilia Suárez

Emmy® and GRAMMY® Award winner Tiffany Haddish has established herself as one of the most sought-after comedic actresses and performers worldwide. A prolific performer, she can currently be seen in Apple TV’s murder mystery series The Afterparty, opposite Dave Franco, Ben Schwartz and Ilana Glazer and the Nicolas Cage movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, opposite Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan and Ike Barinholtz. Other recent projects include starring opposite Oscar Isaac in Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, hosting the talk show Friday Night Vibes and starring in Bad Trip, alongside Eric Andre and Lil Rel Howery. Haddish is perhaps best known for her breakout role in the comedy Girls Trip, where she played the scene-stealing Dina alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, and Regina Hall. Haddish served as host and executive producer of the Emmy®-nominated stand-up comedy series Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, and has had two comedy specials: her 2019 Emmy®-nominated and GRAMMY® -winning Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah, and 2017’s Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood. Haddish has written a best-selling memoir, The Last Black Unicorn (2018) – and was nominated for a Grammy for the audiobook version – a picture book, Layla, The Last Black Unicorn (the first of three children’s books) and collection of essays, I Curse You with Joy. Haddish’s journey and life experiences have inspired her comedy and sense of humor both on and off the stage. Haddish recently founded the She Ready Foundation to help and support foster kids in need. In 2021, the She Ready Foundation launched an Internship Program with Ready to Succeed for foster youth in the SoCal area. She currently lives in Los Angeles. (Photo via Lara Solanki / Netflix.)

Tiffany Haddish

Margie Haber is a widely known and influential acting coach who lives and teaches in Los Angeles. She’s worked with a who’s who of celebrity clients, including Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Tiffany Haddish, Mariska Hargitay, Kyle Chandler, Josh Duhamel, among many others. She is the author of How to Get the Part, Without Falling Apart!, which is used throughout the world in drama schools and colleges and is considered the gold standard of acting books. Her new book, F*ck Your Comfort Zone: Take a Risk and Become the Lead in Your Own Life, is out May 31 through Regan Arts.

acting