The long version

A stage kid from Maryland

I was born in Wisconsin and raised in Maryland. I started acting when I was eight, after watching a friend in a local play, and I was hooked. I performed in dozens of community theatre productions all the way through high school, where I also took advanced drama classes.

Music took over the rest of my time. I picked up the trumpet in fourth grade and played in every school band, jazz band and professional group I could find — I was even invited to play with the high school jazz ensemble while I was still in eighth grade. I spent two summers at the exclusive Summer Center for the Arts at Goucher College in Baltimore. Back at my high school I sang with the choir and its chamber choir, and I sang the National Anthem at both Baltimore Orioles and Washington Wizards games. I also taught myself piano on the old upright in our garage, and ended up as lead singer and keyboard player of a classic rock band that put out two albums.

Music, design & photography

After high school I opened my own recording studio and spent years producing and engineering albums for other bands and singers — more than 40 local artists came through. I also worked at a music store, and for many years I was the piano player for a children's theater group — which kept me connected to the stage even when I wasn't on it.

When the internet was brand new, I became a web designer for a local internet provider and taught myself the servers, code and graphic design behind it. That turned into a career: I've been a professional web and graphic designer for more than 30 years.

I also worked as a professional photographer for many years — which probably explains why I ended up behind a camera on so many film sets later on.

My first uniform

At the same time, I spent more than four years volunteering with my local police department. I was selected for a full-time internship with its Youth Services Section — teaching DARE and other programs in schools and counseling at after-school programs and summer camps — received police training including FBI hostage negotiation training, and worked my way up to captain.

I also became a board-certified EMT with the county fire department and spent more than three years volunteering on an ambulance responding to emergency calls. That's where the habit of showing up when people need help really started.

Los Angeles, and a hard detour

In late August 2001 I packed up and drove 3,000 miles from Baltimore to Los Angeles to act full-time. Less than a year later I was diagnosed with cancer and went through two surgeries. I came out the other side determined never to take a single moment for granted, and to make the most of every opportunity that comes my way.

A life in film

Since then I've worked on more than 90 productions. In front of the camera: leading roles in independent films, recurring web-series roles, supporting parts in features — often in uniform — and early stand-in work on Seabiscuit, The Rundown and House. Along the way I've worked with the casts and crews of shows like The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, ER, Without a Trace, The Shield and Crossing Jordan, and films including Austin Powers in Goldmember, Matchstick Men, Red Dragon, Bruce Almighty and House of Sand and Fog. Behind it: producer or executive producer on 39 projects, director of photography on 23, plus directing, editing and sound. And I've been a proud member of SAG-AFTRA for 18 years.

See my film work →

Building Nvisionate Studios

I kept seeing independent productions stall on the same problem: the hospital, police station, courtroom or jail every story needs was impossible to get or impossible to afford. So I built them. Nvisionate Studios is now in its third home: it started as a modest 2,500-square-foot studio in Van Nuys, spent ten years in a 7,000-square-foot space in Burbank, and today it's a 17,000-square-foot, multi-stage facility in North Hollywood with 18 standing sets. It's become one of the most popular filming locations in Los Angeles, hosting everything from student films to network productions.

Tour the studio →

Search & rescue

Today I serve with the Santa Clarita Valley Search & Rescue Team under the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — wilderness, mountain and helicopter hoist rescues, and searches for high-risk missing persons — and with LAPD Search & Rescue, looking for missing children and vulnerable adults. Over the years I've also worked as a Humane Investigator in Los Angeles for several years, and served with the Los Angeles Mayor's Crisis Response Team and the American Red Cross.

More on my service →

Running for City Council

I ran for Santa Clarita City Council on responsible growth, fiscal accountability, and a City Hall that asks the hard questions before decisions are made. I hand-delivered my flyers to nearly every household in my district, and I'd do it again.

The campaign story →

Family first

Most of all, I'm a husband and a dad to two great kids. These days I still run the day-to-day operations of Nvisionate Studios, while staying active as an actor and filmmaker, a rescue technician, and an advocate for the political causes I care about.