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ACTOR / DIRECTOR

BRIAN STEPHENS
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I started my career as an Extra with a Casting company going to Auditions just like most actors in Hollywood. My first job was to be an Extra on a film called, "When the Bough Breaks" with Martin Sheen. It was quite the experience and from the moment I was on set I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

At this point in my career I really didn't know how to market myself or what to do. I hired the first manager that offered to help me. I was introduced to a little old lady from Inglewood, CA who truly believed in me and told me she would help me out. I went on my gut instinct and I hired her. She didn't really do much, but she hooked me up with the casting director who I would really enjoy working with called, Anna Miller Casting.

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Soon after that,  I landed another interesting job as a High School Basketball Player in a TV Series called, "Angel Falls", with James Brolin, Chelsea Field Kim Catrall and Jeremy London. I also became  SAG that year in 1993. 

By now I was really focusing on becoming a full time actor and started taking acting classes and continued to audition for roles. I really hated the way the industry handled auditions in L.A. 

   

Within the next year I was in movie after movie with small little day playing roles. Either as an Extra or Roles with a couple lines of Dialog, I did whatever I could just to be around set. Here are just a few of the movies I worked on from 1993-1994.

I honestly can't remember all of them.

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During this time I was also working behind the scenes doing studio work for places like Continental Cablevision in South Central Los Angeles and CVI Studios in Chatsworth. I was really getting into the grove of things. Then January of 1994, the Northridge Earthquake happened. The stations were shut down and I lost my jobs. I was forced to leave Hollywood.

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I moved back to Northern, CA to the San Francisco Bay Area where I had family. I went back to school at a City College in San Mateo, CA called CSM, where I studied Broadcasting and Technical Operations. 

Los Angeles was such a different lifestyle then the Bay Area, that some would say I might have had a little chip on my shoulder. I honestly didn't, I just wanted to be taken serious. I didn't want anything or anyone getting in my way of getting back to Hollywood. 

Some of my best friends to this day were in those classes with me. 

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The first Independent Film I worked on was called, "The Distraction". 

 

Directed by Greg Tennant, Released in 1999 starring Evan Jones and Jennifer Pruitt.

We worked out of a 3 ton truck and probably had about 15 people in total on the crew. I'll post the crew photo once I find it.

This is where I feel my journey as a filmmaker really begins, in the year 1995. I got a taste of Hollywood and it bit me good. I really didn't think I was going to stick around the Bay Area long. I was hell bent on getting back to L.A. and continuing my Acting Career. Yet year after year I kept finding some independent films to work on and started making a good name for myself in the production world. My area of expertise became Lighting and Cinematography.

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Shortly after that, I worked on a few more films including a feature film Directed by Philip Kan Gotanda called, "Life Taste Good".

There was a lot of really great actors in this project. I remember us filming in a warehouse in San Francisco where we had to walk up 5 flights of stairs ( 99 steps to be exact ). I had a good time on the shoot.

I also think sometimes life throws you a curve ball to help you get on track. So after a few years working in TV Production and freelancing on some independent films as a Grip / Electric, a couple relationships, I decided to make a change and move to Chicago. This is where I really discovered who I was as a Filmmaker and met some of the greatest people in the business.

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While in Chicago I also worked on a 36 episode PBS series for renown Chef, Charlie Trotters. It was the first time I personally got to experience an eleven course meal. Such an amazing experience.

It opened my eyes to how I would live my life from that

point on.

With Style.

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Can't tell you enough how fun it was to work on a Live Performance Stunt Show with these guys. Sometimes you work with a group of people who will always be apart of your life one way or another. 

Doing the Wild West Stunt Show outside of Chicago in a little town called, Union, IL playing cowboys and performing 3 shows a day was some of the funnest moments I had in my life. I miss them dearly.

Can't express it enough. 

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Some Many Years Later.....   where do I begin?

Stay Tuned as I figure out how to describe the next chapter in my life....

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PRODUCING / DIRECTING  MY OWN FEATURE FILMS & ORIGINAL SERIES

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