Meet Our Instructors
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| Fontana Butterfield |
| Fontana is a professional actor and improv comedienne with years of experience casting, producing and coaching in San Francisco, LA and New York. After graduating from SFSU with B.A. in Drama, Fontana went on to complete the two year Meisner training program at the Laura Henry Studio in LA.
Recent film and television acting credits include the feature film "Her Best Move", national commercials for Microsoft and industrial films for Kaiser Permanente and Sun Microsystems.
As a casting director, Fontana has cast several films including "The Lost Coast" and "Desi's Looking for a New Girl".
She has many years of commercial casting experience in LA, SF and NY. Fontana performs weekly with the award winning improv troupe "Big City Improv" and is a company member of the critically acclaimed theater company Shotgun Players.
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| Melinda Darlington-Bach |
Melinda Darlington-Bach has been a working professional actor, film director and award-winning choreographer for over 28 years. She has worked in feature films with directors Bill Forsyth, Wayne Wang, Chris Columbus, and the national episodic television series "Nash Bridges". She has appeared in over 45 industrial films and national commercials working with the likes of Ridley Scott, Jon Francis and the Academy Award winning cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond.
Along with her producing partner, Cynthia Pepper, their production company, Xanadu Entertainment ,LLC has produced many award-winning dance films, movement sequences and specialized choreography for the stage, screen and film. They teach their trademarked commercial course covering every aspect of show business entitled: A to Z: The Filmmakers Perspective throughout the Bay Area most recently at the California Film Institute. Together they have created short films for several seasons for the Emmy Award Winning series, Sesame Street seen in over 140 countries.
site - www.xanaduentertainmentllc.com
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| Deb Fink |
Deb has been acting in theater, film, television and voiceover since she was 3 years old. She has worked on commercial and industrial projects for such clients as AOL, Volkswagen, Lincoln-Mercury, Oracle, Raleys, sprint, Handspring, Clorox, and E-trade.
Film and Television credits include the feature films Nine Months, Save Me, The Princess Diaries, This Space Between Us, and Indy Festival award winner Happily Even After. Television credits include guest starring roles on Nash Bridges.
She has worked in theater in New York City, Los Angeles, and the greater Bay Area.
Deb has coached on-camera auditions for the William Morris Agency (NYC) and has taught acting to adults and teens since 1992.
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| Zoe Galvez |
| Zoe Galvez, Actor and coach, is a company player with BATS Improv (Best of Bay Area-6 years!) where she performs onstage regularly.
Her improv skills have landed her roles in industrials with John Cleese, Kaiser Permanente, Disney, Apple Computers, Cisco and commercials such as Dodge Ram, VISA, Freddie Mac, as well as a lead voice in SIMS 2. Other clients include: Sprint PCS, Macy's, SFGate, SONY, PG and E, Yahoo!, Apple Computers, and IBM. Zoe has performed at the Magic Theatre in various productions including the world premiere of Sam Shepherd's play Eyes for Consuela. The Magic brought Zoe back as the understudy for the lead female role in Sam Shephard's world premiere of The Late Henry Moss (with Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, Cheech Marin and Nick Nolte). Other theatrical credits include performances abroad in adaptations of Melville's Moby Dick and Dicken's Hard Times. Currently, you can catch her onstage at BATS Improv on Friday and Saturday nights where she performs regularly.
She has taught acting/improv workshops sponsored by the South Australian Government and locally for the AFTRA Conservatory, BATS Improv and Improvworks. After graduating with a B. A. in drama, Summa Cum Laude, from San Francisco State, a dedicated professional, Zoe has studied with The Groundlings, Keith Johnstone: author of Impro, Dan Chumley of the Mime Troupe, Anne Bogart and the SITI company and with the Moscow Art Theatre. Her favorite voice over line ever was for Scooby Doo Interactive: "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids and your pesky dog."
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| Paul Ghiringhelli |
| Paul has been a professional actor in San Francisco for 30 years, performing in all facets of the business-films, theater, television, radio, commercials, internet, industrials, trade shows and voiceovers.
He's worked with film directors Peter Weir (Fearless) Carl Franklin (High Crimes), Finn Taylor (Cherish) and Jonathan Parker (The Californians). Paul has been paired up with Noah Wylie, Jeff Bridges Dennis Franz, Ashley Judd, John Rubenstein Jack Warden, Cheech Marin and Don Johnson. He had a co-starring role on NBC's Trauma, filmed in San Francisco, as well as a lead role in the award winning, full length independent feature 'Crashing Eden', and is set to appear in the Rob Lowe's 'Knife Fight' at the end of 2012. Paul hosted HGTV's Landscape Smart for 13 seasons, and locally for Best Of The Bay on KRON TV. Over the last 30 years he's also worked in San Francisco as a radio dj, production director and television producer. Select national commercial clients include Alamo,Toyota, Lexus, Walgreens, Sara Lee, Gateway, One Touch Ultrasmart and Rex Agreement.com
For the last 20 years Paul has directed hundreds of sessions at Beau Bonneau for both commercials and industrials. He has seen thousands of actors do their thing in the audition environment
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| Joe Mazza |
| Joe Mazza is currently running the San Francisco Acting Academy and has been acting and teaching the art of acting for over 18 years. He was born and raised in Los Angeles where he received his training and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area twelve years ago.
Joe has appeared on many national television shows like Judging Amy, Nash Bridges, General Hospital, Eight is Enough and the syndicated WCTV Comedy Show. Most recently, he has appeared in SPEED RACER, directed by the Wachowski brothers where he plays "Nitro". He can also bee seen in Charlie the Ox, Sincerely Yours, Loose Ends, Ed TV, directed by Ron Howard, Playing Mona Lisa where he stars opposite Elliot Gould, Marlo Thomas and Harvey Fierstein, and High Crimes opposite Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.
Joe is also a veteran of dozens of stage productions and over 70 television commercials. While living in LA he studied at UCLA and spent six years with the renowned Estelle Harman at the Estelle Harman Actors Studio where he also taught classes in camera acting, cold reading and audition techniques. Joe studied improvisation with The Groundlings in Hollywood, and as a founding member of the Gateway Repertory Theater, he taught improvisation classes.
While working behind the camera with casting directors in LA and San Francisco Joe has been able to gain valuable insight into the audition process and works with actors to instill confidence in their ability to get the job.
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| Cynthia Pepper |
For over 25 years Cynthia Pepper has been producing, directing, choreographing, teaching, acting and writing for the all the performing and entertainment arts throughout the Bay Area. She taught dance and choreography for 16 years at Marin Ballet, and has collaborated with Marin Theatre Company, The Mountain Play, Vector Theatre Company and Marin Shakespeare.
Along with her producing partner, Melinda Darlington-Bach, their production company, Xanadu Entertainment,LLC has produced many award-winning dance films, movement sequences and specialized choreography for the stage, screen and film. They teach their trademarked commercial course entitled: A to Z: The Filmmakers Perspective throughout the Bay Area including the California Film Institute. Together they have created short films for several seasons of the Emmy Award Winning series, Sesame Street.
site - www.xanaduentertainmentllc.com
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| Joie Seldon |
For twenty-five years, Joie Seldon has worked in film, television, radio, industrials, and theatre, in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
he was a founding member and co-director of the L. A. improvisational theatre company, Synergy Trust. She taught improvisation at the company's open workshops, and at universities throughout California, Theatricum Botanicum, the Young Actor's Professional Workshop, Los Angeles Public Schools, and UCLA's Neuro-Psychiatric Institute's Imagination Workshop. After moving to the Bay Area, she taught method-based acting for several years (at Mark Monroe Studios), while working primarily in industrials and voice-overs.
She then taught film acting for nine years at Full Circle Productions, where she created her popular Accessing Your Emotions class. Ms. Seldon has a Master's Degree in Somatic Psychology.
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| Mary Windishar |
Mary Windishar shows off for a living. She's a working actor; performing in radio and television commercials, moderating live webcasts, voicing industrial films, hosting broadcast TV shows, and playing standardized patients for medical schools.
Mary's the host of PBS's 'Inside China', and is talent on an upcoming 13-part documentary series about the 2008 Olympics called 'Bejing, Are You Ready?' She's run the gamut in commercials: screaming spouse to sensitive spokesperson; and has narrated everything from AT&T/Yahoo to Xyrem's projects. Mary walks the live performance tightrope too, including hi-tech netseminars, tradeshows, and serving as the final exam for medical students.
Finally, Mary also sees the classroom as her stage sharing her craft in private lessons, with The Voice Factory students, and most recently, at SF Acting Academy.
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