Lynn Whitfield, one of the most respected members of the African American acting community, is an Emmy Award-winning actress who is well known for the authenticity she brings to her portrayal of women from all walks of life. She vaulted to international fame in the 1991 HBO biopic "The Josephine Baker Story," portraying the legendary Civil Rights fighter. Her performance earned an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special or Miniseries." After taking some time off for her greatest role, mother to daughter Grace with Josephine Baker director and former husband, the late Brian Gibson, Whitfield starred opposite Bill Cosby in "The Cosby Mysteries" (NBC, 1994). Lynn has won five NAACP Image Awards and four nominations for her work in film and television, including "Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story" (2004) co-starring Jamie Foxx. She attracted a new generation of fans in two of the Disney Channel's highest-rated movies, "The Cheetah Girls" (2003) and "The Cheetah Girls 2" (2006). Other select feature film roles include the Chris Rock vehicle, Head of State (2003); Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion (2006); Mama I Want To Sing (2008), a remake of the off-Broadway musical; Kings of the Evening (2008); The Rebound (2010); and Things Fall Apart (2011), produced by and co-starring rapper-actor 50 Cent. She stars as Vanessa in KING'S FAITH, a faith-based film centered on the values of faith and family.
Before he decided to focus on acting, Crawford Wilson was nationally ranked in tennis and a Wilhelmina model. The acting bug took over at age twelve, and he moved to New York City from his family's home in Memphis to pursue his dream of being on the big screen. He later moved to Los Angeles where he landed his first big job: a recurring role CBS's "Judging Amy, playing the boyfriend of Amy's daughter. Crawford's voiceover career took off as well, beginning with the role of young Rodney (Ewan McGregor) in the Fox animated film Robots. Today Crawford continues his voiceover work with recurring roles on hit cartoon shows like "Avatar" and "Batman." Recently television credits include the lead role of Dwayne Dill in the Disney Channel movie, "Hatching Pete." He just completed filming for an NBC movie, "Secrets of the Mountain," playing the lead role of Jake.
Award-winning actor James McDaniel's career has spanned more than three decades. He is best known for his role as Lt. Arthur Fancy (for which he won both Peabody and Screen Actor's Guild awards) on the long-running television show, "NYPD Blue." James won both an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award for "Edge of America," a Showtime movie that he also produced. Other television shows include "Hill Street Blues," "LA Law," "Cop Rock," and "Detroit 187." He also was in mini-series from Alex Haley ("Queen") and Steven Spielberg ("Taken"). His film roles include Sunshine State, Malcolm X, and The Road to Galveston. A stage veteran, James recently returned to New York in a successful run of an adaptation of Carson McCullers' "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." He also appeared in a new play by Pulitzer Prize winning author Suzan-Lori Parks, "Father Comes Home from the Wars." His most notable previous stage productions include "A Soldier's Play," "Before It Hits Home," and "Six Degrees of Separation."
Kayla Compton moved to Los Angeles to pursue her longtime dream of acting and singing. She quickly had success and played Monica on the HBO hit, "Entourage." She also appeared on TNT's "Perception." In KING'S FAITH, she plays Natalie, the popular high school cheerleader with a past she is trying to hide. Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Kayla has wanted to be a performer since she was a young girl. Singing was her main passion until her drama teacher in high school told her she should really look into acting, a craft she quickly fell in love with.
Brandon Correa spent most of his life (from ages 4-18) in foster care and group homes. The trials and difficulties he faced would later become his motivation to pursue the arts and allow him to connect to his first major acting role as Eli in KING'S FAITH. While he is new to the acting world, Brandon is an entertainer who spends much of his time writing lyrical music and performing hip hop and rap music.
Nicholas DiBella is an award-winning writer and director whose self-taught knowledge in filmmaking began at the Eastman Kodak Company where he created films for Kodak's Entertainment Division. His 1997 screenplays Runnin' Home and Address Unknown were produced for cable TV and his 1998 spec script, Chasing Bobby Jones was sold to Warner Bros. In 2001, Warner Bros. hired him to write the remake of the 1950's classic A Summer Place. His other produced screenplays include Kart Racer (2002), acquired by Knightscove Entertainment and Apollo Media. The $7 million production starred Randy Quaid and was released by MGM. In 2005, Mr. DiBella directed and co-wrote the stylish teen noir feature Cherry Crush starring Nikki Reed and Jonathan Tucker. Distributed by First Look Entertainment, the micro-budgeted film was ranked in the top 25 of most rented movies during the early weeks of its domestic release.
Paul Root is a writer, filmmaker and educator. The acclaimed writer Nikki Giovanni, one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 Living Legends, selected His White Rats as Story of The Year for the International English Honor Society. His scripts have been recognized by some of the country's most prestigious competitions, including The Francis Ford Coppola New Century Writing Awards, NYU's Tisch School, The Nicholls Fellowship Competition, and the Austin Film Festival. He co-wrote and helped produce the feature film Cherry Crush with Nicholas DiBella. Paul's work won the 2009 GEVA Theatre's Regional Writers Showcase Competition. He taught Creative Writing and Composition at SUNY-Brockport, from which he also holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in English.
As an entertainment attorney, Mark Costello has represented a variety of clients in the music, film, and publishing industries. Mark is a member of the Executive Committee of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and was counsel on Woodstock '99. In 2001 Mark served as a writer and producer of a feature film, Checkout, currently available throughout the world. Mark is a partner at Boylan Brown law firm. He has more than 25 years of experience handling a variety of civil litigation matters and more than 19 years of experience representing national and regional lenders in commercial banking disputes.
Marc Wax is a highly experienced manager for writers, directors, and animators. He began his entertainment industry career at The Creative Artists Agency where he had learned the television and feature packaging business. Marc has since founded his own company, Wax Entertainment, where he has successfully created opportunities for his clients in television, features, and animation. Marc deals on a daily basis with six television networks, eight cable networks, five feature/television studios, and two foreign distribution companies. He is also responsible for helping to create business opportunities for his clients' production companies, having forged exclusive, lucrative relationships with Paramount, Walt Disney, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox Studios.
Steve Bartolotta started Markethold Productions in 1994 as owner and creative director. A composer and audio producer, Steve guided the company's primary focus to professional audio and video services, musical composition for film and video, as well as training and marketing productions. Markethold expanded its creative services in 1999 to include public relations, media placement, web and e-based marketing, collateral and logo design, branding, and a host of advertising services. Markethold has worked with Ford, Pfizer, Mazda, ESPN, Hyundai, Abbot Industries, NBC, Xerox, Marriott Hotels, Jaguar, Volvo, Kodak, and Touchstone, Buffalo Bills, Frontier, and Detroit Pistons.
After more than 20 years of owning a business, Jim Pavone made a mid-career change, feeling led by God to step into the ministry of Christian writing and film making. In this capacity, he shares God's message to stand firm in our faith and know that He loves us more than we can ever imagine. During the production of KING'S FAITH, Jim witnessed God working in the lives of those involved, and is excited to see God impacting the lives of those who see the film. He has been married to Ann Marie for over twenty years and they have two beautiful children.
Kirk Dueker attended the pre-seminary program at Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan where he majored in biblical languages and religious studies. He graduated in 1989 with Bachelor of Arts degree and entered Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in 1989. In 1993 he received both his Masters Degree and his first call to serve as Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Charleston, W.V. In August 2007 he returned to his home congregation of Hope Lutheran Church in Greece, N.Y. as Associate Pastor. He has been involved in numerous ministries and community care initiatives throughout the years, yet his passion will always be to employ creative methods of communicating the timeless truths of God's Word to the next generation.
