Personal Bio
I was born in 1993, in Sandton, Johannesburg -- a neighbor hood of that was full of upper class uncomplicated Jews and people who wanted be upper class uncomplicated Jews. My home doesn’t have a wall that is the same color as the next; it is covered in mosaics with broken plates from my childhood and art ranging from Tretchikoff to a homeless man’s rendition of the nativity scene. As a result I grew up pretty confused. I was introduced to the theatre I soon as I could walk, my mother, grandmother and their elaborate friends thought it was really necessary to take a 5 year old and his younger brother (myself) to the local ballet, opera, performance art or anything really that would inspire us at 3. We were not allowed to watch television or play video games but we definitely watched our fair share of National Geographic documentaries and got read everything from the Harry Potter books to How the Leopard Got Its Spots.
I never remember having a conversation with my parents as to what I wanted to be when I grew up, I think it was assumed after I made my parents sit front row (the only row) through many performances in my living room. When I was 13 my mother realized I needed to explore my calling in a bit more of a structured, realistic sense. So as my bar mitzvah gift they sent me to Paris to do a one-week acting for camera course with the New York Film Academy and a one-week filmmaking course. These two weeks were filled with a lot of firsts! It was the first time I got drunk, the first time I kissed a girl, the first time I was in a foreign country completely by myself and petrified but most importantly it was the first time I realized completely and utterly that this is exactly what I need to be doing.
My high school life was a bit of a plateau in terms of my artistic career, I took part in whatever plays a small private school would offer but it doesn’t count for much. I was also quite preoccupied with the idea of having a little bit too much fun. But when it came time to start thinking about colleges I slowly got into gear and applied to some of the best acting schools in the world. I started getting private acting and voice lessons and before I knew it I was in New York City for the first time standing in front of the dean of acting at NYU trying to convince him that I wasn’t a little shit.
Some how a weird art school in California thought I was right for them, and after a couple months I would be leaving my colorful life in South Africa for Valencia. But before that I needed to find out a little bit more about the world and so decided to go to Kenya for 6 weeks volunteering at a school and researching wildlife in a conservatory outside the Masai Mara. From there I went to LAMDA in London for a month and did a Shakespeare course.
I then finally found myself at the California Institute of Arts in Valencia, again in a foreign country completely by myself and petrified. Although very much exactly where I needed to be.
During my 4 years at CalArts I have found myself in situations where I was being critiqued on how hard my “r’s” are, whether I could sufficiently dance with a lacrosse ball and standing on my head once a day to get my chi flowing. I have also never been so challenged, frustrated and in love with what I was doing.
I am currently in my final year where I am working very hard on getting the most out of the little time I have left here. I am in a play that was devised by myself and some of my peers, commenting on the age of technology. I am also working on creating a company of talented South African artists who have studied abroad and want to bridge a community between South Africa and the US.
In the future I am looking to stay in LA for as long as the government will let me and carry on creating art that is relevant and stands up for something bigger than its self. In my 10 year plan I would like to do more focused training in Voice and Speech and eventually be able to teach it myself. I would also like to advance my academics and potentially study sociology to further my understanding of human behavior and how to then portray that on the stage and screen.