Jack Isgro
Department Director, Motion Pictures & Television

Jack Isgro has more than 20 years of motion picture experience, primarily as a line producer/production manager. He has worked on several independent feature films and dozens of main title opening sequences for major motion pictures and network television. His projects include, among many others, Jake and the Fat Man, FM, Short Circuit, Innerspace, Star Trek VI and The Bold And The Beautiful. Another project with which he was associated is Music in High Places, which combined top music stars and sacred locations around the globe. It aired on both MTV and Direct TV. Jack has been at the Academy of Art University since 1998.

Jack’s distinctions: BA in Psychology from St. John Fisher College, 1972, Associate Director of Motion Pictures & Television – 2 years, MFA Director – 2 years, and Director of the School of Motion Pictures & Television since 2003.

Diane Baker
Co- Director, Motion Pictures & Television

Diane Baker studied acting in New York and Los Angeles with Charles Conrad, ballet with Nina Fonaroff, Estelle Harman and years later with Stella Adler. While under contract with Twentieth Century Fox, she was introduced to director George Stevens Sr., who cast her in The Diary Of Anne Frank. Diane performed in films such as Journey To The Center of the Earth, The Best of Everything, 300 Spartans, The Wizard of Baghdad, Nine Hours to Rama, directed by Mark Robson, and Stolen Hours, with Susan Hayward. At Universal, she starred in Mirage with Gregory Peck and Marnie for director Alfred Hitchcock.

Diane worked with Anthony Hopkins and director Jonathan Demme in Silence of the Lambs, and her television credits include The Blue and the Gray, Inherit the Wind and most recently About Sarah, ER and CBS's Jackie, playing the role of Rose Kennedy. She is currently developing several feature films for production.

Diane's first effort as a producer was for the documentary Ashiana, which dealt with the end of feudalism in India. Several other award-winning documentaries followed. With no office other than her briefcase, she produced the film Never Never Land in London, starring Petula Clark. This success opened the door for a future project, a mini-series based on Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman Of Substance, which received an Emmy nomination for Best Miniseries.

In addition to serving as Director of Acting, Ms. Baker personally instructs several acting courses. She introduces students to a variety of professionally recognized acting techniques, including those developed by Stanislavski, Sanford Meisner, Michael Chekhov, and Stella Adler.

Jonathan Fung
Associate Director

Jonathan has earned both BFA and MFA degrees in photography and has traveled to Paris, Milan, New York, and throughout the United States shooting fashion editorial. Jonathan's body of work also includes figurative work that deconstructs the human form, and video installations that focus on anthropophagi and rebirth, which have been exhibited in galleries and museums.

Jonathan's natural ability with photography led him to filmmaking. He has written and directed many experimental and short films and music videos that have been screened at various film festivals. Jonathan was a participant at the Doek Festival, where his film Een Nauwe Poort ("A narrow gate") was shown in the canals of Schiedam, Netherlands. His work was also exhibited at the 2003 Venice Biennale in the Snow Show exhibition.

Jonathan has directed commercials that have aired on MTV, E!, and FX. He recently wrapped production on a film he produced and directed, A Child of Apocalypse, and is overseeing the post-production. His next project is to develop it into a feature-length film.

In addition to his many roles, Jonathan leads a coffeehouse ministry with his wife, Allison, called X-Factor – a group of radical creative artists dedicated to waking up the apathetic masses by bringing a revolutionary consciousness for positive change. Jonathan is a proud father of a two-year-old daughter named Ayla Rain.

Originally from Sacramento, California, Brad Hughes comes to the Academy of Art University with over 12 years of experience in sound and audio for a wide variety of production environments. In that time, he has maintained a career as both an audio engineer and a professional saxophonist.

Prior to joining the Academy of Art University, Brad worked as a sound designer and engineer for Creativity Studios, where he was responsible for daily music production, voice recording, editing and mixing of music for children’s toys and games. He has also served as audio engineer for Ed Bogas Productions, where he engineered music, sound effects, and voice recording for radio and television broadcast. In addition, Brad has provided engineering services to a wide variety of clients, including The Hollywood Edge, Soundeluxe Audio Publishing, and Macromedia. He has extensive expertise in computer software applications for audio, including the industry standard Pro Tools.

As a professional saxophonist, Brad has brought his signature sound to a diverse group of musical settings, including The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Liberation Music Orchestra with Charlie Haden, and The Starlight Room Orchestra. He has recorded or played with Ravi Coltrane, Ernie Watts, The Tiger Club, James Carney, Wil Blades, and the Realistic Orchestra. As a studio musician, Brad has also recorded on the scoring stages at 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. in Los Angeles.

He holds a BFA in World Arts & Cultures from U.C.L.A., and an MFA in Music from The California Institute of the Arts.

Cynthia Rogers Baggott
Instructor

Cynthia is a performer, teacher, and registered drama therapist who has trained and performed on both coasts and overseas. She holds a Master's degree in Psychology/Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, a Bachelor's degree in Theater from Pomona College, and is an Associate of the prestigious L.A.-based Voiceworks Method. Cynthia has been a professional actor and singer for over 20 years. Her New York experience includes contracts with companies such as La Mama, ETC and the Light Opera of Manhattan.

Since making her home in the Bay Area, she has worked at TheatreWorks, 42nd Street Moon, and on the Delta Queen and Empress of the North showboats.

Letitia Bartlett
Instructor

Letitia Bartlett has been working in the mime, movement and circus world for over thirty years. She has trained with Leonard Pitt, Samuel Avital, and Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Letitia was a performer and director for Make*A*Circus in San Francisco, and now teachers at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. She is also on the faculty of the American Conservatory Theater and currently works as a freelance circus performer.

Anne Bluethenthal
Instructor

Anne Bluethenthal, MFA, is founder and Artistic Director of ABD Productions. Winner of the SF Bay Guardian's 1996 Goldie Award for Dance, she has been choreographing, performing, and teaching in the Bay Area since she arrived in 1982.

Bluethenthal established her company in 1984, having performed and choreographed throughout the country. She has been an artistic consultant for many Bay Area choreographers and travels as a solo artist and teacher. In addition to solo and ensemble repertory, she created and directed the full-length dances Fish Can Sing (1990), Connections (1992), Excavations of the Spirit (1994), and The Heart is a Live Thing (2003).

Anne has collaborated extensively with Bay Area theater, dance, and music artists. She co-founded the SF Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival and recently created the Dancing the Mystery series. Anne has been teaching her unique approach to dance technique for over 20 years, and she is on the faculties of New College of California's Women's Spirituality program and the Academy of Art University. Bluethenthal maintains a private practice in the Alexander Technique and is certified by both the North American and London Societies for Teachers of the Alexander Technique. Her writing on dance and the Alexander Technique was published in Jerry Sontag’s book, Curiosity Recaptured.

Michael Braverman
Instructor

Michael Braverman is a two-time Emmy award nominee and a 30-year television veteran with hundreds of hours of produced primetime dramas and comedies to his credit. He was the creator and Executive Producer of the Emmy-winning ABC television series, Life Goes On. As a noted show-runner, executive producer, writer and director he has been instrumental in guiding shows such as Chicago Hope, Beverly Hills 90210, Quincy and Higher Ground. Michael was nominated twice for the prestigious Writers Guild of America Writer’s Award as well as the Humanitas Prize, the People’s Choice Award and more than 35 other distinguished professional awards. He has taught television writing at the extensions of Columbia College of Chicago, UCLA, and UC Santa Cruz and currently teaches screenwriting, directing, producing, and acting for camera at Academy of Art University, San Francisco. He is currently completing his second novel.

Michael Carroll
Instructor

Michael Carroll has been acting and teaching for twelve years in the Bay Area. As well as doing film and commercial work, he has performed at a number of local and regional theaters, including A.C.T., the Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theater Co., Signal Theater Co., Rough and Tumble, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. He holds a B.A. in Theater from Tufts University and an M.F.A. in Acting from American Conservatory Theater.

He is a graduate of The Actor's Center Teacher Training Workshop under the tutelage of Earle Gister (Chair, Yale School of Drama) and has served on the faculty of Academy of Art University, American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater and U.C. Berkeley. He also served as a writer and an acting coach for John Leguizamo’s Tony award nominated/Emmy award wining solo show, Freak.

Rich Cascio
Instructor

Richard Cascio resides and works in San Francisco as a cinematographer. He began his career working on commercials and feature films in the Bay Area as a first camera assistant. He is an experienced Steadicam operator, and aerial cinematographer. Richard has been on the Academy of Art University faculty teaching cinematography since June 2005.

Constance Clare-Newman
Instructor

Constance has over twenty-five years of extensive experience in various movement disciplines. As an Alexander Technique teacher, Constance has worked with actors, dancers, opera singers, classical Indian singers, violinists, bassists, drummers, bikers, runners, swimmers, and horse riders, in venues ranging from Pixar University in Emeryville to riding stables in England to the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco.

As a dancer, Constance performed professionally in the Bay Area with Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers and Purple Moon Dance Project. She has studied dance techniques ranging from Hawkins to Cunningham to Corvino.

As a dressage trainer, Constance rode professionally throughout California and spent four years studying in Europe. She trained horses and riders through the international levels of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI).

Constance received a BA in Women's Literature and Creative Writing from Mills College.

Constance’s teaching is informed by all these disciplines, and her classes (Movement 1 and Acting Techniques and Processes) are infused with a generous yet rigorous understanding of what it takes to perform with clarity, authenticity, and spontaneity.

James Dalessandro
Instructor

James Dalessandro joined the Academy of Art University in 2004 to teach the advanced feature film and television writing classes. In a 24-year career in the Writer's Guild of America, he has sold or been hired for more than 25 feature film and television projects. He's also published four books, including the best selling novel, 1906. The film version of 1906 is currently in production at Warner Brothers. His film, The Damnedest, Finest Ruins, has already won four best documentary and audience awards, including a gold medal at the Aurora Film competition.

Curran Engel
Full-Time Instructor

Curran is a producer, production manager, first assistant director, and second assistant director, and has over 12 years of extensive industry experience. He was the Producer on several feature films, such as Skeleton Woman, This Space Between Us, Downfall and Cherish and First Assistant Director on Heartwood, Tweeker, and Chalk. Curran is an accomplished professional who has worked in a variety of roles.

He possesses a great deal of industry experience, which is a valuable asset to his teaching. In this graduate purse, he guides graduate students through the various elements of production, from breaking down a script to scheduling and budgeting. His first-hand experience of sales and marketing prepares students for the challenges of producing their own projects. Curran's extensive list of projects includes music videos, commercials, television and movies. Curran has worked at the Academy since 1999 and is a full-time instructor.

Sam Fisk
Instructor

Former Pixar Story Analyst Sam Fisk works as a screenwriter, coach, development executive and "gun for hire" story editor when not teaching about the facets of story and screenwriting at Academy of Art University.

Melissa Gray
Instructor

Melissa Gray is thrilled to have been given the opportunity to join the MPT faculty at the Academy of Art. For the past five years, she has been the sole voiceover instructor at the School for Film and Television in New York City, where she initiated the first voiceover programs for their two-year conservatory. She continues to teach in their adult programs and the advanced voiceover workout for professionals, which she also created.

Her numerous high-profile voiceover credits range from NBC News promos and a coveted three-year stint at Nickelodeon to a host of radio and television nationals that include Air France, Hanes, Dawn, Tylenol, Caltrate, Slimfast, Borden's, Vicks VapoRub and Dairy Queen, among others. Her voice is currently airing on the Lifetime Channel and Court TV.

She has also had the honor of narrating three one-hour documentaries for the Discovery Channel: Tigers: Tracking a Legend, Cancer: Self-Defense, and The Adolph Eichmann Story, as well as an upcoming TV special for Novartis: Living With Alzheimer's and a profile of Mary Lou Retton, which will be aired nationally.

As an actress, Melissa has appeared in many productions around the country including A Contemporary Theatre and The Intiman in Seattle, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the New Rep, the Peterborough Players and Worcester Foothills in New England, and the Alley Theatre and the Houston Shakespeare Festival in Texas.

Melissa is a graduate of Yale University and LAMDA in London.

Kelly Ground
Instructor

Kelly is currently performing as The Iowa Housewife in Menopause, The Musical at Theatre 39. She also originated the role of Fantine in the National Tour of Les Miserables, which had its record-setting run at the Curran Theatre. Her performance garnered her Best Performance from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kelly has also been honored with a Dean Goodman Award for her portrayal of Nancy in Oliver for the Mountain Play.

Other performance credits include: An Inspector Calls (National Tour), San Diego Repertory Theatre (A Christmas Carol, A Funny Thing Happened...), Sierra Repertory Theatre, Lawrence Welk Village Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre and 42 St. Moon (High Spirits and Do I Hear a Waltz). Concert: The San Francisco Symphony, Cunard Cruise Lines, Marin Osher Center and Wine, Women and Song (142 Throckmorton Theatre).

While at the American Conservatory Theater, she worked on Urinetown, The Golden Child (National Tour) and the pre-Broadway productions of Fool Moon and High Society, and while at The La Jolla Playhouse, the pre-Broadway production of Tommy.

She is also currently on faculty at the Academy of Art University, Contra Costa College and Diablo Valley College.

Michael Helmy
Instructor

Michael Helmy is trained as an architect and began his movie career at Warner Brothers in the changing studio system in Hollywood. Learning from great directors like John Cassavetes and Francis Ford Coppola, and stellar production designers like Richard “Dick” Sylbert and Richard MacDonald, he worked his way up to become a successful production designer. Michael is well known for his work on landmark television shows such as Miami Vice, Nash Bridges, Birds of Prey and the most successful show in television history, ER. His film credits include Prizzi's Honor, Back to the Beach, The Webbers, Sugar Hill and Traveller. Michael is a passionate educator and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with his students, much like he once received guidance as a young apprentice. Currently, he is writing and developing family comedy movies.

Karen Hirst
Acting Instructor

Karen Hirst is a comedian, actor and singer. Karen began her professional career with Second City Improvisational Theater in Chicago as part of their touring company. She appeared on stage with Second City alumni Eugene Levy, George Wendt, John Candy, Jim Belushi, Betty Thomas and many others.

She was a performing/teaching artist with the Wolf Trap Foundation in Washington, D. C., and coordinated their Bay Area program. Karen conducted workshops nationally for them on the use of comedy in the classroom.

Karen has written and continues to perform her own shows in the Bay Area. Locally, Karen has performed at the Magic Theater, The Phoenix, Spreckles Center for The Performing Arts and many other venues.

She holds a degree in acting from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois and pursued advanced acting studies at Circle in the Square, in New York.

Karen teaches Improvisation, Acting for Actors, Respect for Acting and is the faculty sponsor for the Drama Club. Karen has been with the Academy since 1996 and is a full-time faculty member.

Andrew Hurteau
Instructor

Andrew Hurteau has been acting and teaching since he graduated from the American Conservatory Theater. He has performed with the Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Magic Theatre, the Marin Theatre Company, the Aurora Theatre Company and throughout the Bay Area. He has also appeared in a variety of independent films. His stage roles have included parts in Nicholas Nickelby, Dr. Faustus (as Faustus), Noises Off (as Garry Lejeune), The Rhinoceros (as Dudard), Orestes (as Orestes), Hurlyburly (as Mickey), and The Real Thing (as Max), among countless others.

Andrew has taught acting at the American Conservatory Theater and the Nueva School, and currently is one of the best acting teachers in the Academy's Motion Pictures & Television department. He is specially trained in stage combat, improvisation, signing, dialect and accent training, and enjoys frisbee, billiards, darts, racquetball, and aikido.

Donna Laemmlen
Instructor

Donna Laemmlen is a screenwriter and screenplay consultant. Her screenplays have been recognized in several major competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, the Austin Heart of Film Screenplay Competition, Scriptapalooza and Creative Screenwriting Magazine's Screenwriting Expo. She is a Story Analyst for American Zoetrope, where she has read over 1,000 screenplays for their annual screenplay contest, as well as a reader for Zoetrope: All-Story, winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction. She previously was a Producer for International Herald Tribune Television and the PBS series Great Leaders. She also was Associate Producer for the PBS Series Great Entrepreneurs and the Nightly Business Report segment Prime Movers. She is a member of the WGAw Independent Writers Caucus.

Matthew Levie
Instructor

Matthew Levie has been editing film for more than 15 years. His credits include the documentaries Curanderos de los Maya and 97 Orchard Street, and the feature films The Guatemala Incident and Sleep Furiously. He also does corporate work for America Online, BMW, Intel, and Wells Fargo. Currently, he is editing a cooking series to be aired on PBS.

Domenique Lozano
Instructor

Domenique Lozano comes from a classical theater background, having received her MFA in Performance from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Directing credits include: The Countess with Center Repertory Theatre; Two for the Seesaw with the Marin Theatre Company; Inspecting Carol and the west coast premiere of Jane Martin's Anton in Show Business with the San Jose Stage Company; and The Norman Conquests, Holiday, The Real Thing, and She Loves Me with the Napa Valley Repertory Theatre, where she is a founding member and Associate Artistic Director.

She has directed numerous projects with the Young Conservatory at ACT, including Gray's Anatomy, A Young Lady of Property, Eddie Mundo Edmundo, the American premiere of After Juliet, the world premiere of Dust, and the west coast premieres of Jeffrey Hatcher's Korczak's Children and Wendy MacLeod's School Girl Figure.

Her directing work with the Master of Fine Arts program at ACT includes Caught with Her Pants Down, and most recently, Richard III. Her acting credits include work with such theaters as The California Shakespeare Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, UC Davis, Saint Mary's College, Los Positas College and Solano College. Domenique recently performed in Nicholas Nickleby at the California Shakespeare Theater.

Domenique She has also been a vocal coach and dialect coach for a variety of productions. She uses her expertise in speech and the Alexander technique to teach her Voice 2 class at the Academy. This winter she will assistant direct the newly revised production of A Christmas Carol for ACT.

Shaaron A. Murphy
Editing Coordinator

Shaaron Murphy has been teaching at the Academy since 1995. She is full-time faculty teaching Final Cut Pro, Avid, The Work of Great Directors, and the Advanced Editing Theory course, which she created for the department. As the Editorial Coordinator she oversees more than 100 labs and a large group of instructors, technicians and staff. With her fifteen years of work in feature films, documentaries, national ads and narrative shorts, she brings valuable industry expertise to the editing portion of the program. She is a graduate of the USC School of Cinema Production program. Her student work was a winner of the Student Emmy Award for Production.

Julie Oxendale
Instructor

For the past 20 years, Julie Oxendale has worked as a writer for film and theatre, and has worked with Danny Boyle, Jim and Peter Sheridan, Jane Campion, Albert Finney and Ben Kingsley. After being awarded Best Feature Film Script by Film Arts Foundation, her scripts were optioned by Fox Searchlight and companies in England, Australia and India. She was selected for the prestigious Sundance writers labs and also the Equinoxe Award in France. Currently she is co-writing a short film with Mark Reyes, an award-winning Academy of Art University student, and collaborating on a stage play about the artist Joan Mitchell, slated for performance in Manhattan in the Summer of 2008.

Steve Romanko
Instructor

Steve Romanko is an award-winning filmmaker and sound designer living and working in San Francisco. His screen credits include work on more than 100 features, including Saving Private Ryan, Fight Club and the award-winning documentary Into the Arms of Strangers. 13th Generation, Steve’s film company, has produced a number of short films, including the documentary N.E.P.A. He is currently in pre-production for the feature-length film Thrill Kill. Winner of the 2003 Dean Goodman Choice Award (Best Theater Sound Design for Kilt), Steve maintains a connection to the stage with his work at the acclaimed Magic and New Conservatory theaters.

Andy Ruben
Instructor

Andy Ruben was raised in the business. His father, Aaron Ruben, produced and wrote many television shows, including The Andy Griffith Show. By age 17, he began working in post-production at Paramount Studios. At 28, he became a writer submitting his first spec script to the late Roland Kibbee and found himself the sole pupil in the Roland Kibbee School of story structure and character development. He has written many television scripts, including one for CPO Sharkey starring Don Rickles and a Love Boat episode starring Donald O’Connor. He worked with famous independent producer Roger Corman, where he learned how to produce, write, and direct movies – on time and on budget – all while maintaining a passion and love for the art. His writing and producing credits include Poison Ivy, Streets and Dance of the Damned, which was accorded an evening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as well as being voted the best vampire film ever. He also directed a movie for Showtime, Club Vampire, starring John Savage, and an independent feature, Eve's Blood.

Damon K. Sperber
Instructor

Damon K. Sperber has worked as an actor for over twenty years. A graduate of UCLA (BA in World Arts and Cultures-Theater) and the American Conservatory Theater (MFA), Damon has appeared in theater, television, film, commercials and on radio. Damon is also a proud member of the Screen Actor's Guild, Actor's Equity Association and AFTRA.

In addition to acting professionally, Damon’s experience working with casting directors (he's worked in New York and Los Angeles to develop and cast talent for Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theater) has informed his techniques for honing the tools required of the working actor.

"The journey of the actor is a rewarding and challenging process. It requires total commitment and focus. Combined with a meticulous attention to detail and technical proficiency, the actor must also bring honesty, integrity and a childlike freedom to utilize and develop their imaginations fully.”

Jorge Trelles
Instructor

Jorge Trelles is an award-winning videographer. He graduated from El Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola, Puerto Rico, in 1988 and moved to the United States to pursue a career in filmmaking and to learn English. He began his professional video career as a Graphics Engineer at Union Video and graduated from The University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts, with a degree in Video Production with Computer Graphics. In 1993, he came to the San Francisco Bay Area and immediately began producing PSA’s and Station ID’s for an educational TV station in Oakland. He began his freelance video production career in 1997. He produced and directed the independent feature Divisadero, which premiered at The Independent in San Francisco in April 2005 to a sold-out crowd.

Matt Volla
Instructor

Matt Volla graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in Audio and Video Production. He received an MFA in Electronic Music from Mills College in 2004. Matt has edited for Goldman, Sachs and Co. and for Maxis, a division of Electronic Arts.  He has worked for Academy of Art University since 2000, starting as a valued Technician in our editing labs. He previously taught high school at S.R. Martin in San Francisco and college level at Mills college in Oakland.