Gen Art

Quick Facts:

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts

Current City: New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA

Sundance Films: Celeste and Jesse Forever & For a Good Time Call

Bio:

Ari Graynor will star in a pair of comedies that will premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival:Celeste and Jesse Forever opposite Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg and For a Good Time Call, which she also executive produced, opposite Lauren Miller and Justin Long. Graynor also completed a role in My Mother's Curse with Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen and will star in Ten Year, written and directed by Jamie Linden, also starring Channing Tatum and Rosario Dawson, which premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Graynor was last seen starring opposite Jonah Hill in David Gordon Green's The Sitter, as well as in What's Your Number? with Anna Faris and Chris Evans.

Her additional film credits include roles in the following: Lucky with Colin Hanks and Jeffrey Tambor; Holy Rollers with Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha (Sundance Film Festival 2010); Tony Goldwyn's Conviction with Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell; Miguel Arteta's Youth in Revolt with Michael Cera; Drew Barrymore's feature directorial debut, Whit It!, also starring Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig; Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings; An American Crime(Sundance Film Festival 2007) with Catherine Keener and Ellen Page; Michael Hoffman's GAME 6 (Sundance Film Festival 2005) with Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr; The Great New Wonderful with Maggie Gyllenhaal; Bereft, directed by Tim Daly and Clark Matthias; Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration; and Book of Love (Sundance Film Festival 2004). Her feature film debut was in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning film Mystic River.

Graynor returned to the stage this fall in the world premiere Broadway production of Relatively Speaking, three one-act comedies written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen. Graynor will star in Woody Allen's one-act titled Honeymoon Motel under the direction of actor John Turturro. Graynor was last seen on stage in the Second Stage Theater production, Trust, written by Paul Weitz and directed by Peter DuBois. She starred opposite Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale and Sutton Foster. She has also previously starred on Broadway twice, making her debut in Donald Margulies's Brooklyn Boy at the Manhattan Theater Club, which garnered her a 2005 Clarence Derwent Award for "Most Promising Female Actress." Two years later she starred in The Little Dog Laughed, a 2007 Tony Award nominee for Best Play. She also appeared in the hit off-Broadway play Dog Sees God.

Among Graynor's many stand-out television credits are her portrayal of Meadow Soprano's troubled roommate, Caitlin, on The Sopranos and her recurring role on Fringe as the younger sister to the female lead played by Anna Torv.

Graynor has been singled out by Entertainment Weekly as one of the "Top 25 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood" and received the "Comedy Award" at the 2009 Hollywood Life Young Hollywood Awards. Graynor was born in Boston, Massachusetts and currently resides in both New York City and Los Angeles.

Quick Facts:

Hometown: Irvington, NY

Current City: New York, NY

Sundance Films: Keep The Lights On

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Twitter: @zacharybooth

Bio:

Zach Booth, one of Gen Art's 7 Fresh Faces in Film in 2012, has only begun to make his mark, seamlessly segueing between the big and small screens and the stage. With an incredibly versatile repertoire of characters and critically acclaimed performances under his belt, Booth is fast becoming one of the most sought after young actors of our time.

Zach has had the honor of working on films with such prestigious directors as Ang Lee for Taking Woodstock and Jodie Foster for The Beaver. He has co-starred with such veterans as Bruce Willis in the film, Assassination of a High School President and Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow in the Todd Solondz film, Dark Horse. He worked with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings on Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Ben Stiller and Jason Schwartzman on The Mark Pease Experience. Most recently Zach took on the pivotal staring role of a closeted, heroin-addicted lawyer in Sundance Grand Prize winner Ira Sachs' autobiographical film, Keep the Lights On, premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Television audiences have come to know Zach as Michael Hewes on the Emmy Award winning Damages. His character is the son of Glenn Close's Patty Hewes (a role for which she has won both Emmy and Golden Globe Awards). Zach's multiple season arc on Damages has seen his character transformed from a rebellious prep school brat to a sophisticated upscale drug dealer and single father. Other television credits include riveting guest lead performances in such shows such as Royal Pains, Law & Order: SVU, New Amsterdam and The 2-2 What Goes On.

For Zach's first passion, the theater, he is credited with creating what The Village Voice called "standout" and Backstage Magazine called "preppy and charming" evil half of a set of identical twins in the Edward Albee "ferociously comic" Me, Myself & I at Playwrights Horizons. He also starred in Prayer for My Enemy at Playwrights Horizons, alongside Tony Award winners Victoria Clark and Michelle Pawk. Other notable credits include: Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen at the Women's Project and Spine and Pentecost at the Barrow Group Theater.
Zach graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Michigan and has studied acting at the Barrow Group School and Carnegie Mellon University. He is an avid saxophone player and enjoys fencing and travel. He currently resides in New York City with his pet fish, RJ.

Quick Facts:
Hometown: Tampa, FL
Current City: Los Angeles, CA
Sundance Film: COMPLIANCE
Twitter: @PrimaDreama

Bio:

Biography
Dreama Walker is rapidly emerging as one of Hollywood's most sought after and engaging young talents. Walker will next star in the new highly-anticipated ABC comedy THE B-----IN APARTMENT # 23 opposite Krysten Ritter and James Van der Beek; the show will premiere in the spring.
This January, Dreama can be seen in the indie movie COMPLIANCE in which she stars opposite Ann Dowd and Pat Healy; the film is premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
She can also been seen in the upcoming films GAY DUDE opposite Sarah Hyland, Megan Mullally, and Nick Offerman and in the comedy THE KITCHEN opposite Bryan Greenberg, Laura Prepon, and Matt Bush which will be released in 2012.
Walker is most known for her recurring character, Hazel Williams, on cult phenomenon GOSSIP GIRL. Her other television credits include the Emmy-nominated CBS drama, THE GOOD WIFE, MERCY, UGLY BETTY, ROYAL PAINS, and LAW & ORDER. She also played the lead in the Lifetime miniseries, SEVEN DEADLY SINS in 2010.
Walker also played the granddaughter of Clint Eastwood's character in the critically acclaimed film, GRAN TORINO directed and produced by the legendary Eastwood, and also appeared in THE INVENTION OF LYING which starred Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner. Walker currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Quick Facts:
Hometown: Stamford, CT
Current City:New York, NY
Sundance Film: HELLO I MUST BE GOING

Bio:
Christopher Abbott's credits include the 2011 Sundance competition film
Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Carlos Puga's (Satan Since 2003 [Sundance short competition, 2011]) recently completed untitled narrative feature.
Last year, Abbott made his Broadway debut as Ronnie Shaughnessy, an AWOL son with an attention-getting plan to greet the Pope in the revival of John Guare's "House of Blue Leaves," with Edie Falco, Ben Stiller, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. His stage credits also include "That Face" (Manhattan Theatre Club), "Mouth to Mouth" (The New Group), and "Good Boys and True" (Second Stage).
Later this year, Abbott can be seen in HBO's series "Girls" created by Lena Dunham, and produced by Judd Apatow.
Abbott hails from Stamford, Connecticut

Quick Facts
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Current City: Los Angeles
Sundance Film(s): FILLY BROWN
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Twitter: @HereisGina

Bio:
Growing up in Chicago, actress Gina Rodriguez started performing at age seven with the salsa dance company Fantasia Juvenil. She went on to work with other companies including Los Soneros Del Swing, performing at several Salsa Congress' in Chicago, California, New York and Puerto Rico. Gina knew she wanted to continue to perform and entertain and at age sixteen, Gina was one of thirteen teens to be accepted into Columbia University NY- Theatrical Collaboration taught by Richard Niles. For two months she wrote, directed and performed original work with twelve other kids brought from all over the world. She fell in love with New York and living in Gramercy Park, NYU called her name. Upon her acceptance to New York Universities- Tisch School of the Arts, her calling was clear, and theatre would be it.
Gina had four years of intense theatre training at both the Atlantic Theatre Company and Experimental Theatre Wing, working with both David Mamet and William H. Macy, the brilliant guidance of Rosemary Quinn and other wonderful professors. Directly after graduation, Gina booked her first lead role in the feature film TINY DANCER. After that, Gina originated the role of Frida Kahlo in the world premiere of Casa Blue: The Last Moments in the Life of Frida Kahlo at the American Stage Theatre. She continued to work in New York with multiple theatres and her work in film and TV steadily grew, including shows "Jonny Zero," "Army Wives," and "Law and Order," in addition to several short and indie films. One in particular, Osvaldos, was accepted into festivals including ABFF, NY HBO Latino Film Fest, Chicago International Film Fest, Urbanworld. They named Gina winner of the "Best Actor" award at the First Run Film Festival in NY and Osvaldos aired on HBO in 2010 and was named on of the "Five Best Shorts."
After many years of success and work in NY, Gina booked a lead role in a feature film GO FOR IT along side actress Aimee Garcia in which she received a 2011 Imagen Awards nomination. Shot in both Chicago and LA, once shooting in LA began, it was clear the move to the west coast was the next step for her career. Just five days after moving to California, Gina booked her first co-star role CBS' "Eleventh Hour." It didn't stop there, within her first year, she went on to book series regular roles on web series "Eden's Court" and "No Names," and her first studio film "Our Family Wedding," with America Ferrera, a lead in indie film SUPERCHICAS, and the ABC Family show "Ten Things I Hate About You." Since then she has guest starred on the hit TV shows "The Mentalist," "Happy Endings" and stars in the upcoming film CALIFORNIA WINTER among Ruttina Wesley.
Now, Gina is promoting her most exciting role to date. While screening GO FOR IT at last year's LALIFF, she had the opportunity to meet with director, Michael Olmos, and producer, Victor Teran, who had just begun to work on their project FILLY BROWN. Michael and Victor were so impressed by Gina's performance in GO FOR IT that they had her read for the title role. Originally, the role had been written as a spoken word artist, which was an area that Gina had experience, but upon meeting, they informed her that they were considering changing the part to a rapper. After an outstanding audition, in which Gina provided an impromptu rap performance, she had secured the lead and title role. Moving at an accelerated pace, Gina was in the studio recording music for the film within a few weeks. She collaborated with the music producers, E Dub and Khoolaid from Silent Giant, to come up with over five original songs for the film. After the film wrapped, E Dub and Khoolaid approached Gina about continuing their work with her and developing her into a rap artist. She has continued working with them and has now performed in Oklahoma City, OK and Odessa, TX, opening for Bun B from UGK.
Filly Brown now has been chosen as an Official 2012 Sundance Film Festival Selection.