Actor's Demo Reel v1.1
:COMING SOON:
Actor's Demo Reel v2
including
The Exterminator
from
The Shadow in the Bed
The Shadow in the Bed
JCS recently co-starred
as The Exterminator in The Shadow in the Bed starring Guillermo Alifraco and Chloe Lake; written, directed and photographed by Hector Pasillis: a seven-time Emmy nominated–one-time win–computer generated sequence director. Confessing he had two casting formulas for the picture–one without JCS and one with–Pasillis decided to cast JCS as The Exterminator and was very pleased, commenting he now has roles for him in his next two features.
The Dead
episode I can be downloaded at
www.StarwayPictures.com
In May of 2007,
Starway Pictures' long-time shelved gothic gangster-thriller The Dead was released in on-line episodic form. Directed and photographed by Robert David Sanders and starring Barbara Streifel, JCS stars in the supporting role The Duke, a elegant and romantic goth drug lord. A victim of his hedonist life-style and lover’s betrayal, his life comes to a fitting end when murdered by hit-men sent by his right-hand man.
During the 2006 holiday season,
JCS took to the stage–for the first time playing several roles–in the LimeCat Theatre children’s production Pajama Ana: The Princess Of Pillowland-O-Rama directed by Zombie Joe and Denise Devin. Portraying Bright-Light Billy the shooting star, Inspector Bing the pajama inspector, Shelley the used pillow salesman, and Cantifloss the mischievous elf–who placed a curse on Pillowland-O-Rama, making every pillow in the kingdom so lumpy, no one was able to sleep for an entire year–was a lightning paced delight–in Elf voice and costume no less!
Scat Cats was published
by Editor-in-Chief Myra Daniels for 15 months in Los Angeles' longest running monthly Jazz 'zine: LA Jazz Scene.
Having played the trumpet
for alomst 15 years, JCS has studied, composed and performed various forms of jazz including both live concerts and studio sessions.
JCS was third-chair trumpeter in The American Jazz Ensemble.
His horn has often graced the evening streets on the corner of Traction & Hewitt whilst working in the soul of the downtown Los Angeles Artist District: Bloom's General Store.
He lead the free-jazz trio The waterClock guild with Robert Matheson/Anthony Shadduck on double-bass, and Bobby Smith on trap drum set. Their live improv sessions were heard every Thursday night for nine months at the Groundwork coffee house located less than a block east of Bloom's General Store.
He composed, conducted and recorded a suite in five movements for trumpet, piano, drum-machine and flute (Stephanie Rubin) and Takeotronics (Takeo) for Peter J. Nieves' play The Toilet.
Collaborating with DJ Lano Brasil's ambient rhythm and beats, JCS re-arranged and added muted cornet and digital piano.
He began his trumpet study in Chicago with Rick Guiterez and later, after emigrating to Los Angeles, continued his study with Hagai Israeli, Brian Swartz and Michael Bolger.
JCS portrayed Col. Kraftmeier
in the Chance Theater production of The Stroop Report written by Robert Preston Jones and directed by Oanh Nguyen. This true story of the first Jewish revolt against the Nazis during WW II was based on SS General Jurgen Stroop’s typewritten report detailing the Nazi occupation of Warsaw and by eyewitness accounts from Joseph Greenblatt–one of the few remaining survivors of the Jewish Military Union; it won the Murphy Foundation Playwriting Competition of 1999.
Although many of the characters in the play are real, the role of Col. Kraftmeier is fictional: a composite of several Nazi officers who commanded the Warsaw Ghetto. Schall defined the character of a man intrinsically shallow and maladjusted: a self-indulgent, child-like expression of cruelty–empowered by a government and military imbued with genocide–becomes a dark journey into the abyss of moral corruption.
"Jonathon Carter Schall is frightening as the [Nazi] commandant...Schall creates a portrait of a cool-headed military man whose suave, polite veneer is a thin mask for his simmering hatred of the Jewish populace."
–Eric Marchese, The O.C. Register
JCS' photography
has been exhibited in group artist exhibitions including Gallery Asto, Groundwork, and several Cannibal Flower installations.
"'Will Williams'...as in 'The Toilet', is powered by Schall’s darkly charismatic performance."
–Steven Mikulan, The LA Weekly;
in his interview/article on writer/director Peter J. Nieves
In JCS' second theatrical production
with Bright Lucifer Presents, he returned in all three previous capacities–actor, composer and lighting designer–in Will Williams, a Jekyll and Hyde story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's William Wilson as The Imposter: the Hyde of the two Will Williams.
After Nieves was greatly disappointed with the completed set, JCS literaly deconstructed it and reassembled a new design more in-line with Nieves' original intent.
"A mesmerizing Jonathon Carter Schall...
highly focused."
–Sandra Ross, The LA Weekly
Casting director Iris Hampton
strongly encouraged Saban Entertainment to cast JCS as the lead in the television series Power Rangers in Space; however, the producers decided to take the role in a very different direction. Brought in to audition for director Worth Keeter, JCS did make his television debut on the series in a guest starring role as Chuck, the charming bad-boy and ring leader of a gang of car thieves.
Teaming with surrealist writer/director Peter J. Nieves
(nominated Best Playwright, LA Weekly Theatre Awards),
for the first time, their Bright Lucifer production The Toilet enabled JCS to utilize several talents simultaneously: actor, trumpeter, composer and lighting designer. With zelous production gusto, New York city producer Moe Greenblatt was instrumental in the show earning the highly coveted LA Weekly Pick of the Week.
"...the ceaseless, manic harangues of Becker's deranged 'friend' Otto
(a hilariously uptight Jonathon Carter Schall)..."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
"[Writer/Director] Nieves displays a flair for characterization, movement and staging which, with his terrific ensemble, works in the service of refreshing and fearless theater."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
*
JCS debuted on the Los Angeles stage
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
Quite the life-long Star Wars fan,
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
*
Emigrating to Los Angeles,
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
*
Majoring in cinema
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
*
JCS was a professional apprentice
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
*
While studying guitar and music theory
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
JCS dropped out of the American Academy of Art
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
Born in Chicago, Illinois,
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.
* * *
* * *
has been exhibited in group artist exhibitions including Gallery Asto, Groundwork, and several Cannibal Flower installations.
"'Will Williams'...as in 'The Toilet', is powered by Schall’s darkly charismatic performance."
–Steven Mikulan, The LA Weekly;
in his interview/article on writer/director Peter J. Nieves
In JCS' second theatrical production
with Bright Lucifer Presents, he returned in all three previous capacities–actor, composer and lighting designer–in Will Williams, a Jekyll and Hyde story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's William Wilson as The Imposter: the Hyde of the two Will Williams.
After Nieves was greatly disappointed with the completed set, JCS literaly deconstructed it and reassembled a new design more in-line with Nieves' original intent.
"A mesmerizing Jonathon Carter Schall...
highly focused."
–Sandra Ross, The LA Weekly
Casting director Iris Hampton
strongly encouraged Saban Entertainment to cast JCS as the lead in the television series Power Rangers in Space; however, the producers decided to take the role in a very different direction. Brought in to audition for director Worth Keeter, JCS did make his television debut on the series in a guest starring role as Chuck, the charming bad-boy and ring leader of a gang of car thieves.
Teaming with surrealist writer/director Peter J. Nieves
(nominated Best Playwright, LA Weekly Theatre Awards),
for the first time, their Bright Lucifer production The Toilet enabled JCS to utilize several talents simultaneously: actor, trumpeter, composer and lighting designer. With zelous production gusto, New York city producer Moe Greenblatt was instrumental in the show earning the highly coveted LA Weekly Pick of the Week.
"...the ceaseless, manic harangues of Becker's deranged 'friend' Otto
(a hilariously uptight Jonathon Carter Schall)..."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
"[Writer/Director] Nieves displays a flair for characterization, movement and staging which, with his terrific ensemble, works in the service of refreshing and fearless theater."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
*
JCS debuted on the Los Angeles stage
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
Quite the life-long Star Wars fan,
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
*
Emigrating to Los Angeles,
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
*
Majoring in cinema
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
*
JCS was a professional apprentice
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
*
While studying guitar and music theory
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
JCS dropped out of the American Academy of Art
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
Born in Chicago, Illinois,
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.
* * *
* * *
in his interview/article on writer/director Peter J. Nieves
with Bright Lucifer Presents, he returned in all three previous capacities–actor, composer and lighting designer–in Will Williams, a Jekyll and Hyde story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's William Wilson as The Imposter: the Hyde of the two Will Williams.
After Nieves was greatly disappointed with the completed set, JCS literaly deconstructed it and reassembled a new design more in-line with Nieves' original intent.
"A mesmerizing Jonathon Carter Schall...
highly focused."
–Sandra Ross, The LA Weekly
Casting director Iris Hampton
strongly encouraged Saban Entertainment to cast JCS as the lead in the television series Power Rangers in Space; however, the producers decided to take the role in a very different direction. Brought in to audition for director Worth Keeter, JCS did make his television debut on the series in a guest starring role as Chuck, the charming bad-boy and ring leader of a gang of car thieves.
Teaming with surrealist writer/director Peter J. Nieves
(nominated Best Playwright, LA Weekly Theatre Awards),
for the first time, their Bright Lucifer production The Toilet enabled JCS to utilize several talents simultaneously: actor, trumpeter, composer and lighting designer. With zelous production gusto, New York city producer Moe Greenblatt was instrumental in the show earning the highly coveted LA Weekly Pick of the Week.
"...the ceaseless, manic harangues of Becker's deranged 'friend' Otto
(a hilariously uptight Jonathon Carter Schall)..."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
"[Writer/Director] Nieves displays a flair for characterization, movement and staging which, with his terrific ensemble, works in the service of refreshing and fearless theater."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
*
JCS debuted on the Los Angeles stage
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
Quite the life-long Star Wars fan,
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
*
Emigrating to Los Angeles,
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
*
Majoring in cinema
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
*
JCS was a professional apprentice
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
*
While studying guitar and music theory
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
JCS dropped out of the American Academy of Art
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
Born in Chicago, Illinois,
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.
* * *
* * *
strongly encouraged Saban Entertainment to cast JCS as the lead in the television series Power Rangers in Space; however, the producers decided to take the role in a very different direction. Brought in to audition for director Worth Keeter, JCS did make his television debut on the series in a guest starring role as Chuck, the charming bad-boy and ring leader of a gang of car thieves.
(nominated Best Playwright, LA Weekly Theatre Awards),
for the first time, their Bright Lucifer production The Toilet enabled JCS to utilize several talents simultaneously: actor, trumpeter, composer and lighting designer. With zelous production gusto, New York city producer Moe Greenblatt was instrumental in the show earning the highly coveted LA Weekly Pick of the Week.
"...the ceaseless, manic harangues of Becker's deranged 'friend' Otto
(a hilariously uptight Jonathon Carter Schall)..."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
"[Writer/Director] Nieves displays a flair for characterization, movement and staging which, with his terrific ensemble, works in the service of refreshing and fearless theater."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
*
JCS debuted on the Los Angeles stage
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
Quite the life-long Star Wars fan,
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
*
Emigrating to Los Angeles,
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
*
Majoring in cinema
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
*
JCS was a professional apprentice
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
*
While studying guitar and music theory
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
JCS dropped out of the American Academy of Art
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
Born in Chicago, Illinois,
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.
* * *
* * *
"[Writer/Director] Nieves displays a flair for characterization, movement and staging which, with his terrific ensemble, works in the service of refreshing and fearless theater."
–Martin Hernandez, The LA Weekly
JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
*
JCS debuted on the Los Angeles stage
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
Quite the life-long Star Wars fan,
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
*
Emigrating to Los Angeles,
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
*
Majoring in cinema
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
*
JCS was a professional apprentice
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
*
While studying guitar and music theory
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
JCS dropped out of the American Academy of Art
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
Born in Chicago, Illinois,
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.
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JCS' consistent, high-energy performance was viewed by multiple critics at the LA Weekly and garnered a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the LA Weekly Theatre Awards.
as Manny a psychotic chauffeur/bodyguard–for his favorite prostitute–tweaked on crank and wielding a switchblade in the homage to pulp crime thrillers Who Killed My Daughter? written and directed by Steve Exe.
Star Wars : Troops
Hand-Held Camera By JCS
one of JCS' greatest pleasures was serving as the hand-held camera operator on Troops, a popular Star Wars fan film directed by Kevin Rubio and photographed by Cricket Peters.
From Wikipedia.com:
“’Troops’ is a mockumentary film by Kevin Rubio,
which made its debut on the Internet in 1997. The film is a parody of ‘COPS’, set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. In the film, Imperial stormtroopers from the infamous Black Sheep Squadron patrolling the Dune Sea on the planet Tatooine run into some very familiar characters while being filmed for the hit Imperial TV show ‘Troops’.
The film jump-started the modern fan film movement,
as it was one of the first short films to bring fan films into the digital age, taking advantage of internet distribution and affordable production and special effects equipment, as well as fans with movie-quality costumes.
The film has proven incredibly popular with Star Wars fans, and was awarded the inaugural Pioneer Award in the Lucasfilm-sponsored 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Fan Films Quarterly listed ‘Troops’ as
one of the 10 most pivotal moments in fan film history in its Summer 2006 issue.”
JCS' first Hollywood assignment was as the camera assistant trainee on 187 photographed by Ericson Core, directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Samuel L. Jackson.
He later worked as a second assistant cameraman on the special visual effects unit of Alien Resurrection photographed by Darius Khondji, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and starring Sigourney Weaver.
at Columbia College Chicago, he acted, photographed, and composed music for both his own and other student’s films and went on to direct and photograph music videos for local Chicago bands Reality Scare and Dead Steel Mill.
for free-lance comic book inker Andrew Peepoy. Inking backgrounds for a Captain America graphic novel, JCS' position was usurped by Peepoy's live-in girfriend after she was laid-off from her position at a graphic arts studio. After pitching his portfolio at a comic book convention he was offered a inking positon at Now comics: he declined and enrolled at Columbia College Chicago to study the art of cinema.
at the People's Music School he fronted the ambient-goth band Cacophany as singer/songwriter/guitarist. His influences were primarily film music by Gerry Goldsmith, The Cure's fourth record Pornography and Tones on Tail. JCS had a small following of about 50 people and was highly respected by musicians in the Chicago music scene of the 1980’s including Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins who auditioned for Cacophony. As to why Corgan was not asked to join the band, JCS replied, "He played too many notes." JCS believed the sacrifce of an additonal rhythm guitar would be worth the intimacy and passion that only JCS' solo guitar could deliver. Live performance venues included, Exit, Lower Links, Upstairs at Joe's, Batteries Not Included, and The Cabaret Metro.
after a year and a half of study. Perhaps if he would have studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the rest of his life would have taken a very different path.
JCS participated in non-narrative holiday shows during grade school. At the age of fourteen he began producing, acting, directing and editing silent super-8 films with an accompanying non-sync cassette tape music score featuring edited music by Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Bernard Hermann. Starting with simple one-reel stop-motion animated stories featuring Star Wars action figures, he later engaged friends and family as actors in narratives photographed in single camera set-ups. After studying pre-production materials from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back he created storyboards and began extensively covering scenes with the camera, resulting in complex photographic sequences of action and exposition.
He made his narrative stage debut at Niles North Elementary school as Harvey in the slumber party farce No Boys Allowed written by Jean Provence. In high school he starred as Christopher Wren in Agatha Christi's The Mousetrap–a role that to this day remains perfect casting.