THE ACTORS
GABRIELLE ANWAR - Jessica
Born in Berkshire, England, and having attended the Italia Conti Performing Arts Academy in London, the accomplished Gabrielle Anwar has over 45 film and television performances to her credit in both Europe and the States, including her breakout film Scent of a Woman, where she was whisked off her feet into an acclaimed tango with Al Pacino.
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Anwar has taken on the roles of a vast array of characters: from the blind diving horse circus performer in Disney's biopic Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken to the risqué royal in Showtime's The Tudors, to the supercilious counterpart to Noah Wyle in TNT's The Librarian II. And
from the fatal object of desire in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, to the regal Queen Anne in The Three Musketeers. She has also shown her versatility as an expat party girl in BBC's adaptation of Mortimer's Summer's Lease and as the coquette-pursuing Dermott Mulroney and Hope Davis in the independent feature The Family Tree. She also appeared as the gun-toting Fiona on the hit show Burn Notice, Wicked Lady Tremaine in ABC’s Once Upon A Time, and most recently on Netflix, opposite KJ Apa in, The Last Summer.
While on a vast variety of sets in a plethora of countries over thirty-odd years, Anwar has maintained one passionate mainstay – writing. She wrote an optioned pilot script, Bordello, a female-centric dive into how the West was really won, at Electric Entertainment, and an autobiographical indie feature, And The Sea. Her directorial debut, Sexology is available and is essential viewing on iTunes and Amazon UK.
HENRY IAN CUSICK - William
Henry Ian Cusick is a Peruvian actor/director who is currently a series regular on Macgyver on CBS, and was recently one of the leads on the FOX series The Passage. A classically trained actor from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Cusick is well-known for his Emmy Award nominated role as "Desmond" on Lost, and the CW sci-fi/drama The 100. Other notable television credits include Scandal, 24, Fringe, The Mentalist, Body of Proof and Inhumans. Cusick’s film credits include Hitman, and a host of independent films, such as Rememory. Cusick also played leading roles in Chimera, Pali Road, Just Let Go, Not Another Happy Ending, Frank V. God, and The Girl on the Train.
His U.K. theatre career spans nearly 20 years, includes the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the Almeida Theatre, as well as receiving a special commendation in the Ian Charleson Awards for outstanding performance by a young actor in a classical theatre role for his performances as Torquato Tasso in the Edinburgh International Festival production of Torquato Tasso, and Creon in the Citizens' Theatre production of Oedipus. Directing credits include The Other Side and The Warriors Will episodes of The 100.
Cusick also wrote, directed, and starred in Dress, which won the best short film award at the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Peace on Earth Film Festival, and was a finalist at the USA Film Festival. He currently resides in Hawaii.
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DAVE BAEZ - Elias
With a dedication to his craft and consummate appetite for the world and people around him, Dave Baez has built a career on character study and cultivated a passion to share his experience with a new generation of theater and film actors.
Dave's credits include the final installment of the Crow franchise, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, for Dimension Films in 2005, opposite Danny Trejo and Dennis Hopper. Several parts in film and television followed, including recurring roles in NBC's Miss Match, alongside Alicia Silverstone and Ryan O'Neil, Las Vegas, opposite Josh Duhamel and Vanessa Marcil, and a five-episode arc on Showtime's Dexter, where Dave played Gabriel, the boyfriend to the title character's sister.
Other credits include the Daytime Episodic, Days of Our Lives, CBS' The Mentalist, The CW fantasy- drama, The Secret Circle, the long-running Paramount comedy, All of Us, co-created by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, and the popular IFC series Maron in 2015, along with countless commercials for brands such as Bud Light, Craftsman, Honda, Toyota, Buick, Caress, Verizon and AT&T, among others.
For Dave, acting is a companion to his natural thirst for life and intense reflection into his own soul. He is keenly aware that an actor's journey never ends, the craft never perfected, but only built layer upon layer. This intense passion has led Dave to a new endeavor as he transitions into teaching the craft - sharing his experience, trade-craft, and unique insights into the industry that has fulfilled him for over a decade.