I’ve recently moved to Chicago and am very interested in seriously pursuing acting here in theater, film and television, and of course freelance commercial art as well. I spent most of my life in Lansing, Michigan as a commercial artist, art director, illustrator and graphic designer, but also as an actor in amateur and professional theater, films, and a lot of TV commercials and industrials.
I was born and grew up in Mason, Michigan, a very small town 12 miles South of Lansing, the capital city. I was a bit sickly with asthma and spent a lot of time reading and drawing and imagining, which eventually led to getting work as a teenager doing commercial art and graphic design for local printers and, around age 18, at a Lansing-based comic book company, Power Comics, one of the earliest independent comic book publishers.
Also as a teenager, I started working with a local community theater, The Coventry Players, led by Prof. Jon Baisch and his wife, Phyllis. Both had been professional actors and directors in New York and now lived in Mason. Jon was a professor at MSU in the Theater department, and working on almost every show they did for seven or eight years was like taking Jon’s classes and earning a degree. I started getting work in Michigan summer stock productions, and TV commercials.
I was born and grew up in Mason, Michigan, a very small town 12 miles South of Lansing, the capital city. I was a bit sickly with asthma and spent a lot of time reading and drawing and imagining, which eventually led to getting work as a teenager doing commercial art and graphic design for local printers and, around age 18, at a Lansing-based comic book company, Power Comics, one of the earliest independent comic book publishers.
Also as a teenager, I started working with a local community theater, The Coventry Players, led by Prof. Jon Baisch and his wife, Phyllis. Both had been professional actors and directors in New York and now lived in Mason. Jon was a professor at MSU in the Theater department, and working on almost every show they did for seven or eight years was like taking Jon’s classes and earning a degree. I started getting work in Michigan summer stock productions, and TV commercials.
So I pursued both of my talents there in Mid-Michigan. Of course, there was more work available in commercial art than theater. I worked as an illustrator of textbooklets for vocational schools, did all kinds of graphic design as a freelancer and eventually as art director for two small advertising agencies and a small newspaper (The Capital Times), and as an illustrator at a large newspaper (The Lansing State Journal, Gannett Newspapers).
I still kept active with theater, getting into much more professional work. I have a lot of acting and improv experience - I’ve performed improvisational comedy with two Michigan troupes: Sketchy People, led by Tom Foote, who was trained by Paul Sills (creator of Second City) and Skildtrade, led by Rico Bruce Wade, a former trainer and performer at Second City Detroit.
As an improv actor, I was cast in a 2004 episode (#133 – A Bravo Proposal) of a TV show for the Learning Channel, “Perfect Proposal,” when it shot an episode in Lansing, in which the writer/director Ronnie Krensel (Trading Spaces) trusted me to improvise my role as a phony proposer and fool both the audience and the young woman getting the real proposal (so, improvising both on-camera and off). It was a hoot. In 2010 Director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Christopher Robin) cast me in a nice little featured role, pivotal to the plot in Machine Gun Preacher with Gerard Butler. See my resumé for more.
I sing well. I learn dialects quickly. I can do stunts and falls, but lately am more likely to choreograph that for others. I have worked as a mime, and enjoy acting without words. But I've done quite a bit of voiceover, too.
I also have a lot of experience behind the camera which makes me a bit more camera savvy than most actors. I drew my first storyboard for a TV commercial when I was 19, a lot of years ago, around the same time I won “Best Animated Film” at the Ann Arbor International Super 8 Film Festival (Liver Let Live). I've directed several short films. I’ve designed and built sets and props for theater and film. I’ve designed and written TV and radio commercials. I even worked as a location scout in Michigan for a few years. I storyboarded a music video for Eminem (Rock City, 2001) and a couple of films.
I still kept active with theater, getting into much more professional work. I have a lot of acting and improv experience - I’ve performed improvisational comedy with two Michigan troupes: Sketchy People, led by Tom Foote, who was trained by Paul Sills (creator of Second City) and Skildtrade, led by Rico Bruce Wade, a former trainer and performer at Second City Detroit.
As an improv actor, I was cast in a 2004 episode (#133 – A Bravo Proposal) of a TV show for the Learning Channel, “Perfect Proposal,” when it shot an episode in Lansing, in which the writer/director Ronnie Krensel (Trading Spaces) trusted me to improvise my role as a phony proposer and fool both the audience and the young woman getting the real proposal (so, improvising both on-camera and off). It was a hoot. In 2010 Director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland, Christopher Robin) cast me in a nice little featured role, pivotal to the plot in Machine Gun Preacher with Gerard Butler. See my resumé for more.
I sing well. I learn dialects quickly. I can do stunts and falls, but lately am more likely to choreograph that for others. I have worked as a mime, and enjoy acting without words. But I've done quite a bit of voiceover, too.
I also have a lot of experience behind the camera which makes me a bit more camera savvy than most actors. I drew my first storyboard for a TV commercial when I was 19, a lot of years ago, around the same time I won “Best Animated Film” at the Ann Arbor International Super 8 Film Festival (Liver Let Live). I've directed several short films. I’ve designed and built sets and props for theater and film. I’ve designed and written TV and radio commercials. I even worked as a location scout in Michigan for a few years. I storyboarded a music video for Eminem (Rock City, 2001) and a couple of films.
I've also been writing comedy, lately. A couple of plays on my own, and a couple with my partner, Kellie Stonebrook. Plus screenplays for my own short films and a few I hope to sell to Hollywood. I'm particularly proud of a comedy about reincarnation I called “Try, Try Again!”
In theater, I’ve had the pleasure of working at the BoarsHead, a wonderful Equity theatre that was a Lansing landmark, but now is sadly just a dark spot in the asphalt of a very large parking lot. I acted, directed and designed sets and props at different times there. I worked for Artistic Directors John Peakes and later, Kristine Thatcher, who is well-known here in Chicago. I also worked for her at her own Equity theater in Lansing, Stormfield Theatre, which existed for a little while after BoarsHead closed, until Kristine’s health problems made it a bit too much for her.
I love acting in live theater. You can feel the things the audience is feeling and what kind of delivery will work best for them. You can fine-tune your performance in the best way for that particular group and find the perfect timing for a big laugh. It fascinates me and makes me feel very alive and creatively involved. There’s no one laughing or applauding when I do good work at my drawing table!
Now this move to Chicago is a chance to see what I can do in a bigger setting. Years ago, when I auditioned for a film in Michigan, Hollywood casting director Kerry Barden turned to the director and said, “He’s the real thing.” I want to make good on that assumption on his part.
-Bruce Bennett
In theater, I’ve had the pleasure of working at the BoarsHead, a wonderful Equity theatre that was a Lansing landmark, but now is sadly just a dark spot in the asphalt of a very large parking lot. I acted, directed and designed sets and props at different times there. I worked for Artistic Directors John Peakes and later, Kristine Thatcher, who is well-known here in Chicago. I also worked for her at her own Equity theater in Lansing, Stormfield Theatre, which existed for a little while after BoarsHead closed, until Kristine’s health problems made it a bit too much for her.
I love acting in live theater. You can feel the things the audience is feeling and what kind of delivery will work best for them. You can fine-tune your performance in the best way for that particular group and find the perfect timing for a big laugh. It fascinates me and makes me feel very alive and creatively involved. There’s no one laughing or applauding when I do good work at my drawing table!
Now this move to Chicago is a chance to see what I can do in a bigger setting. Years ago, when I auditioned for a film in Michigan, Hollywood casting director Kerry Barden turned to the director and said, “He’s the real thing.” I want to make good on that assumption on his part.
-Bruce Bennett