Actor's Foundry

BIOS:

MATTHEW HARRISON:
CO-FOUNDER, TEACHER, COACH
Matthew Harrison is a coach and teacher in both Los Angeles and Vancouver.He has forged careers and honed professionals in their craft - on set and in class - for over twelve years, by giving actors the machinery necessary for success: clear directives, solid tools, and a fresh and profound acting technique. His regular coaching roster includes: Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Patrick Gallagher (Sideways, Glee), Christopher Shyer (The Practice), Paul Campbell (Knight Rider), Brandon Jay Mclaren (Harper's Island), Meredith McGeachie (The “L” Word), Karen Holeness (Cashing In), Brooke Nevin (I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer), Ted Whittall (Falcon Beach), Colby Johannson (Reaper), Sage Brocklebank (Psych), Leah Cairns (Battlestar Gallactica), Leela Savasta (Intelligence), Erica Cerra (Eureka), Kerry James (Heartland), Jody Racicot (Flash Gordon), Ryan Kennedy (Whistler), and many more. As an on set coach, he regularly works with high-caliber actors such as Rufus Sewell, Kurt Russell, Peter Krause, Maria Bello, and many more.

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Read Matthew's full bio.

JEB BEACH :
CO-FOUNDER, TEACHER, COACH
Jeb Beach is a Vancouver-based actor and teacher and co-founder of the Actor’s Foundry. As teacher and audition coach, he has gained a large and loyal roster of clients including Daniel Cudmore (X Men, The Twilight Saga) , Emma Lahana (Dear. Mr. Gacy, Power Rangers), and Zen Shane Lim (Samurai Girl). Jeb’s passionate and thorough exploration of the craft, along with his years of training in sales and marketing give actors a clear and positive approach to a successful career in acting. Jeb works regularly in film and television and on Vancouver stages (he has appeared in many productions including the lead in the critically acclaimed production of Stephen Belber's "Tape") but is best known as one of Vancouver’s busiest commercial actors, having booked twenty five commercials in the last three years.

Classes taught:
Actor's Fundamentals
Commercial Auditioning Workshop
Foundry Intensive with Jeb Beach

TED WHITTALL:
TEACHER, COACH
Ted has performed in over 300 hours of television and film productions seen in Canada and internationally. Most notably, Ted has worked opposite William Hurt, Julia Ormond, Alan Arkin and Lynn Redgrave in Showtime's “Varian's War”, played 'Ned' in the Emmy award winning miniseries “Further Tales of the City”, opposite Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis and Paul Hopkins. His work opposite Christopher Plummer in “Agent of Influence”, for CTV, earned him a Gemini Award. Recently, he has starred in the miniseries “The State Within” for the BBC and “The Andromeda Strain” for A&E, both of which were nominated for multiple Golden Globe and Emmy awards including Best Miniseries. Television series include “Falcon Beach”, “The L Word”, and “Intelligence”. He has voiced several national radio and television campaigns for clients such as Bell Canada, Mr. Muffler, and Tylenol. He was the face and voice of Sprint Canada's radio and television launch campaign in 1999. He has also appeared in several U.S. National campaigns, notably for Sensodyne. His work in an ad for Kellogg's Eggo Waffles won him a Bessie Award in 2000. He will be seen in 2010 in the feature “Daydream Nation”, on which he is sharing lead billing with Kat Dennings, Josh Lucas, and Andie MacDowell. Ted attended Concordia University in Montreal, receiving degrees in Economics and in Film Production. He studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse school of the Theater in New York City and is currently completing an M.A. at Simon Fraser University. He lives in Vancouver with his wife and two children.

Classes taught:
Professional's Foundry Scene Study (Tuesday)
Style Foundry

ROBIN NIELSEN
COACH
Robin Nielsen trained in Los Angeles at "Playhouse West", sister school to the famed "Neighborhood Playhouse" in New York and has been a long time student of Matthew Harrison's. He has since applied his acting on stage and film in Los Angeles and Vancouver with film credits that include King of Fighters, Stan Helsing, Riding the Bullet, Mr. Magoo, and Helen, premiering at The Sundance Film Festival 2009 - television credits that include: Reaper, The L Word, Psych, Robson Arms and The Dead Zone - and soon to be appearing in the upcoming webisode series "Rise ‘n’ Shine Og" co-produced by the Actor's Foundry. Recent stage credits include the critically acclaimed Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, The Good Doctor and The Ives of March. Robin has been studying with Matthew Harrison for over 12 years and has the proud distinction of being Matthew’s first student.

Classes taught:
Actor's Fundamentals

BRADLEY STRYKER
TEACHER, COACH
Bradley Stryker is a Los Angeles actor who has worked in over 40 Professional Film and TV productions now living and working primarily in Vancouver. After working with many teachers in LA, Bradley found his home at “Playhouse West” in Los Angeles where he studied under Jeff Goldblum and Mark Pellegrino. After completing training, he discovered “The Audition Game” and in 2004, after two years of mentorship and consistent booking, Bradley stepped forward as a teacher and has actively been teaching and coaching since. He has dedication and passion for teaching, and finds it inspiring to help actors find clarity in their auditions: “We become actors because we want to express ourselves through our acting, and we must master the audition so that we can fulfill that passion…”

Classes taught:
Weekly AUDITION class

ALLISON HOSSACK
AUDITION COACH
Allison has been a series lead on five US and Canadian network series. She has had recurring and guest-starring roles on over twenty-five others. Feature films include Carl Bessai's Genie nominated Normal, mini-series include Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital, and favorite theatre roles include Anna in Closer and Williamson in an all female version of GlenGarry Glen Ross. A big believer in constantly learning and evolving, Allison has sought out teachers and coaches in New York, LA, Toronto and Vancouver, including Leigh Kilton-Smith, Warren Robertson and Larry Moss.

LIZ LEVINE:
PUBLICITY AND MARKETING SPECIALIST
Elizabeth Levine has over a decade of experience in film and television. She started in the business with Moses Znaimers CityTV in the creation of MZTV and since has worked as an independent producer with CHUM Television and CBC Television and was a journalist with The National Post and Playback Magazine.

In 2002 Levine established Beetle Box Media, an award-winning Vancouver based new media company. Over her 4 years with Beetle Box, Levine produced numerous new media and film properties for Bravo!, Global Television, CHUM Television and Showcase. These projects garnered a number or awards including a Gemini in 2004 for CAMP HOLLYWOOD. In 2006 Elizabeth served as director of development at Vancouver-based No Equal Entertainment. She then served as new media producer on the 13 episode series JPOD based on Douglas Coupland’s novel. During this time Elizabeth continued to produce other projects including the award-winning short MACHINE WITH WISHBONE and the documentary, KARL MAY. In 2007 Elizabeth began consulting on film, television and new media projects including FILMINUTE with Capacity Networks UK, The Actor's Foundry and The Stagers on HGTV among others. She has since joined Brightlight Pictures as executive director of development. Elizabeth is co-founder and a senior partner in Random Bench Productions.
Branding the Actor
Publicity Intensives with Liz Levine

CRYSTAL BUBLÉ :

This Burnaby native has an extensive history of acting and dance, Crystal has emerged as one of Vancouver’s brightest talents in film and television. She began her career in dance, studying and training for over 10 years and competing and winning awards at a provincial level. She began her film and television career while in high school with a recurring role on the series Madison. She has now appeared in many films, including co-starring roles in the features Rollercoaster, Christina’s House and Crossing , in which she was nominated for a Leo Award. She has also Movies of the week Secret Cutting, Post Mortem, My Name Is Sarah and Lightning Bolts of Destruction. Her television credits include numerous guest star appearances on such shows as The L Word, Touching Evil, The Immortal, Outer Limits, Big Sound, Poltergeist, Nightman, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, MTV’s 2Gether. Crystal is also known for her regular role on Jack London’s Call of the Wild series and in her recurring role on the crime drama Cold Squad. She did a pilot for half hour sitcom called Donovan Life. Crystal is married and lives here in the lower mainland.