Alumni
The approximately 3,000 living alumni* of the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts
- perform on stages across the United States and around the world;
- work in film and television on both coasts;
- teach in high schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country;
- have careers in corporate America, the entertainment industry, and the non-profit sector.
They are actors, designers, producers, writers, editors, theatre managers, critics, professors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, advocates, museum directors, and more.
Check out their accomplishments below.
*This count includes alumni from theatre and film studies, as well as the former Department of Photography and Cinema.
Free 1st Friday
Alumni of the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts (and the former Department of Photography and Cinema) can claim two free tickets to the 1st Friday of a production's run.
Alumni News
Sophie Barbour (BA, film studies; english '21) completed a Master's in Library Science from the University of Kentucky in Spring 2026 and accepted a role as Technology Librarian at Columbus State where she will apply her film and media research and skillset to information management, collection development, and curation. Sophie was published twice in Film Matters Magazine: "Into the Spider-Verse and a New Age of Comic Realism" (Film Matters, Vol. 12, No. 3) and "Divines and the Constructed Self" (Film Matters, Vol. 13, No. 1) and was interviewed about her process in a Film Matters author interview. (May 11, 2026)
Juliet Campbell (BA, moving-image production '24) was selected as a National Football League Films Creative Producing Intern after graduation and in 2025 was named an inaugural Bernard Osei Video Fellow with Forbes as part of an immersive training program for early-career multi-platform video producers. (December 12, 2024).
Michael Cline (BA, theatre '20) is starring in the film series Fresh Hell alongside fellow alum Tony White (BA, theatre '20). Cline is the lead in The Exorcism of St. Patrick. (August 21, 2024)
Javier Cruz-Ginez (BA moving-image production '25) senior thesis film, La Esperanza (Hope) was officially selected for the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival short program. The documentary was created with the support of the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts, produced by two current Moving-Image Production students, Tobias Zuniga-Shaw and Logan St Hilaire, and was advised by faculty member Janet Parrot. Cruz-Ginez was a Student Academy Awards Semifinalist for the film in 2025. (April 16, 2026)
Bradford Douglas (BA, film studies '20) has landed his "first real Hollywood job". In March, Douglas started as an Office Production Assistant for a new Nickelodeon show, That Girl Lay Lay. He shares, "I'm learning a lot of cool stuff and meeting a lot of people, too. It's exhausting, but I really enjoy it overall. I'm sure the long hours will be worth it down the line." (May 12, 2021)
Doran Dyer (BA, moving-image production '24) has accepted the position of Graphic Video Editor at FilmRise. After graduation, Doran moved to Brooklyn, NY, where he joined Business Insider in Manhattan as a Media Studios Fellow. Doran is now Graphic Video Editor at FilmRise and serves as Chief Video Editor for Raw Cuts TV, a Brooklyn based media group focused on DJ set content. (June 25, 2024)
Rina Hajra-Gjoka (MFA, ’21) just completed her first academic year (AY 25-26) as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Voice in the School of Performing Arts Theatre at the University of Central Florida. (May 11, 2026)
Emily Heiser (BA, film studies '20) was published in Film Matters Magazine (Vol 13, No. 2). Heiser's article, "Empathizing with James Baldwin in I Am Not Your Negro" examines spectatorship and empathetic response to Raoul Peck’s documentary film based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House. (October 17, 2023)
Jeff Hogan (BA, theatre '20) has accepted a position as Coordinator of Recruitment at NBC Universal's DreamWorks Animation. (November 9, 2021)
Grant Jones's (BA, moving-image production '21) senior film was screened as part of the 2024 Philip K. Dick Film Festival held at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, and went on to screen in Europe as part of the Philip K Dick European Film Festival. Additionally, the film was a finalist at the NYC Raw Science Film Festival, was a finalist at the Seattle Film Festival, Award Winner at the Matrix Film Festival, Official Selection at the Outer Rim Film Festival, Official Selection at the Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, Official Selection at the New York Lift-Off Film Festival, and Semi-Finalist at the Blue Planet Science Fiction Film Festival. (October 20, 2025)
Jack Knellinger (BA, moving-image production '25) received a 2025 nomination from the Ohio Valley National Academy of Television and Sciences (Emmy) Student Production Awards for his short film Racing the Storm. The film follows Team Odyssey Adventure Racing, defending champions of the Master's Division at the US Adventure Racing National Championships, as they set out on the thirty hour race while facing ruthless weather conditions. Jack's film release was sponsored by USARA in February 2026. (Feb 7, 2026)
Rory Klein (BA, moving-image production; political science '23) has been accepted as a finalist in the 2023 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. In World Between Our Ears, Columbus indie musician and writer Miles Curtiss mounts a return to his decades-long journey through the arts while finding and fostering community. (September 6, 2023)
Nicholas Marrone (BA, moving-image production '25) has accepted a position in the front office of the Chicago Bears as a Motion Graphics Associate, where he is excited to artistically contribute to a storied and iconic organization in the NFL. (July 18, 2025)
Déja Russell (BA, moving-image production; film studies '22) was selected to screen short film Finding Eclosion at the 2023 Cinema Columbus Film Festival. The festival celebrates diverse people and stories brought to life by independent filmmakers. (March 30, 2023)
Olivia Sawatzki (BA, theatre '20) had a sold-out run of her play LZRDGRL as part of AnyWay Production's 2025 Double Feature in Los Angeles. (January 5, 2026)
Josh Streeter (MA, '19; PhD, '24) has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor of theatre position at Hilldale College in Michigan. (February 20, 2025)
Lindy Tran (BA, moving-image production '24) worked with WOSU Pubic Media and the Artway Foundation as videographer for "Columbus to Genoa Italy" features on artists Ani Palacios and Antonio Gonzalez-Garcia, who traveled to Italy with a group of artists from Columbus as part of a cultural & creative immersion. (September 15, 2025)
Tony White (BA, theatre '20) is starring in the film series Fresh Hell alongside fellow alum Michael Cline (BA, theatre '20). White is a supporting-lead in Dead Teenagers. (August 21, 2024)
Emily Jeu (BA, theatre '14), won Season 1 of the Burgschneider Challenge, a creative design/construction challenge where contestants modify Burgschneider garments and share their work on social media. The company creates medieval pieces for festivals, stage, and screen. (May 12, 2021)
Duranguito, co-directed by Dominique "Nikki" Martinez (BA, film studies '19) and Zane Abraham (BA, film studies '19), was selected for Cinema Columbus Film Festival 2023. The festival celebrates diverse people and stories brought to life by independent filmmakers. (March 30, 2023)
Sifiso Mazibuko (MFA, ’15) is receiving glowing reviews for his role in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. The production premiered at the RSC on February 10, 2026, and will run at the West End theatre @SohoPlace through June 2026. (May 11, 2026)
Joshua Quinlan (MFA, '17), was selected by 2021 Siminovitch Prize Winner Gillian Gallow as one of her protege's. The Siminovitch Prize is Canada's largest and most prestigious theatre award. In addition to recognizing a mid-career theatre professional, the prize also recognizes the importance of mentorship. The laureate selects an emerging artist to receive the Siminovitch Protoge Prize. (December 12, 2021)
Alexis Nikole Nelson (BA, theatre '15), AKA Black Forager, was tapped as one of National Geographic's 33 "change makers" who are making the world a better place. Nelson teaches her social media followers how to forage in their own yards and while walking through parks. (March 28, 2025)
Jasmine Michelle Smith (BA, theatre '18), New York City actor, recently performed the role of Lorraine (and others) in a regional production of Jersey Boys at Theatre Raleigh (North Carolina) alongside several cast members from the Broadway production. (Photo by Jennifer Robertson Photography.) (June 5, 2023)
Raymond O. Caldwell (MFA, '09) was named the next artistic director of The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. (November 21, 2024)
Bonnie Milligan (BA, theatre '06) won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Kimberly Akimbo. (June 13, 2023)
Lise "Kat" Evans (MA, '03; MFA, '06) wrote Perseverance of the Saints, a new play about a Chicago faith community's struggle with belief, identity, and politics in 1874. Free public readings on May 5th and 7th will occur at the First United Methodist Church at Chicago Temple. (March 28, 2024)
Roy Sexton (MA, theatre '97) was recently named one of Crain's Detroit's "Notable LGBTQ in Business." Roy serves as Director of Marketing for Clark Hill, an international AmLaw 200 firm with 26 offices and 650 attorneys. He is president-elect 2022 for the international board of the Legal Marketing Association, and he remains active in the theatre community serving on the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit board, writing reviews for EncoreMichigan and his own blog and books, and helping co-found the Penny Seats Theatre Company. He still performs as well, most recently playing "Buddy" in Theatre Nova's production of Follies in Ann Arbor. The leaders featured in the "Notable LGBTQ" list were selected from nominations by a team of Crain’s Detroit Business editors based on their career accomplishments, track record of success in the field, and effectiveness of their efforts. (September 10, 2021)
Tom Shelly (BFA, photography and cinema '84) won a primetime Emmy Award in 2001 as one of the original producers of the CBS television series Survivor. (July 24, 2023) (Photo courtesy of Academy of Television Arts and Sciences)
Alan Barinholtz (BA, theatre '73) portrays Judge Alan Rosen in the freevee original Jury Duty, a mockumentary comedy that follows the workings of an American jury trial. (June 22, 2023)
Toni-Leslie James (BFA, theatre '79) was promoted to full professor of practice at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She received her 8th Drama Desk Nomination for the Broadway production of Gypsy, starring Audra McDonald, directed by George C. Wolfe. Upcoming Broadway musical productions in 2026 include Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, directed by Rob Ashford and Three Summers of Lincoln directed by Christopher Ashley. James is currently designing All My Sons at Berkley Rep directed by David Mendizábal, starring Jimmy Smits. It opens in February 2026. (October 8, 2026)
Frank Mohler (BA, speech '65; MA, theatre '69; PhD, theatre '76) has an article, "The 'Miraculous' Early Modern Scenic Change in Court Theatres and the Venetian Public Opera" in The Castle Chronicles, Annuals [74.1 (2021), 215-234], a publication of the Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland. Mohler is a professor emeritus in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Appalachian State University. (November 2, 2022)
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