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) was published twice in Film Matters Magazine. Her first article "Into the Spider-Verse and a New Age of Comic Realism" (Film Matters, Vol. 12, No. 3) examines how the film's multiple animation styles heighten narrative impact. (March 25, 2022).

Barbour's second article, "Divines and the Constructed Self" (Film Matters, Vol. 13, No. 1) considers gender and identity performance in the 2016 French-language film Divines. Sophie was interviewed about her process in a Film Matters interview. (October 15, 2023)

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 writes, "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)

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 2016 documentary film based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House.

Jeff Hogan (BA, theatre '20) has accepted a position as Coordinator of Recruitment at NBC Universal's DreamWorks Animation. (November 9, 2021)

Rory Klein (BA, moving-image production; political science '23) has been accepted as a finalist in the 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)

Déja Russell's (BA, moving-image production; film studies '22) short film Finding Eclosion was selected for Cinema Columbus Film Festival 2023. The festival celebrates diverse people and stories brought to life by independent filmmakers. (March 30, 2023)

 

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)

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)

Jasmine Michelle Smith in Jersey Boys

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)

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)

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)

Emmy Group Photo

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) has been nominated for her 4th Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical for Paradise Square. In the 2022-23 Broadway season, James is designing costumes for The Piano Lesson starring Samuel L. Jackson and The War of the Roses directed by Jason Alexander. James is currently an associate professor and co-head of design of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. (May 12, 2022)

Frank Mohler

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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