My acting career began at the age of two playing a stagehand for my parents' Old West photo booth at carnivals across the country. I was the dude with a diaper, cowboy hat and pistol. When I was six my family settled in Santa Barbara to open The Waldorf School with a group of bohemian parents interested in giving their kids a creative hands-on education. Those early years of school plays and my mother's nightly renditions of Grimm's Fairy Tales were the building blocks for my imagination. My father directed the school's stage productions and I loved helping choose the plays and coercing my way into lead roles. I discovered a fascination with villains in first grade as the Wicked Witch in Sleeping Beauty; the internal worlds of eccentric and dark characters have captured my imagination ever since.

In 1991, when I was fourteen, two Disney scouts spotted me in Grownups playing Max Dinerstein. This stroke of luck landed me a co-starring role in Hocus Pocus playing a trouble-maker/bully who screws with the wrong witches (Bette Midler & Sarah Jessica Parker). The experience opened a new world of acting for the camera and more importantly access to professional workshops.

I moved to Los Angeles after high school to pursue acting and producing. While attending Santa Monica Community College I worked with director Joel Schumacher and President of Warner Brothers Bruce Berman assisting on large studio sets like Batman & Robin and picking up Wet Cappuccinos for associate producers. I moved east to complete my B.A. in Visual Storytelling at Bennington College where each student designs an independent curriculum with a panel of working artists and professors. It was a rare collaborative environment that allowed me to meld interests in acting and production.

After graduating I signed on to direct and act in Tracks, a low-budget independent feature. We struggled miserably on that cross-country production, mostly due to inexperience, but we also had adventures of a lifetime. We hopped freight trains (well, mostly tried to hop freight trains) capturing great stories of Louisiana bayou boys, Texas ghost-town cowboys, and Arizona Navajo elders. The project was put on hold for several years, but the producers recently called to say they’re back in the saddle and approaching the home stretch.

In 2005 I returned to Los Angeles for the unparalleled opportunity it offers actors and story-makers. Currently I am starring in the critically acclaimed show Point Break Live as the bank-robbing Zen surfer Bodhi. Next month I’ll be playing the twisted and obsessed detective Jimmy Jack Bodeen in the late-night episodic Money & Run: A Live Action-Adventure Serial For The Stage.

When I am not acting I can be found at the new lifestyle boutique Young & Jelinek in Los Feliz where we sell the fun graphic designs of Evil Genius Clothing and host art/music events.