Meryl Marshall-Daniels
          Meryl Marshall-Daniels, an independent television producer and President of Two Oceans Entertainment Group, is serving her second term as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
          Under her leadership, the Academy has initiated cybercasts of both the Creative Arts and the Primetime Emmy Awards, secured a permanent broadcast home for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards telecast, secured broadcast commitments for the Hall Of Fame ceremony, and instituted at-home judging in the Primetime Emmy Awards categories. Additionally, the Board of Governors has been engaged in establishing yearly goals and objectives and the professional leadership of the organization has been restructured. The Academy is currently cooperating with lawmakers and other industry organizations in the ongoing effort to stem the tide of runaway production.
          To facilitate the outreach objectives set by the Board, the Academy has created and cosponsored programs and forums for the industry and the public that entertain, educate and inform. In addition, strategic alliances have been formed with such partners as the FCC, the Getty Educational Trust, and Intel. With a grant from the Getty Educational Trust, the Academy convened 60 educators from around the country to establish a Conceptual Framework for Teaching and Learning Though the Arts & Technologies of Television.
          Marshall-Daniels spearheaded the development of the ATAS Foundation educational program S.T.A.R.T. Communications (Student and Teacher Achievement using the Resources of Television) for elementary students of the Los Angeles Unified School District. This program is currently being expanded for national rollout. Through S.T.A.R.T., students learn to examine, challenge and comprehend messages contained in television.
          Marshall-Daniels has addressed conferences for the North American National Broadcasters Association, the Commission on the Status of Women, UCLA Economic Forecast, California Humanities Association, Leadership Junior Leagues International, the Youth Arts and Education Conference, the National Association of Television Program Executives and the United States Conference of Mayors. She is a member of the Senior Fellows of the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research and has lectured at UCLA, USC and the University of Texas.

          She began her career as a criminal defense attorney, and began her entertainment career as Senior Counsel for NBC. Following a promotion at NBC to Vice President of Compliance and Practices, she was named a member of the NBC West Coast Senior Executive Management Team. Later, she joined Group W Productions as Vice President of Development/Production where she launched several series, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She was subsequently promoted to Senior Vice President of FuturImages, a joint venture between Westinghouse Broadcasting and TeleImages (France).
          She is currently President of Two Oceans Entertainment Group, an independent production company which creates, sells and produces original television programming. Past productions include the Cable Ace Award winning HBO primetime animated series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child, television movies, documentary specials and the Humanitas Award winning HBO animated special "The Sissy Duckling."
          The 2001 slate for Two Oceans Entertainment Group currently includes a documentary special for HBO, a movie in development at Showtime and a 13 episode documentary series order from Discovery Kids.

Randy Nelson
Dean of Pixar University

          Randy Nelson has a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art from the University of Santa Clara. A passion for animation led him to computers as a teenager. He has taught software development for the last 25 years.
          Randy was one of the founders of the juggling group the Flying Karamazov Brothers, and worked in live theater, film and television through the late 80s. His credits include co-writer, director and performer of three Broadway shows, performances for Presidents at the Kennedy Center and in the White House, a role in the feature film 'Jewel of the Nile,' and the opportunity to represent the United States at two Olympic Arts Festivals.
          Randy worked as a computer animator and producer for Pizza Time Theater, established and led developer training for Next Computer, created the developer program for Kaleida Labs, the multimedia joint venture between Apple and IBM, and was senior curriculum designer for Apple Computer.
          Today Randy uses his art, film, theater, animation, software, training and juggling experience daily as the Dean of Pixar University, providing training and education for all of Pixar's employees.

Ellen Kuras
Director of Photography
        Director of photography Ellen Kuras, ASC, a two-time recipient of the Sundance Film Festival's Best Cinematography Award, was first widely recognized for her black-and-white cinematography on Swoon, Tom Kalin's critically-successful independent feature film about the Leopold and Loeb murder case of the 1920s. Her work on the film earned Best Dramatic Cinematography at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an IFP Independent Spirit Award. She and Kalin later made 30, a half-hour narrative film commissioned by Geoffrey Beene.
        Her next features, Postcards from America and Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, opened at the 1994 New York Film Festival.
        Kuras' photography on the feature film Angela won another Best Dramatic Cinematography Award at Sundance in 1995 - the first time a director of photography has won this award two different times. That same year, she was also nominated for an Emmy® Award for her work on Century of Women.
        Kuras began her career in 1987 and garnered 25 international awards for Samsara. Her photography on that film earned her the 1990 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award and Eastman Kodak Best Documentary Cinematography Focus Award. Among her other credits are Unzipped, I Shot Andy Warhol, Niggericans, a segment of HBO's Subway Stories, and If These Walls Could Talk, Part I. Kuras shot Spike Lee's Academy Award®-nominated documentary 4 Little Girls, for which she was nominated for an Emmy. Kuras' credits include Just the Ticket, Mod Squad, Summer of Sam, Bamboozled and Blow.

Ida Muldrow
Costume Designer - Issustrator
        Ida Muldrow's God given gift for costume design was recognized when she was six years old. She actually draped paper napkins and fabric swatches, from her mother's sewing projects, around her Barbie Doll. She learned this art from her Aunt Ida Mae. By the time she was in seventh grade her sewing skills were far advanced beyond her years. She was designing for school fashion shows and many of her mother's and her own friends. Noticing Ida's gift and calling, her older brother encouraged her to pursue a degree in fashion design.
        She took his advice and received a B.S. in Fashion Design from North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, 1981, and a B.A. in Art - Visual Communications 1982; a Master of Arts (MA) in Fashion Design and Illustration from Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, 1984; a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Degree in Costume Design for Film, Theater and Television from University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles in 1994; she studied Couture Hat Design at the Wilma Rea School of Millinery, Los Angeles, CA 1995-97.
        Recognizing that her talent is a gift from God, which He perfected through higher education. She was inspired to gain further Spiritual understanding to better express her gift, so she attended and graduated from Crenshaw Christian Center's Ministry Training Institute in 1999 with a Certificate in Ministry Studies.
        The creative mark of Ida' s hands have been placed on costume designs for celebrities such as Martin Lawrence, Elizabeth Hurley, Matthew Perry, Whoopie Goldberg, CC Winans, Winonna Judd, Chaka Kann, Carman, The Emotions, Debbie Allen and others. The precision and beauty of her designing strokes are revealed in costume designs and illustrations for the feature films-" Call Me Claus," "Serving Sarah," "Big Mama's House," "Universal Soldier," "The Temptation's (Life Story)," "Negotiator," and "Clueless."
        Television projects include-- "Comic view," "Good News," "Townsend Television." Stage productions that revealed the work of her hands are-"The Marriage," "The Five Heartbeats" (live musical) and The Wedding Band."
        Beyond the realm of design, Ida possesses exceptional skills in Pattern Drafting, Sewing, Fashion Illustration, Couture Millinery and Makeup.
        Many have acknowledge and awarded her genius. She received the NAACP Best Costume Design for Theater in 1995 for the "Five Heartbeats" and the First place winner in the State of Texas Make It Yourself With Wool Contest in 1984.

Vanessa Lee Chester
          Being in front of a camera, wheather for still photos or film has always been natural for Vanessa Lee Chester. It ws her evident spark and charm that led Vanessa to her first acting stint at age three when she was cast in a national NutraSweet commercial. From there, she went on to be cast in over twenty more national commercials for such companies as Mattel and McDonalds. By the age of five, Vanessa had moved up the ladder, and landed a three year stint on Children's Television Workshop's popluar tlevision program, "Sesame Street."
          Vanessa's career began to soar, in both the realms of television and film when she appeared in guest-starring roles on such shows as ABC's "Hanging with Mr. Cooper," Disney's "Where I Live," and Fox's hit show, "In Living Color." Vanessa also became a series regular on both Fox's "The Robert Townsend Show," and ABC's "Me and the Boys" which displayed her comedic timing. Casting Vanessa in the role of 'Becky' in Warner Brothers' critcally acclaimed classic A Little Princess, seemed a perfect fit. The decision turned out to be right when she was nominated for Best Performance by a Young Actress in The Hollywood Reporter's First Annual YoungStar Awards.
          While Vanessa's role as 'Becky' was a tremendous experience, what was lying in wait for her would make her a household name. Seguing from her dramatic role as 'Becky,' Vanessa showed that she could shift gearrs when she was cast as the brainy scientist 'Janie" in Nickelodeon's first feature Harriet The Spy. For her portrayal of this role, Vanesa was awarded the young Artist Award for supporting actress in a comedy. Following, came a call from the director Steven Spielberg, who had spotted Vanessa in A Little princess, and wanted to cast her in his upcoming blockbuster, The Lost World - Jurassic Park. Vanessa was thrilled to star as 'Kelly Curtis' the daughter of Jeff Goldblum's character which led to such momentous adventures as being flown to South Africa to open the first Universal Studios store in the country, and meet with President Nelson Mandela. Vanessa's memorable performance as 'Kelly' also earned her a nomination in the prestigious 29th Annual NAACP Image Awards. Since The Lost World, Vanessa has made cameo appearances in several feature films including Roel Navaro's Young Hollywood, and Miramax's She's All That. Vanessa recently wrapped Dreams in the Attic, where she co-stars with Shelly Duvall in a feature for Clark Productions.
          This Fall, Vanessa will play recurring roles on two new fal shows. She will co-star as 'Annie' in ABC's one-hour drama "Once and Again," from Bedford Falls Productions and as 'Jenny' in Fox's one-hour drama "Get Real".
          Vanessa is an avid athlete who enjoys playing soccer, softball, swimming and other sports in her spare time.
          With quite an impressive resume under her belt, Vanessa still has the attitude of a 'normal' fefteen-year old. She attends school full time, and is a straight A student. Vanessa's fasion savvy has led her to create her own fasion designs, and is now an entrepreneur, with her own personalized line of nail polish.

Joey Zimmerman

Bradley Pierce

Feature Films The Borrowers Jumanji Amanda Beauty And The Beast The Undercover Kid Mans Best Friend Chaplin Cartel Voice Overs Sonic The Hedgehog The Little Mermaid (Series) The Oz Kids Collection The Itsy Bitsy Spider McDonalds Nutrition Spots Peter And Jane The Emporers New Clothes

Television: Movies: Doom Runners Ruby Ridge Cries From The Heart Ride With The Wind The Yarn Princess Children Of The Dark Deadmans Revenge Caseys Gift Series Star Trek Voyager The Profiler Touched By an Angel Home The Client Home Court Mad About You Picket Fences Grownups Lois & Clark Shaky Ground Beverly Hills 90210 Roseanne Anything But Love Nurses Days Of Our Lives Life Goes On My Family

 

Courtnee Draper

Courtnee was an avid reader by the age of three, which later transitioned to memorizing scenes from TV shows and movies. She loved playing dress-up including make--up and costume changes. But the love of performing for audiences began for Courtnee Draper at age five when a well-intentioned neighbor slipped her $5.00 for an impromptu song-and-dance performance. Right then and there a star was born! In fact, fueled by that first "paycheck," she began to blossom into a very gifted performer. She quickly figured out performing before audiences offered many benefits. Not only did she enjoy the laughter, tears and well-deserved applause, but also amazingly how the generous donations for performing helped her piggy bank to grow.

Born at the Naval Hospital in Orlando, Florida on April 24, 1985 no one could possibly have had the providence to know how much this incredibly talented young lady would enrich their lives. By the age of five, she and her mom were living in Okinawa, Japan, when her first hidden gift emerged -- singing. Courtnee began singing in public places and winning numerous Karaoke contests which eventually lead to the opportunity to travel and perform throughout Korea, Hong Kong, Mainland Japan and Hawaii before moving to San Diego, CA in 1994.

It was in San Diego that Courtnee developed her passion for theater. Performing in twelve musicals and community theater plays, her favorite was that of the title role in the musical "Annie". By this time, Courtnee discovered another love involving this industry --PSA (Public Service Announcements). At 12, she was cast as a pregnant teen in "No Way To Treat A Lady", a traveling sex education program encouraging abstinence of teen sex. Because her personal convictions are so strong against teenagers eing sexually active, Courtnee still volunteers as much time as her busy schedule allows to these staged readings throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. Furthering her "educational agenda", she also participated in various programs discouraging underage drinking, illicit drug use, and pornography.

The charismatic Courtnee continued to perform in (and win) various local talent contests. The highlight of her singing career thus far came in 1995, when she was the top winner and child representative for San Diego County, allowing her to perform at the Hollywood Pallidum in front of 3,000 spectators.