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The middle child between two sisters, Zachary Levi was born as Zachary Levi Pugh on September 29, 1980 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Susan (Hoctor) and Darrell Alton Pugh. He uses his middle name as his stage surname because his birth name, "Pugh", which is of Welsh origin, sounds too much like "Pew." His other ancestry includes Irish, English, French, German, Scottish, and Swiss. He grew up all over the country before his family put down roots in Ventura County, California. At the early age of six, Zachary began acting, singing and dancing in school and local theater productions.

After graduating from Buena High School he headed to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of acting. Zachary began acting in theater, performing roles in such regional productions like Grease, The Outsiders, Oliver, The Wizard of Oz, and Big River. It was his portrayal of Jesus in Ojai's Godspell that brought him to the attention of Hollywood.

He had a supporting role in the television movie Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie (2002) with David Krumholtz, Tory Kittles, Jennifer Morrison, and Nicholas Turturro. He then began acting as Kipp Steadman in the TV series Less Than Perfect (2002) with Sara Rue, Andrea Parker, Eric Roberts, Andy Dick, and Sherri Shepherd.

He was seen in the television movie See Jane Date (2003) on the WB with Charisma Carpenter, Holly Marie Combs, Linda Dano, and Rachelle Lefevre. In his spare time, Zachary enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, skydiving, and participating in various other sports. After living in Los Angeles for the better part of a decade, he recently moved to Austin, Texas.

In 2019 he starred in the action-comedy film Shazam! (2019), playing the title superhero; a magic-created older version of teenager Billy Batson played by Asher Angel. The film and his comic-heroic performance received positive notices.

Sean Patrick Flanery was born in Lake Charles, La. and raised in a small town outside of Houston, Texas. While attending the University of St. Thomas in Houston, he saw a beautiful girl leaving a building on campus every Monday and decided to drop an English class and sign up for "whatever the hell they were teaching in that building". The building was the University's theater department, and the class was acting. Through his theater studies, he penned a piece of children's theater and decided afterwards to pack up his car and head to Los Angeles with the hopes of actually producing the play. Somewhere in the process, an agent approached him and requested to represent him commercially. His first paid role in Hollywood was a Kellog's Corn Pops commercial starring alongside none other than Paul Walker. Shortly after a string of national commercials, the same agent then began representing him for TV/film roles. He very quickly landed the title role in George Lucas' The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) after shooting 2 films for the Mickey Mouse Club called Just Perfect (1990) and My Life as a Babysitter (1990). Since then, Flanery has been in numerous films and TV shows every year, including Powder (1995), The Dead Zone (2002), Saw 3D (2010), Suicide Kings (1997), and the runaway cult hit The Boondock Saints (1999), and most recently, the TV show "Powers" for Sony, which was scheduled to be released in early 2015.

Flanery is also noted for winning the Toyota celebrity race of Long Beach two years in a row, the first as an amateur, and the second after being invited back to compete as a pro. He won after qualifying on the pole both times.

Off camera, Flanery is a high ranking martial artist having earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from the Renzo Gracie lineage on May 4th of 2008. He owns his own BJJ academy called Hollywood Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in West Hollywood, Ca. where he trains regularly when his film schedule allows.

Taja V. Simpson is a Louisiana native of West African and European decent and her colorful background allows her to constantly bring new characters to life. She fell in love with acting when she was seven years old when she and her cousins would 'play pretend'. They would watch movies, learn all the lines and then act them out for fun. Her favorite movie at that time was Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon" and to this day she can still recite all the lines in the movie. "Who's The Master? Sho-Nuff!"

Although she loved acting at a young age, there weren't any programs or schools in Lake Charles, LA that would help cultivate that skill set. She went on to graduate from McNeese State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communication and an emphasis in Broadcast Journalism. From there, she was on the path of being a News Reporter/Anchor.

After College, she moved to Houston, TX but there was a still small voice in her that kept saying, 'you should try acting,' so she did. She enrolled in acting workshops and ended up winning three awards for her performances. (Best Actress, Best Overall Performance and People's Choice) Now, she was bit by the acting bug and there was no turning back. She would have never thought that 'playing pretend' with her family as a young child would also be what she ultimately would do for a living.

Versatility is Taja's greatest accomplishments which is what lead her to guest star in multiple roles on some of the most popular television shows of our time. She received her first breakout role in The Bold & The Beautiful as Adele which she recurred on the show for over two years. Since then some of the shows she has appeared in are; Grey's Anatomy, NCIA, The Thundermans, NCIS:LA, The Soul Man, KC Undercover, and Lethal Weapon. Taja was widely known for her role as the fun and sassy wife opposite legendary Actor and Director Tyler Perry; in Lionsgate's "Tyler Perry's Boo2! A Madea Halloween," and can be seen as Priscilla Owen in BET's newest drama, Tyler Perry's "The Oval."

Taja is also a film director with over 40 plus productions under her belt from stage plays to music videos and short films. Next up is directing television and her first feature.

She can be seen in Christopher Nolan's "My Online Valentine" on Amazon where she leads this film down the dating woes in this hilarious Romantic Comedy. Next up, a Christmas film, "London Mitchell's Christmas" slated for December 2019 along with 3 additional films in the pipeline. You can also see her in other films on Netflix, Amazon & iTunes.

In her new book,"Cracking The Acting Code: A Practical Step By Step Guide To Becoming A Professional Actor", Taja shares her unique story and expertise from moving from a small town in Louisiana, making it on the big screen in Hollywood, and becoming one of the most trusted names in the entertainment business.

Taja's hobbies include: writing, watching and studying films, learning new words and cooking. Her personal interests involve, spending time with her two dogs, working out, boxing, traveling and always being open to learn new things.

In order to succeed in the entertainment industry its important to be multi-talented both on and off screen. From behind the scenes to being in front and center, Actor, Author, Director and Keynote Speaker Taja V. Simpson has proven just that.

Jared Bankens was born on 8 February 1987 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Looking for Alaska (2019), Twisted Metal (2023) and Off Ramp (2023).

Kyle Hebert was one of the few people who knew what he wanted to be as a youth and actually achieved it. In high school and at the University of North Texas, he was a DJ for the school radio stations. Not long after graduation, he worked his way thru many radio formats and eventually found a home on Disney Radio. Better known as "Squeege" to his radio audience, Kyle entertains his young audience with wacky character voices and crazy antics. He pursued his other great interest, Voice Acting. At Funimation, he voiced many characters including teenage Gohan of Dragon Ball Z fame. This has propelled him into celebrity status in the Anime world with world appearances and websites devoted to his work. He also voiced Ryu in the Street Fighter game series. He is also an autistic person.

Amy is an American actor, host and voice over artist best known for her character range as a Series Regular sketch performer in FOX's prime time sketch-comedy series Cedric the Entertainer Presents (22 episodes, 2001-2002) and HBO's dramatic series True Detective with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson (2014). She is the host of a reality dating TV show set in New Orleans, Louisiana called My Amazing Cheap Date (12 episodes, 2021-2022) produced by the multimedia giant Hearst Television as a national original series for Hearst's new streaming channel Very Local, available now on the streaming platforms Apple TV, ROKU, Google Play and Amazon Fire TV. As a voice over talent, her body of work includes commercial VO, animation, film dub voice matches and corporate video.

Amy's love for acting and voice over began onstage as a teenage sketch comic and improv performer with over 50 original characters and impressions. Before the days of Youtube she moved to Los Angeles at age 19 with a self-produced VHS tape of 24 original characters. She worked as a model, then as a commercial actor, booking national and international commercials for brands like Apple, Diet Pepsi, Cars.com, SBC Global, and McVitie's Cookies. Amy starred in the first national commercial campaign for Apple iBook (with Milo Ventimiglia) and iPhoto (with Esteban Powell). She signed with a top voice over agency and voiced characters in the Warner Brothers cartoon Duck Dodgers and Sony's legendary fantasy video game Everquest 2.

Amy's original comedy tape caught the eye of several top agents at the William Morris Agency, TV agent Jeff Witjas and Comedy agents Brian Stern and Conan Smith, and miraculously, with few theatrical credits under her belt, Amy signed with the A-list agency. Her big break in TV came during a screen test for the major network 20th Century Fox for a Series Regular role in a Comedy pilot. She auditioned with original material and landed the pilot but FOX executives went a step further and offered her an exclusive two-year Talent Holding Deal.

Amy's ability to transform often makes her unrecognizable in many of her television and film roles, both comedic and dramatic. In The Last Laugh (2019) with Chevy Chase and Richard Dreyfuss she is a young, fresh, stand-up comic. In the horror comedy Smothered (2016) she is a gray haired, rotten-toothed, cigar-smoking, backwoods psychopath.

Amy currently lives in her home state of Louisiana with her husband and two young sons, and works with "local hire" status in projects filmed in New Orleans, Atlanta, and other cities throughout the Southeast U.S. market. She loves cooking and practicing yoga. She is obsessed with photography, farmers markets and creative writing. She travels often to California and Colorado.

A former U.S Marine and Extreme Sports Enthusiast. This country boy from SW Louisiana (Cajun/Creole Country) is best known for his role as U.S. Chief of Staff Donald Winthrop on the BET hit series The Oval along with his advocacy for US Veterans. He also appears in the 2021 biopic Respect as living legend Smokey Robinson.

Other roles include Lieutenant Garry Marshall in NBC's Grimm, Robert Hawk in OWN's The Haves and the Have Nots, and Miles Harrington in drama film Love, Marry, Kill.

Jen Kober was born on 12 February 1973 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for American Reunion (2012), Paranoia (2013) and Grudge Match (2013).

Wolf, born and raised in Louisiana, has been a working screenwriter and feature film director in Los Angeles for the past 15 years. She began her career in the indie world, co-writing the controversial short "Don's Plum" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire.

Wolf then wrote, directed, and produced the award-winning short films "The Burgundy Room" and "Wait", followed by her first theatrical feature, the Cajun drama "Little Chenier" which won 10 Best Picture Awards, 6 International Best American Film Awards during its festival run followed by its theatrical release.

Wolf has had numerous screenwriting assignments for both studio and independent companies, including "Other People's Love Letters" (CBS Films & Laurence Mark Productions), "Time Between Us" (CBS Films & Robin Schorr Productions), "The Pilgrimmage of Layla Quinn" (Lifetime & Wendy Riche Productions), "On the 12th Day" (Radio London Films) and the screenplay "Bullrider".

Wolf also wrote the original screenplay "Love Scene" a biopic that chronicles the 25-year love affair of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Wolf wrote and directed a short film of the same name that won 8 Best Short, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actress awards worldwide on its international festival run.

Wolf recently wrote and directed the feature film "Forever My Girl" for LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate accompanied by a country star soundtrack that Wolf developed herself.

Wolf is currently working on two docuseries with ITV that are filming in Nashville along with writing & directing a series of lyrical novellas for well-known musical artists.

John Wesley was born on 3 August 1947 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) and Hang 'Em High (1968). He was married to Jenny Aubert. He died on 8 September 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Dempsey Pappion was born on 27 August 1979 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and casting director, known for Lift (2024), War of the Worlds (2005) and La La Land (2016).

Choppy Guillotte was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor, known for Mayfair Witches (2023), Leverage: Redemption (2021) and First Man (2018).

Emily Moss Wilson was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Christmas in Mississippi (2017), Drink (2014) and Nanny Seduction (2017). She has been married to Greg Wilson since 4 July 2009. They have two children.

Wayne McLaren was born on 12 September 1940 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Mission: Impossible (1966), The Honkers (1972) and Cry for Me Billy (1972). He died on 22 July 1992 in Newport Beach, California, USA.

John Brister has overseen 80+ feature films and TV productions, including the Oscar winning best picture "Green Book".

Most recently, he was the UPM on the Bill Lawrence series "Bad Monkey" for Apple and Warner Brothers.

He was the UPM on the John Lee Hancock / Stephen King feature "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" for Netflix and Blumhouse.

He was also the UPM on the Sony series "I Know What You Did Last Summer" for Amazon.

Ethan Hawke relied on Brister's production expertise for his feature "Blaze".

As producer and UPM, Brister lead the COVID shutdown and restart of the series "Welcome to the Blumhouse" for Amazon.

Brister was the UPM on the Craig Zobel feature "The Hunt" for Universal Studios and Blumhouse.

He was also the UPM on the Stephen Merchant feature "Fighting with My Family" for MGM.

Previously, Brister was a senior production executive overseeing a large slate of films. His involvement included developing the screenplays, working with the sales agents, banks, and bond companies to complete the financing, creating budgets, negotiating actor, director, and union contracts, and overseeing production. Brister also supervised the post-production process, including delivery and the repayment of production loans.

John Brister grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. He graduated with a B.A. in history from U.C.L.A.

He is a member of the Director's Guild of America.

Barry Lowin is an actor best known for his work on The Mandalorian, The Big Bang Theory and The Bold and the Beautiful. Barry also performed as The Trickster in Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. Barry is originally from Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater and Journalism.

Daniel Paul Ballard was born on November 5 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is the son of A.D. and Connie and has a brother, 'Nick Ballard' who is also an actor. His parents owned a pipelining company in Louisiana where he and his brother worked during the summers while in school. Daniel started acting when he was in his late teens and attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he majored in Theatre. He started to transition into film during this time. After graduating he then was accepted into the Masters program at Texas Tech University. Daniel graduated with an MFA in acting and directing, then started to work in Texas on several films as an actor and directing his first film, Alike in Dignity. He worked in Louisiana and Texas briefly before moving to Los Angeles and is now acting, directing, producing, and writing. He is known for his roles in White Trash, Piece by Piece and Indestructibles.

Josh Marcantel was born on 7 July 1981 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor, known for Modern Love (2019), 48 Blocks and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).

Lucinda Williams was born on 26 January 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for X-Men (2000), Wild (2014) and Transamerica (2005). She has been married to Tom Overby since 18 September 2009. She was previously married to Greg Sowders.

Andre Dubus was born on 11 August 1936 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He was a writer, known for In the Bedroom (2001), We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) and A Year in the Life (1987). He was married to Patricia and Peggy Rambach. He died on 24 February 1999 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA.

Alex Boling was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Will & Grace (1998), The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008) and Suburgatory (2011).

Travis Quentin Young was born and raised on the bayou in Westlake, Louisiana. At 10 years old he made his television debut on Ed McMahon's Star Search (1983) singing country music. From there he went on to tour a one-man show while honing his acting chops on stage in theaters around Louisiana.

After formally studying music and theater (Berklee College of Music/McNeese State University) Travis made the move to Los Angeles. He was soon cast in the short film The Replacement Child (2007) and was awarded, Outstanding Performance by an Actor, in the Winnipeg International Film Festival, and Best Actor in the Barbados International Film Festival.

His voice talent got him into one of the toughest loop groups in town and he has recorded over 25 features including There Will Be Blood (2007), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Happy Feet (2006).

Travis continued his on-camera work in a number of television series and films, such as The Automatic Hate (2015), ABC Family's Teen Spirit (2011), Devious Maids (2013) on Lifetime, and HBO's Vinyl (2016).

Hannah Pérez was born on 25 June 1985 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for 30 Years Blues (2019), Plaza Sésamo (1972) and Tony Tango (2015).

Matt Forte was born on 10 December 1985 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is an actor, known for Chicago Fire (2012), The League (2009) and My Time (2020). He has been married to Danielle Forte since 2011. They have one child.

Mark Landry was born on 3 September 1979 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. He is a writer, known for AutonomousLESs (2004), Fluffy (2005) and Zombie Prom.