Joel Marshall - Co-Host

Having grown up in the Seattle area, Joel Marshall has a BA from the University of Washington School of Drama and an MFA from CalArts. He interned at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago while acting in several companies there. He did classical training at Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts, where he played Romeo in their summer season.

Joel performed many plays with the Santa Clarita Repertory Theatre including The Winters Tale, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, Voice of the Prarie and a one-man show about Johnny Appleseed.

In Los Angeles, Joel performed in plays including Boys Life at Theatre West, Romeo and Juliet at Company of Angeles, and the highly-acclaimed play Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk which he also co-wrote with the hilarious theater company The Burglars of Hamm.

He is the producer of the short film Filet of 4 that appeared in the Tribeca Film Festival, wrote and directed the short Coffee Clutch, in which he co-starred with Miguel Sandoval of television's Medium. He is an associate producer on the Spanish film Esa Beso, due to be released later this year. Joel also recently acted in Henry Jaglom’s film Irene in Time, as well as Kamala Lopez-Dawson’s film A Single Woman. Both films are due out by the end of the year.

Joel Marshall is the owner of the computer consulting and website design company Supportus Maximus, Inc. He is also a partner in the venture Peace Path Pictures, whose goal is to distribute films focused on the concepts of peace and social justice.

Kamala Lopez Dawson - Co-Host

Kamala Lopez-Dawson, who has worked primarily as an actress, is also a prolific writer, director and producer. Born in New York City to a mother from Madras, India and a Venezuelan father, Lopez-Dawson lived with her parents in Caracas until the age of fourteen, studying in British and American schools.

Upon the family’s return to New York, Kamala began training at the famed Herbert Berghof Studio. While still in high school, she was cast in CTW’s Sesame Street as Mercedes, Maria’s cousin, a role she portrayed for two seasons before being accepted to Yale University.

At Yale, Lopez-Dawson double majored in Philosophy and Theatre Studies while continuing her professional acting career doing episodic television work over summer breaks. While at college, Lopez-Dawson studied with many such respected teachers as Nikos Psachoropoulos, Bart Teush, Jim Simpson and Lynn Singer and was selected by Jerzi Grotowski to participate in his Objective Drama Workshop in Irvine, California.

She performed in numerous plays including the Yale Mainstage production of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” and the Yale Drama School production of Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past.”

After graduation, Kamala moved to Los Angeles and continued her training with some of the world’s most progressive and renowned acting teachers including Sylvain L’Hermitte, a resident director of La Mama and founder of the multi-lingual theatre company, “Terre de Scene” and the late Sanford Meisner, at his two year masterclass and one year director’s lab. Recently, Kamala returned from Madrid, Spain, where she took part in a professional acting intensive with famed teacher Juan Carlos Corazza.

On screen, Lopez-Dawson can be seen in many diverse roles in motion pictures, including: I Heart Huckabees, directed by David O. Russell, opposite Dustin Hoffman and Mark Wahlberg as the latter’s wife, Molly. Soon to be released “The Circle”, directed by Yuri Zeltser, a film shot in one uninterrupted take; she starred opposite Raul Julia in The Burning Season, directed by John Frankenheimer for HBO Pictures/ Warner Bros.; as Anna, the sexually lethal government agent in Love and Action in Chicago opposite Courtney Vance, Jason Alexander and Kathleen Turner; headlining Lizzie Borden’s racy, irreverent “Let’s Talk About Sex” episode of the international co-production Erotique; opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. as Pilar, the southern dance hall girl who wins his heart in Lightning Jack (Savoy); as crack addicted Belinda opposite Laurence Fishburne in New Line’s Deep Cover directed by Bill Duke (New Line); and her introductory feature lead as Cheech Marin’s sweetheart Dolores in Born in East L.A.

Some of the highlights of Lopez-Dawson’s extensive television career include: the Amnesty International sponsored episode of “21 Jump St.” (for which she won the Imagen Award); opposite Christine Lahti and Ruben Blades in Crazy From The Heart (winner of the Ace Award); opposite Glenn Close in Stones For Ibarra; and guest leads on “24”, “ALIAS”, “JAG” and NYPD Blue” among many other telefilms and episodic programs.

Kamala Lopez-Dawson is presently recurring on the hit NBC show “Medium” as attorney Kristine Romney. She had a recurring role on Showtime’s critically acclaimed series, “Resurrection Blvd.” as artist Sulinda Serrano and on “The Division” as Lisa Vidal’s sister, Connie.

Her commitment to the theatre has continued: onstage at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in Eduardo Machado’s “Floating Islands” (a series of four Cuban plays); playing Rosalind in the controversial New York production of “As You Like It” at the RAPP Arts Center; as a member of East L.A. Players, a repertory company of classically trained Latino actors; and performing stand up improvisational comedy with the group Caught in The Act where Lopez-Dawson began writing sketch comedy.

Her first screenplay, the comedy Mr. Hawaii (co-written by Jay Lacopo), was purchased by Escape Artists/SONY and is presently in active development. Lopez-Dawson, under the auspices of her production company Heroica Films, has written: Legal Affairs, a romantic comedy recently optioned by a German production company and slated to begin filming this summer (2007); The $cheme (co-written by Marcus Gautesen) which was co-produced under the Heroica Films banner and stars Jimmy Fallon; creating Kali (co-written with Karen Finley, a renowned performance and visual artist who has won both Guggenheim and Obie Awards); comedy feature film, “Ms. & Thrope” which Lopez-Dawson will direct; and she is presently writing an episode TV series “Medium” for NBC/Paramount with writing partner Scott Lobdell (writer of Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios’ “Man of the House”).

Heroica Films’ short film “Please...” was produced, written and directed by Lopez-Dawson and had its debut at the Portuguese Film Festival, “Man and His Environment.” Another Heroica Films’ short film “I Killed My Lesbian Wife Hung Her on A Meat Hook and Now I Have a Three Picture Deal at Disney”, co-written and produced by Lopez-Dawson and directed by Ben Affleck, was licensed by AtomShockwave for worldwide distribution and sales and is included in their video compilation “AtomFilms Best of 2000: Cinema with an Edge”. Her short film “Filet of 4” had its premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. She directed and executive produced the TV pilot presentation “Sideliners,” about the lives of professional cheerleaders in the NFL, whose cast includes Judd Nelson and football legend Jim Brown. She recently completed an HD Spanish language short film she directed in Spain, “Ese Beso,” starring well-known Spanish actors (Daniel Freire from “Sex and Lucia” and Lia Chapman from “Before Night Falls”).

Lopez-Dawson is a graduate of the first IFP Director’s Lab under the tutelage of Allison Anders and the Writer’s Lab with Lee David Zlotoff. She was selected for these on the basis of her short film “Please…” and her script “Legal Affairs.”

In December of 2006, Lopez-Dawson completed principal photography on her feature directing debut, “A Single Woman” based on the life of first U.S. Congresswoman, noted pacifist and co-founder of the ACLU, Jeannette Rankin. The production was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Nevada Shakespeare Company and is based on the successful play by the same name. Lopez-Dawson has been invited to premiere the film at MOCA’s [Museum of Contemporary Art] 100 Years of Feminist Art event in the late spring of 2007.

Justin Shumaker - Sound Engineer

Justin Shumaker was born and raised in the SF Bay Area where he developed an interest in movies. Living in Silicon Valley he gravitated toward computers readily as his dad is a software engineer.

After graduating high school he moved to Southern California to pursue his interest in film. Working as a freelance picture editor for several years his interest in post production grew. In 2003 he formed Tiais Post, a small post production company located in Santa Monica California, providing offline editorial through finishing services including sound edit and mix. Catering to independent films such as the critically acclaimed "Valentina's Tango" and the low budget horror "Whispered Illusions."

Justin, who was a fan of the show, contacted Joel and Kamala to assist in the sound engineering for Fat Free Film and has enjoyed meeting and talking with the various guests.