Biographie
Tonatiuh Malanos, notable for his signature deep voice, and for performing the majority (if not all) of the creative work on his films, is a director, actor, voice actor, screenwriter, composer, and editor. He is known for Beyond (2019), and Monday (2018).
Tonatiuh was born on October 5, 1997, in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, and grew up in Sedona, Arizona.
Growing up in Sedona, Tonatiuh was exposed to a wide variety of cultural influences at an early age due to engaging socially with the multinational tourists and the local Native American and spiritualist population, which gave him a broad perspective of the world.
Tonatiuh is of Greek ancestry and is the grandson of the late George J. Malanos, a professor of economics and the former Chairman of the Department of Economics at Georgia State University.
Tonatiuh's first on-screen appearance was in the documentary, The Artist and the Shaman (2002), when he was only two and a half years old. His family was renting the Sedona home of director, Paul Davids, and Davids featured Tonatiuh in the documentary because he began to wonder if Tonatiuh might be the reincarnation of his father, Jules Davids, the well-respected professor of diplomatic history, who was best known for his editorial assistance on President John F. Kennedy's biography, Profiles in Courage.
Tonatiuh first became interested in voice acting when he was 13. He discovered his love of performing as different characters when he would play with his friends on Xbox Live. He took great joy in his friends' and family's laughter and amusement with his funny characters and voices, which made him consider becoming a professional voice actor.
This love of voice acting took a different direction, as Tonatiuh's regular voice began to develop into a signature deep tone. His interest in voice-overs then became a passion, and he was encouraged by his family and friends to pursue that goal as well.
Tonatiuh's interest in filmmaking began in 2012, when he started to create surreal comedy animations for his YouTube channel every so often. This eventually led to his desire to become a serious filmmaker, and he enrolled in the Film and Film and Media Arts Program at Yavapai College in 2017 to pursue that goal. The two short films and the music video that he created during the class, Beyond (2019), Beyond (2019), and his music video for Gary Jules' rendition of "Mad World," all went on to earn accolades, starting in April 2018, when Monday and Mad World were featured in Yavapai College's Emerging Artist Exhibition in Prescott, Arizona.
Mad World was awarded "Best of Show 2D," and Monday received the Cowen Award, juried by esteemed photographer, Salvatore Mancini. Beyond (2019), received semi-finalist status at TiSFF (Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival, Greece) in September 2018, but final selections were determined by slot availability, so it was not screened.
Mad World was screened in June 2018 as an official selection in the Prescott Film Festival's Through Your Eyes Student Competition. In 2019, Beyond premiered at the John Cocteau Cinema in New Mexico as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival's Oddballs and Outcasts shorts program, and was later screened at the Jerome Film Festival, where Tonatiuh earned the award, "Best Up-And-Coming Filmmaker."
