Biografia
Ford Austin, a celebrated actor and filmmaker, is an award-winning American talent born in Oklahoma and raised in Texas. He produces feature films in Los Angeles. Austin is a descendant of oil baron J. Steve Anderson, founder of Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation (APCO). During the mid-1990s, he lived as an actor in Philadelphia and New York City, appearing in stage productions such as the Philadelphia premiere of The Grapes of Wrath, Homecoming, Death of a Salesman at The Papermill Playhouse (alongside Ralph Waite and Lisa Richards), Macbeth, and Lawyers at Westport Country Playhouse (with Kevin Conway), among others. While in New York, he also appeared on television series including Another World and Saturday Night Live.
In 2000, Austin made his feature film debut in the war movie Pearl Harbor, portraying one of the legendary Doolittle pilots under director Michael Bay. He gained widespread recognition for his role as Darwin in Vicky Jenson's Family Tree, starring alongside Talia Shire and Harland Williams. The film premiered at Sundance, won the jury prize at SXSW, became a favorite on the film festival circuit, and qualified for the Academy Awards. Following this success, Austin embarked on a national tour performing the one-man show MaleIntellect: An Oxymoron for nearly two years before returning to Hollywood to explore writing and directing.
During this period, Austin collaborated with close friend Scott Ingalls to write and direct the comedy series The Wright Stuff, about The Wright Brothers. The show premiered on Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab's Channel 101 network, running for six months in prime time before cancellation. Austin then wrote and directed another Academy-qualifying film, Tiny Dancer, shot on Universal Studios' backlot. The movie featured a ballerina who uses dance to evade street punks, with choreography by Balanchine dancer Zippora Karz. It opened in theaters, becoming Austin's second Academy-qualifying film.
Around this time, Austin was recruited by Stephen Chao (COPS, America's Most Wanted) and Mike Goedecke of Belief Design to help launch the internet company WonderHowTo.com. As one of the first five hires, he became a shareholder and Vice President of Original Production, writing, producing, and starring in over 300 pieces of content. Two years later, Austin returned to directing under his own company, The Ford Austin Company, creating over a dozen low-budget horror films including The Curse of Lizzie Borden, Attitude for Destruction, and the cult horror-comedy classic Dahmer vs. Gacy, which won numerous awards and was released in the Laemmle theater chain.
On March 9, 2011, while producing seven feature films, Austin suffered a life-changing car accident in Hollywood, California, that halted his work. He spent two weeks in a coma followed by five months at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Given a 1% chance of survival and told he might never walk again, Austin defied the odds, continuing to work from his hospital bed. During his recovery, he produced the feature documentary The Right to Love: An American Family with Cassie Jaye, attending its premiere at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin, California. The documentary became Austin's third Academy-qualifying film. Upon returning home from his first of seven hospitalizations, Austin discovered a full-page Variety ad for The Ghostmaker, a film he had been producing before his accident, released by Lions Gate Entertainment.
Austin then relocated to New York City, undergoing additional hospitalizations and surgeries. During his recovery, he created, produced, and pitched The Angry Baby Monkey Short Film Showcase to Time Warner Cable in Manhattan, completing a 26-episode series that aired in New York City for a year.
In 2012, fully recovered and supported by his wife Lauree Dash, Austin returned to work in Los Angeles. He became a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio, studying with notable instructors including Mark Rydell, Lou Antonio, Lisa Richards, Cathleen Leslie, James DiStefano, Allan Miller, and his mentor Martin Landau.
