James Kerwin, (born October 13, 1973) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Education and academics

Kerwin, who was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, attended

Parkway Central High School Parkway Central High School is a public high school in Chesterfield, Missouri that is part of the Parkway School District. History Five elementary school districts merged to form the Parkway Consolidated School District. The name for the distr ...

in Chesterfield. Kerwin graduated with a film degree from

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

in 1995 and a minor in astronomy and physics. He served as a lab instructor and guest artist at T.C.U. and the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He is a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

and

Mensa Mensa may refer to: * Mensa International, an organization for people with a high intelligence quotient (IQ) * Mensa (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname * Mensa (constellation), a constellation in the southern sky * Men ...

, and is a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

Career

Kerwin has been noted for his

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

adaptations of ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'', ''

Cardenio ''The History of Cardenio'', often referred to as simply ''Cardenio'', is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. The play is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a Stat ...

'' and '' Venus and Adonis''. In 2003 he staged

Amber Benson Amber Nicole Benson (born January 8, 1977) is an American actress, singer, writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1999–2002), and has also directed, produced ...

's play ''Albert Hall'' in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. In the early 2000s he was a frequent guest director for Daniel Henning and

Noah Wyle Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series '' ER'' (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emm ...

's Blank Theatre Company and for

Travis Schuldt Travis Schuldt (born September 18, 1974)"Catching up with....Travis Schuldt." ''Soap Opera Digest''. August 12, 2013. p. 63. is an American actor. He originated the role of Ethan Winthrop on '' Passions'', and played the recurring roles of Keith ...

's Lone Star Ensemble. Other projects include the "

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univ ...

noir" film ''

Yesterday Was a Lie ''Yesterday Was a Lie'' is a 2008 neo-noir film written and directed by James Kerwin and starring Kipleigh Brown, Chase Masterson, John Newton, and Mik Scriba. In publicity materials, the film has been described as a combination of science fanta ...

'' with Kipleigh Brown and

Chase Masterson Chase Masterson (born Christianne Carafano on February 26, 1963) is an American actress and singer. Early life Chase Masterson was born Christianne Carafano in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As her father was in the Army,film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending up ...

circuit in 2008 and 2009. He and Brown again collaborated on ''

Star Trek Continues ''Star Trek Continues'' is an American fan-made web series set in the ''Star Trek'' universe. Produced by the nonprofit charity Trek Continues, Inc. and Dracogen, and initially co-produced by Far from Home LLC and Farragut Films, the series cons ...

'', on which Kerwin served as writer/director from 2014-2017. In 2020, Kerwin and actress

Nicola Bryant Nicola Jane Bryant (born 11 October 1960)England & Wales Birth ...

co-hosted the

video podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

''In Isolation''. The

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (of ...

Star Trek Online ''Star Trek Online'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the ''Star Trek'' franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of '' Star Trek: Nemesis''. ''St ...

'' features Kerwin as a

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...

, voiced by actor Jordan Reynolds.

Brendan Fraser Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...

's character in

Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', ''On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerous ...

's 2023

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service) Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content. This content can be purchased individually or unde ...

production ''The Downloaded'' — which opens with a quote attributed to Kerwin — references him when naming historical filmmakers.

Personal life

Kerwin's nieces—Elara and Rhea Kerwin—portrayed

Summer Newman Summer Newman is a fictional character from '' The Young and the Restless'', an American soap opera on the CBS network. Created by head writers Lynn Marie Latham and Kay Alden, the role is currently portrayed by Allison Lanier. The character ...

on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City ...

''. In 2012, Kerwin was named one of the "Top Hunks in Science Fiction" in a readers' poll conducted by

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

-winning

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share t ...

StarShipSofa ''StarShipSofa'' is a science fiction audio magazine and podcast from the United Kingdom hosted by Tony C. Smith. It publishes audio short fiction, commentary, essays, and anthologies of transcribed material. StarShipSofa was the first ever pod ...

''.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerwin, James American film directors Hispanic and Latino American film directors Hispanic and Latino American writers American theatre directors Texas Christian University alumni 1973 births Living people Mensans Parkway Central High School alumni