Jeff Celentano

Jeff Celentano

Jeff Celentano (born 24 May 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. He is a character actor who starred in such films as American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, Puppet Master II, and Demonic Toys. As an actor, he is credited as "Jeff Weston", but now directs under his birth name: Jeff Celentano. In 1994, he turned to directing with his first short film, Dickwad, which won numerous awards at various film festivals. He also directed Under the Hula Moon (which he also co-wrote), Gunshy, and most recently Moscow Heat. Jeff is also an acting teacher and acts as the Executive Director of Drama at The Performer's Academy in Laguna Woods, California.

Personal life

Celentano was born and raised in Pemberton, New Jersey. He says, “Pemberton looks more like a back lot at Disney than a suburb in Southern New Jersey”. He has been married to the actress Musetta Vander since 1988.

Career

Celentano began his career as an actor while living on the East Coast. At 21, he moved to New York, where he became interested in acting, studying with legendary acting coach Stella Adler. He later became a long-time student of Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. As an actor, Celentano went by his mother’s maiden name, Weston. He guest-starred on numerous television shows such as Magnum, P.I. and Dynasty, and twenty feature films, including The New Age, directed by Academy Award-winning writer Michael Tolkin. He was cast in Robert Altman’s hit film, The Player.

It was during this time on set of The Player that Celentano became close with Altman, and increasingly interested in directing. Altman’s advice to Celentano is still carried with him in all of his work today. Fascinated by the behind-the-scenes aspects of filmmaking, and with hopes of one day becoming a director himself, Celentano’s first venture was in theatre. He co-directed and produced the South African Play Soweto’s Burning at the Hudson Backstage. The critically acclaimed production earned the Los Angeles Times “Pick of the Weekend” for five consecutive weeks.

Celentano then made his writing and directing debut with the short film Dickwad, a fast-paced farce about a man’s bizarre journey home from work on his only day off in seventeen years. The short film, which took Celentano less than a week to make, garnered the Gold Prize for Best Original Comedy at the Houston Film Festival, and Best Comedy Short at the Philadelphia International Film Festival. After touring the festival circuit, Dickwad was bought by Showtime and the Sundance Channel.

The strong buzz from the film led to enormous attention from the studio and his signing with ICM. From that success, Celentano received private funding to head up his own production company, Periscope Pictures.

His first feature for Periscope was Under the Hula Moon, which he also co-wrote. This picture starred Stephen Baldwin, Emily Lloyd, and Chris Penn. Under the Hula Moon is a romantic comedy that premiered at The Cannes Film Festival in 1995 and had much success at other European film festivals. It premiered at the Hamburg Film Festival in Germany and was later released in theaters across the U.S.

Celentano’s next project was Gunshy, a drama written by Larry Gross (48 Hrs., Streets of Fire, The Game). Gunshy centers around the relationship between a down-and-out journalist (William Petersen), an Irish mobster (Michael Wincott), and the girl they both love (Diane Lane). Gunshy earned Celentano the Best Director Award at the Atlantic City International Film Festival. In total, Celentano has received 5 awards in his short career as a director.

Celentano has just completed directing two films in Russia, including Say It in Russian, a romantic thriller that stars Faye Dunaway, Rade Sherbedzija, Musetta Vander, and Stephen Brand. He has several projects in the pipeline, including a film with Sony Pictures and several independent projects.

Celentano is the Drama director at The Performer’s Academy in Orange County, California. He oversees, as well as teaches acting to children, teens, and adults. The school provides students with the opportunity to work with film directors, producers, and working actors, and to regularly audition for agents.

Celentano’s influences and favorite directors are The Coen Brothers, Robert Zemeckis, Ridley Scott, Terry Gilliam, Peter Greenaway, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese and David Lean. The Deer Hunter is his favorite film.

External links

• The Performer’s Academy