Actor/Writer/Director Leif Gantvoort
Leif Gantvoort has worked in the entertainment industry for over 25 years, donning many different hats and winning many awards along the way. His latest feature (director, writer, actor, producer) “A Pretty Good Movie” won Best Feature Film at the Pasadena International Film Festival (where he was also nominated for Best Actor and Best Director), and Best Feature at the Portland Festival of Cinema) and a Best Comedy award (GenCon Film Festival). The film was also nominated for Best Writing, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Feature at the Micheaux Film Festival. As a director, his previous feature “The 60 Yard Line” won Best Comedy at the Wisconsin Film Festival, the Phoenix ComiCon Film Festival, and the IFS Film Festival. His short films: “Passed the Brush” won Best Short at Vertical Movie Film Festival and the VertiFilms Prague Film Festival; “Heavy Stuff” won Best Comedy/Horror at the South Dakota Film Festival and the Die Laughing Film Festival; “Birth is Beautiful” won him Best Editing at the Reel Comedy Festival; and "Hyte" was nominated for Best Sci-Fi Short at Shockerfest. As an actor, Leif has been in “The Amazing Spider-Man” (where he killed Uncle Ben) and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” (where he tried his best to kill Paul Blart). Other lead roles in features include “Don’t Blink,” “AWOL-72,” and “Lunatics, Lovers and Poets” (which earned him a Best Lead Actor nomination at Method Fest Film Festival). He has guest starred on numerous TV shows, including: "The Hunting Party," "Will Trent," “The Rookie,” “NCIS,” “S.W.A.T.,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” and “Chicago P.D.,” to name a few. As a playwright, his stage play "The Zombie Effect" has had 3 sell-out runs in Los Angeles, and his stage play "Mark on Society" was on the short list for the Garland Awards. He has also won two L.A. Weekly Awards as a lighting designer. Leif was the resident director at ACME Comedy for over 5 years, where he also taught the performance class to all levels of actors. He spent 5 years teaching students stage production techniques at Santa Monica College. In his very limited free time, he skates as a banked track roller derby referee (under the name of Wild Bill Hiccup) for the L.A. Derby Dolls.