GRETCHEN OLIVERO'S BIO

 

Film Career

Gretchen Olivero, an award winning narrative shorts film director and SAG-AFTRA actor, wrote her debut feature film, a psychological thriller called Automatism.  It was selected into Accolade Highlights as a Second Rounder, for ScreenCraft Film Fund Fall 2022.  She has plans to move it into production in the near future once she receives funding.  She is starting her production company and in development, she has been creating limited series projects for film and television and a few children's books influenced from her work with young children. 

 

As a professional SAG-AFTRA actor, currently represented by Modern Artists in Los Angeles, she studied a wide range of visual and performing arts which led her to directing and acting. Her short films have played at festivals in the United States and internationally at Napa Valley (where it was selected by Dave Grohl and Rose McGowen), Washington DC Independent, DC shorts, California Independent, Berkeley, Williamsburg, Green Bay, San Francisco Frozen, Bernal Heights, and Corona Fastnet. In 2015, "The Radio Gamers" her last short film screened in Ireland at the Fastnet film festival (selected by acclaimed directors of the festival, Lenny Abrahamson,  of Room and Jim Sheridan, of In America and In the Name of The Father). Then Radiogamers screened at the Hollyshorts monthly screening series and won "Best Narrative Short" in the Bay Area Women and Film Media Festival, as well as, Certificate of Merit at the Williamsburg Independent Film Festival in Brooklyn, NYC.

She was excited to have talent attached to The Radio Gamers; Michael D Wilhoit (sound supervisor, from E.T., 16 Candles), Darcel Walker (location sound of Fruitvale station), now Oscar Nominated Editor Joi McMillon (2017 nominated editor for Moonlight and 2019 nominated film If Beale Street Could Talk). Mark Kelly (Mad Men, The Hot Zone), and Daniel Zacapa (The River). The film was honored to screen at a recent special 2019 screening for the DC Independent film festival's 20th anniversary. Gretchen writes material and her career path is similar to those actor/writer/directors like John Cassavettes, Quentin Tarantino, Ben Stiller, Lena Dunham, The Duplass brothers, Brit Marling, Phoebe Waller- Bridge, Larry David, and Donald Glover to name a few.

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Formative Years

Starting from early childhood in rural California she found a deep love for movies like the Godfather, Time Bandits, and The Elephant Man. Little did she know then that Coppola, Gilliam and Lynch would influence her life and work. In addition, she was always performing  at home obsessed with Grease.  Raised in a Italian family in a small town mostly, she spent half her time with her Mexican/German family on her mothers side. There was not much money for extracurricular activities but she has many memories walking across town to the goodwill store with her grandmother in a migrant neighborhood where her mother, Mexican grandfather and German grandmother lived. She had her imagination and an early exposure to her fathers cartoon illustrations drawn on her paper lunch bags in grade school as well as his paintings that influenced her imagination daily.  Writer and producer Ronald D. Moore of Outlander, was also from her small hometown and his father was her school superintendent. She is also cousin to Kyle XY star Chris Olivero.

 

Her experiences manifested into an obsession with documenting day to day life with a photojournalist photography style in junior high, to then making her first VHS film in high school. She learned a work ethic early landing her first job at fifteen years old. Which eventually led her to leaving for San Francisco to deepen that passion studying film and theater at University.  While taking a philosophy and film course, she saw David Lynch's Blue Velvet and that changed her forever.  A documentary professor suggested to learn about a subject and then learn filmmaking.  Many filmmakers learn film but don't know what to make a story about. His advise was essentially about building a foundation of knowledge for storytelling. 

 

She changed majors between film to art history and studio arts at University but faced with bills it appeared it might be more practical to become an art historian or working for a museum. She absorbed many fine art skills from photography, ceramic sculpture, welding, woodworking,  to art education.  She  worked in the gallery and was published in Sino Ka Ano Ka, a Philippina art show she helped curate. Later she exhibited her paintings in student exhibition as well and cafes in San Francisco.  The Surrealists were her greatest influence in college. 

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She still craved preforming and filmmaking and she was an extra in Robin Williams film Flubber which still introduced and reconfirmed she was intrigued by the excitement of a film set.

 

After graduating from San Francisco State University, she exhibited her paintings locally in cafes. Toying with the idea of becoming a street artist, took on waiting tables to temp work until she landed a job. She worked in a print company CAD department  in her twenties learning as many digital software applications as she could. These skills all formed her knowledge and growth. She traveled around, drove across country and explored some countries with her camera which she found to be more accessible than the other fine arts on her time off.

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Art Education and Painting

Gretchen has a Bachelors in Art emphasis in Art History and Painting.  She is a classically trained studio painter. She studied under professor and acclaimed woman surrealist art historian, Whitney Chadwick, married to the famous Photorealist painter Robert Bechtle, who was also a painting professor at SFSU and is in the SF MOMA.  There she studied along side painting peer and alumni, director Ana "Lily" Amirpour under surrealist painter and influential mentor Paul Pratchenko.  It was no surprise her classmate Lily has become a revered film director as she was a wonderful artist as well.

 

She also holds two certificates from San Francisco State Digital Video Intensive program under the talents of Craig Abaya (Bridge School Benefit), Phil Gallegos (Mattlock), and Sundance two time shorts winning director Eric Escobar.  She then studied at San Francisco School of Digital Film-making as well. Her undergrad art education and American Conservatory theater studies enabled her to attain a California teaching credential for the visual and performing arts from San Jose State University.  She taught oil and acrylic painting, arts and crafts and intro to computers  in Adult Education for five years while producing her short films. She found her strong artistic background only enhanced her film making and acting skills. 

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Actor Training

Realizing her passion for film and acting was greater in her post-graduate years, she continued her studies with acting at the accredited American Conservatory Theater in the evenings after work. Then discovered the Meisner School of Acting in San Francisco under Jim Jarrett after recieving a certificate in Multimedia Digital Film from SFSU.  She especially learned her craft absorbing Sandy Meisner's methods under Jim which was essentially an extremely hard bootcamp for the human experience "behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances".  Then went on to train more professionally for the LA market with her manager Nancy Berwid for six years becoming a pro at reading screenplays and being represented by the Tonry Talent agency. She was thrilled to get a pin for Steven Soderbergh's film Contagion which ultimately went to another actor. She recently trains under acclaimed Los Angeles casting director and producer Matt Barry who cast Notebook stars, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Becoming an actor has given her greater incite to directing actors and creating her own film projects.

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Photography

These days she continues to be  an avid artistic photographer on the side.  Looking back, she often recalls her first photography class in the dark room and making a pinhole camera. Her favorite photographer influence is Diane Arbus and is reflected in her work as well. She has a love for her vintage 360 Polaroid camera. She is also shoots when requested documentary style portraits  with a polaroid transfers option and headshot photography to support actors getting work since she knows what they need in the LA and SF markets. 

 

Personal Life and Community Outreach

For the past several years she has volunteered as a parent teacher at her boys coop preschool to focus on their early play based Reggio childhood development.  Through creative education, she fell in love with working with children and their imaginations. This invaluable experience only supported her creativity in ways she could never imagine in her work. Now she volunteers as a parent teaching artist weekly for K-6th grade in their elementary. What she initially found rewarding about teaching older adults she has found working with children. She is developing several children books from these experiences. 

    

She has a deep love for the individual process in fine arts, but loves the thrill of collaborative and creative process when making movies, in addition to the cathartic process acting with other actors. For her it is the best of all worlds with a zest to always be learning, giving and growing as an individual.

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That desire fuels Gretchen's psychological thriller debut feature film.  She has plans to sell her photography and paintings in the not to distant future.  As a creative artist, she can be hired for work as a director, screenwriter, actor, or freelance photographer and editor with multimedia services. 

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