Faculty Directory

Denise Carlson

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Denise Carlson is a producer, consultant and development executive with twenty five years of experience in the entertainment industry. She was at Disney Channel for 9 years as the Director of Original Movies, responsible for overseeing the development and production of 47 television movies, including the megahit High School Musical, as well as other highly successful films such as Wendy Wu and The Cheetah Girls movies. She has also produced series for Disney+ and independent productions. She is on the board of the LA Femme film festival, which is dedicated to presenting films that are made by and about women. She has a BFA from Rollins College and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Ryokan College.

Roxanne Captor

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Roxanne Messina Captor is an Emmy-nominated, Humanitas Prize-winning creator/ producer/writer/director. She executive produced and wrote the story for Hallmark Channel’s Dream Moms, starring Tamera Mowry-Housley and Chelsea Hobbs, premiering on May 13. Captor admits. “I always write from personal experience,” and fortunately, she’s had an interesting life to draw from, but she is equally focused on elevating others, especially women, to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry. Towards that end, Messina Captor is a current member of the California Arts Council, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom, and she’s currently a Film and Television Studies professor at New York Film Academy and Santa Monica College, after teaching at Cal Arts, Emerson LA, UCLA and Loyola Marymount.

Messina Captor received the Emmy nomination and a Humanitas Prize for producing CBS’ Home Sweet Homeless, she also directed and produced Lifetime’s Her Married Lover and CBS’ Fatal Vows, produced HBO’s Dead on Sight, and wrote/produced/directed and choreographed countless other award-winning shorts and theatrical productions. Messina Captor is the former Executive Director of the San Francisco International Film Festival and Film Society, and she was awarded France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her producing/directing work in films.

It all began in Chicago, when her mother, a ballet dancer, gave up her career to become a devoted mom who inspired her daughter’s appreciation for the arts, especially dance. Messina Captor was accepted into the Chicago Lyric Opera at 12 after dancing as a child in Equity musicals and at the Goodman Theatre, followed by stints in NY’s Harkness Ballet, the Béjart Ballet in Brussels and Paris and guesting at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet before eventually being cast in Bob Fosse’s Pippin on Broadway after 11 previous rejections for Fosse shows. She also danced on-screen in the films The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Xanadu and Pennies from Heaven, and she became the assistant choreographer to Gene Kelly on her mentor Francis Ford Coppola’s One from the Heart. “By age 30, I and most dancers are looking for new careers as their bodies are done,” says Messina Captor. She became one of the founding production executives at TNT. Overseeing other people’s films helped her clarify her actual goal of being a creator herself and telling her own stories as a producer/writer and director. Messina Captor confessed, “I realized that my dance skills of passion, discipline, organization and dedication, coupled with my network exec background, were perfectly suited to producing, so I never looked back and stayed happily behind the camera ever since.”

Messina Captor’s awarding-winning documentary shorts, Homecoming: Veterans, Wives and Mothers and Thank You for Your Service also screened at the UN and Doctor Biden’s Common Defense Organization. Her award-winning short, A Couple of White Chicks at the Hairdresser premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner before debuting on Comedy Central.

With multiple films and TV series in pre-production or development, Messina Captor continues to find inspiration for her future projects all around, but her best source material is always found in the woman in the mirror.

Nick Cartell

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Nick recently completed a two and a half year run as prisoner 24601, aka Jean Valjean on the National Tour of Les Misérables. He was previously seen in Paramour, the first musical produced on Broadway by Cirque Du Soleil, where he was a standby for and performed the three male lead roles. He also appeared in Scandalous the Musical, written by TODAY show host Kathie Lee Gifford, about the life and trials of Aimee Semple McPherson, and can be heard on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. Nick made his Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated 2012 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, understudying the roles of Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot and the High Priest Annas, all three performed. He has also toured the U.S. and Canada in The Phantom of the Opera.
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Nick has sung with the South Coast Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony and as a member of the critically acclaimed group The Broadway Boys. In March 2019 he performed his first solo show, Bringing it Home, to a sold out room at Feinstein’s/54 Below. Nick and his wife Christine are also the creators of Broadway Fights Ovarian Cancer, a benefit organization raising awareness and funds for Ovarian Cancer research.
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A graduate of Arizona State University with a BFA in Theatre, Nick enjoyed a brief stint in Japan performing with a certain famous Mouse. While there he met his incredible wife, actress/singer Christine Cartell.

Neil Casey

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Neil Casey is a cinematographer whose body of work includes feature films, short films, documentaries, music videos, and live events. He started his career in New York, where he worked as a camera operator and lighting technician for film and television before moving to Los Angeles to earn his master’s degree. For over a decade he has had the pleasure of working with a variety of artists and companies, including Stan Lee’s World of Heroes and POW! Entertainment. At NYFA, Neil works to teach aspiring directors and cinematographers the art, practices, and technologies that exist in the ever-evolving world of cinematography.

Christopher Cass Acting for Film Instructor

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BA in Theatre, University of Georgia. NY and LA credits include “Rounding Third,” “Jerusalem,” “Gaining Ground,” “RFK” (Off-Broadway), “Sleepwalk,” “Born in the RSA,” “Much Ado” (Central Park), “Henry V” (Off-Broadway) and “Macbeth.” Television credits include: “ER,” “Like Family,” “Tucker,” “Fired Up,” “Cedric the Entertainer,” “Night Court,” and many more.

Marina Catala

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Marina Catala is a New York-based Producer and Editor who has developed, produced and edited hundreds of hours of television content for networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Bravo, and The CW. She graduated with an MFA in Editing from the AFI Conservatory in 2003, just as reality TV was emerging as a major presence on broadcast and cable television. She was an Editor on shows like The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother, before a desire for more creative input took her out of the edit chair. For several years she oversaw the Post departments of shows like Ink Master and I Used to be Fat, and then took her command of Post Production and applied it to all aspects of Production – from development to pre-production to field producing – as an Executive Producer. Most recently, she was the EP of Impractical Jokers for seven seasons, and the Showrunner of its spin-off, After Party, for three seasons.

Kristy Cates

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Kristy Cates has been a professional actress in New York City for over two decades. She made her Broadway debut in the Original Broadway Cast of the smash hit, Wicked, as the understudy to Idina Menzel, and can be heard on the iconic cast recording. She went on to play the lead role of Elphaba in Wicked (Broadway, First National Tour, Chicago), Miss Bassett in Finding Neverland (Broadway), Grandma Josephine in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Original Broadway Cast/Cast Recording), Jerry Springer: the Opera (Carnegie Hall), as well as numerous off-Broadway and Regional productions.

She is a professional voiceover artist and has been heard on national tv/radio commercials for such brands as Subway, Almay Cosmetics, Chase Bank, PNC, and more. Kristy is an original member of NYFA’s Musical Theatre faculty dating back to 2009 and has taught master classes in musical theatre technique worldwide. In 2019, she was named “Young Alumni of the Year” by her esteemed alma mater, the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, for her combined accomplishments in performance and teaching. Kristy is honored to be the current Chair of Musical Theatre for the Professional Conservatory of Musical Theatre at The New York Film Academy.

Craig Caton Creative Director of Media Arts Department

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Craig started out by doing makeup effects and animatronic puppets on movies such as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Tremors, and Ghostbusters. Moving into the digital era, he worked as a character technical director for Disney Feature Animation and for DreamWorks Animation as a layout artist. Working for Stan Winston, Craig supervised the creation of a network of Silicon Graphics workstations that would later become a core piece of the Digital Domain when Stan partnered with James Cameron and Scott Ross. He is credited as one of the eight co-founders of Digital Domain.

Edward Cha

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MFA in Film, UCLA TFT
Ed Cha is a writer-director-producer of film and theater. He has worked as a Technical Director for theater, working with world-renowned artists including, Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, Rachel Rosenthal, and Oguri. As a Line Producer, he has produced for the Rolling Stones, and produced Katie Q, Shuffle, and Hello Herman. His company Mean Panda Productions is overseeing a short film production series anthology Three Palms, View Obscured focusing on the themes of homes and homelessness. Ed’s has written and will direct one of the shorts, My Honey Bee. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches Storytelling with Purpose, Scene Study, Elements of Screenwriting, and Feature Workshops. For the Filmmaking Department in LA, he teaches Thesis Prep and Producing.

Samrat Chakrabarti

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Samrat Chakrabarti is a prolific, international artist. He holds a MFA in Acting from the A.R.T/ Moscow Art Theatre School Program at Harvard University. He has appeared/recurred on countless American TV shows and films including Homeland (Showtime), The Sinner (USA), 30 Rock (NBC), Mr. Robot (USA), The Sopranos (HBO MAX), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, (NETFLIX), Sneaky Pete (AMAZON), Damages (FX), Blue Bloods (CBS) and Little Voice (APPLE TV+).

Samrat also works consistently in film, both in Hollywood and International projects, ranging from Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me” to Gurinder Chadha’s “Viceroy’s House” to Sarah Colangelo’s “The Kindergarten Teacher” to Deepa Mehta’s film adaption of Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children”.

In addition to being an award-winning actor, Samrat is also an acclaimed musician and director.

Xiaoxiao Chen

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Xiaoxiao Chen is a professional editor managing post production processes and storytelling techniques for feature films, TV, art exhibitions, installations, and commercials. Her clients include such giants as HBO, Paramount, Museum of Modern Art, Sony Pictures, Apple, New Balance. Career history of developing creative projects including works screened at Cannes Film Festival, DOC NYC, TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and the United Nations.

Yonghui Chen Associate Vice President of IT & Systems

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Yonghui Chen has been at NYFA since 2008, where he developed the IT & Systems department from the “stone age” of technology to SaaS/PaaS with multi-level structure. In his current role as the Associate Vice President of IT & Systems, Yonghui leads and guides the professional services functions within the Academy’s Information Technology Services (ITS). He is responsible for the strategic planning and project lifecycle of core business systems (and integrations to related systems), including the student information system, student portal, CRM services, marketing, finance, and related solutions. He is also expanding the scope of developing technologies to benefit the campus community, implementing innovative applications for these technologies, and enhancing the university’s information technology function, particularly its focus on supporting teaching and learning. Yonghui received his MS degree in Information Technology. His favorite TV show is Friends, and in his spare time, he enjoys reading.

Yoselin Solórzano Student Life Coordinator at New York Campus

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Yoselin Solórzano is an Ecuadorian filmmaker and educator based in New York. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Producing from the New York Film Academy and a Master’s Degree in Educational Innovation from Universidad Internacional de La Rioja in Spain. With more than a decade of experience in the Ecuadorian television industry, she has worked as a Content Producer and First Assistant Director on both scripted and unscripted productions. After relocating to the United States, she joined NYFA, where she taught producing, filmmaking, and filmcraft courses. She currently serves as Student Life Coordinator at the New York campus.

Sally Chun

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Sally Chun earned her M.Ed. in Postsecondary Administration & Student Affairs at USC and her B.A. in Communication at UCSB. Her area of study targets student affairs – exploring the correlation between race and socioeconmic status vs. student success and experience in higher education. Prior to joining NYFA, she served as the Student Services Advisor for USC graduate students and as a Senior Seminar Instructor for the federal educational TRIO program – Upward Bound. Currently, she teaches LAS courses at the NYFA – Los Angeles campus and also serves the Academic Affairs Manager for BFA Filmmaking & BA Media Studies students.

Ricardo Coke-Thomas

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Originally from London, England, Ricardo Coke-Thomas brings nearly three decades of professional experience to
NYFA. His stage career has spanned the West End, Broadway, national and international tours, and film. London
audiences will remember him as Simba in Disney’s The Lion King, Donkey in Shrek the Musical, Tyrone Jackson
in Fame, and Lucky Gordon in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s world premiere of Stephen Ward. He has also appeared in
beloved productions such as Hairspray, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, A Chorus Line, Oliver!, The Harder They
Come, The Pajama Game, Fela!, and One Love: The Bob Marley Musical. On screen, Ricardo is credited
in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Gulliver’s Travels, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat alongside Donny
Osmond.

Since moving to the U.S. in 2018, Ricardo has performed on Broadway and across the country returning to the show
The Book of Mormon, a show he also performed in on the West End. His directing credits include the plays Many
Loves, Ain’t No Fairytales In Section 8, House of Bernarda Alba and Sunshine on Peachtree. For NYFA he has
directed summer showcases and the musical theater department’s fall musical The Prom. He was also the Resident
Director for Dreamgirls the UK Tour directed by Casey Nicholaw. Beyond the stage, Ricardo is the founder and CEO
of Square Mile Management, a London-based talent agency representing performers across theater, film, and
television.

Amina Cruz

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Amina Cruz was born and lives in Los Angeles. She hitchhiked around the country before deciding to move to New York City, where she earned her BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design. She also holds a MFA from UCLA. Cruz’s work is held in various private collections and is a part of the Getty’s permanent collection. Her interests are based in queer culture, film/analog photography, and exploring the space between transformation and identity. Her current work explores the outsider cultures of brown queer punks throughout the Americas.