Betty Garcia
Betty Garcia
Filmmaker | Creative Producer | Teaching Artist
Betty Marisol García is a filmmaker and creative producer with experience in narrative,
documentary, and commercial production. Her award-winning short films have screened
at festivals including the HBO New York Latino Film Festival and the New Latin Cinema
Festival in Havana. She has produced content for clients such as Nickelodeon and The
Ford Foundation. Betty holds an M.A. in Film and Media Studies from The New School
and is a dedicated teaching artist committed to nurturing emerging voices in film.
Ebba-Marie Gendron
Ebba-Marie Gendron
Ebba-Marie Gendron has been teaching English as a second language to university students for the past 13 years. This is her “new teaching career,” as she’s been an acting teacher for the past 30 years, with a concentration in movement work. In addition to her experience as a teacher, she graduated from UCLA with a masters degree in dance/movement therapy and worked with a chronic and acute psychiatric adult population for several years. She has been a member of the NYFA faculty for the past 7 years, having taught in the ESL, Acting for Film, and Pathways programs.
Dr. Mahsa Ghanbarpoor
Dr. Mahsa Ghanbarpoor
Mahsa received her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, with a focus on TEFL, from the University of Tehran. Driven by a passion for integrating technology in learning environments, she later completed a second doctorate and earned an Ed.D. in Educational Technology from the University of Florida. Mahsa has extensive teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels and actively contributes to the scholarly community. She has translated a few books, published multiple peer-reviewed journal articles, authored chapters in academic books, and presented her research at national and international conferences in higher education and second language acquisition. Mahsa is also a published creative writer, with short stories and film criticism articles written in her first language. Her primary research interests include genre knowledge, exemplar comparison, dynamic assessment, teacher education, and learner characteristics in (second) language pedagogy.
Cathy Giannone Russo
Cathy Giannone Russo
BFA from Strasberg Institute at NYU. Lifetime member of Actors Studio. Has taught at Artist Theatre Group and Third Street Theatre. Recipient of two Drama Circle Awards and four DramaLogue Awards. Cathy Giannone is known for her work on The Bogus Witch Project, CB4 and The Little Rascals Save the Day.
Jeremiah Ginn
Jeremiah Ginn
Jeremiah Ginn is a multifaceted actor, singer, dancer, pianist, music director, and coach based in New York City, most recently nominated by the St. Louis Theater Circle for Outstanding Performer and Music Director in Stages St. Louis’ production of “Murder for Two”. Jeremiah’s New York City credits include “The Big Gay Jamboree” and “A Sign of the Times” (where he served as Dance Captain for both), “The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show”, “Murder for Two”, and “Anything Goes”. On the road, Jeremiah was seen both onstage and in the orchestra pit of the First National Tour of “Anastasia”, and performed in tours of both “Murder for Two” and “A Chorus Line” (directed and choreographed by original company member Baayork Lee). His extensive regional credits include Arena Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Ogunquit Playhouse, The Muny, Cape Playhouse, NSMT, Gulfshore Playhouse, Stages St. Louis, and many more. Jeremiah is a California native and proud uncle to four nieces who are way cuter than yours.
Maria Gobetti
Maria Gobetti
MA and BA in Theatre, UCLA. Artistic Co-Director at The Victory Theatre Center, with over 80 directing credits. Maria directed the critic’s choice world premieres of Jon Klein’s Suggestibility and Wishing Well. She also directed and produced the critic’s choice production of David Mamet’s Oleanna; the world premieres of American Iliad by Donald Freed. Maria was the 1992 recipient of Women in Theatre’s Outstanding Achievement In Theatre Award.
Lynda Goodfriend
Creative Director of Performing Arts Department
Lynda Goodfriend Creative Director of Performing Arts Department
Creative Director
Lynda received her BFA from Southern Methodist University. She has also studied with the legends, Lee Strasberg and Sandy Meisner. Lynda is a veteran of both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions appearing in shows such as Good News, West Side Story, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Boyfriend. She was a series regular on the iconic hit television show “Happy Days,” and on the series “Who’s Watching the Kids,”and “Blanksy’s Beauties.” She guest starred on shows such as Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Vegas. She has also appeared in feature films such as “Pretty Woman,” “Taxi Driver,” “The Front,” “Beaches,” and “Nothing in Common.” Lynda was owner and principle instructor of the Actors Workout School for 15 years with locations in both Los Angeles and Orange County. Her theatre, the Actors Workout Theatre in NoHo, won numerous awards for its theatrical productions. She has also directed for television and film including a Disney pilot and the television movie Four Stars. Lynda opened her management company in 1983 and developed many actors’ careers until she became Chair of the Acting Department for NYFA in Los Angeles in 2011.
Prima Gonzalez
Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Prima Gonzalez Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Prima has been teaching domestically and internationally for 15 years, including locations such as India, France, Morocco, and Costa Rica. She is a consistent presenter at TESOL conferences and holds the level chair position on the CATESOL Board of Directors. She has years of curriculum development experience and shaped the academics of The ESL School at NYFA. As a native Angeleno, one of her goals is to connect students with the community via volunteering and cultural events.
Lee Gordon
Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Filmmaking)
Lee Gordon Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Filmmaking)
MFA in Screenwriting, AFI. With over a decade of industry experience, companies such as Disney and Warner Brothers have trusted Lee Gordon for his writing expertise. Having worked as a screenwriter and story consultant, Lee’s talents have taken him into adventurous corners of Hollywood. He was field producer for the scrappy indie documentary, Undefeated, which won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; writer for the Jean Claude Carriere Lifetime Achievement Award production for the Oscars narrated by Jeremy Irons; and has helped write several award-winning trailers.
Taylor Gordon
Taylor Gordon
Taylor Gordon, an international dancer, creator, and educator based in NYC since 2005 and teaching at NYFA since 2023. Performance credits include: Metropolitan Opera Ballet (Lincoln Center), Radio City Christmas Spectacular (4 seasons), Angelina Ballerina (off-Broadway/US tour), Kennedy Center, & Carnegie Hall, NY City Center Encores! pre pro, Exit12 Dance Company, Black Iris Project. Choreography credits include: Princeton University, STEPS Beyond Foundation, Dixon Place, “Juliette’s Miracle” film, Jazz Choreography Enterprises, Uptown Rising, Asian-American Film Awards, Women in Motion, Queens Outdoor Dance Festival, DanceAction Garden Series, Nacre Dance Group, T2 Dance Company, LILA Dance Festival. Teaching: NY Film Academy, United Nations Ballet Club, BDC, India, Japan, Indonesia, Peridance, Gibney Dance, Ailey Extension. Featured in NYTimes, CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX5, The Times of India, Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, & Dance Teacher Magazine. She’s been a Resident Director for Dublin Worldwide Productions since 2019. Taylor recently attended Dance Lab NY’s Broadway Choreography Intensive under Josh Prince & has assisted several Broadway choreographers as a Show Supervisor for RWS Global, including Sara Edwards, Chip Abbott, John Scufka, and JoAnn Hunter.
Lizzie Gottlieb
Lizzie Gottlieb
Lizzie Gottlieb has been directing film and theater in New York for the last 25 years. Lizzie’s most recent film, Turn Every Page, is a documentary about the prickly, funny, wildly productive half-century collaboration between Lizzie’s father, the editor Robert Gottlieb, and the author Robert Caro (The Power Broker, The Years of Lyndon Johnson). Caro, 87, and Bob Gottlieb, 91, are in a race against time to finish their life’s work. The film premiered in June 2022 at the Tribeca Film Festival and has since played at dozens of festivals, winning several audience awards, was named one of the best five documentaries of the year by the National Board of Review, and has received rave reviews. The film was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics and is currently playing in theaters across the country.
Her first film, Today’s Man, about her brother, who is on the Autistic Spectrum, aired on PBS (Independent Lens). Her film Romeo Romeo, about a young lesbian couple on a quest to have a baby, was also on PBS (America Reframed) and won the NLGJA award for excellence in Documentary.
She founded and ran an Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to producing new plays at accessible prices. With that company, Pure Orange Productions, she produced and directed plays, including Keith Bunin’s The Principality of Sorrows[4] with Robert Sean Leonard, David Lansbury, and Joanna Going; Marking by Patrick Breen, starring Peter Dinklage, Amy Ryan, Adina Porter, and Maria Tucci. Other productions included Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Evolution with Josh Hamilton and Peter Dinklage, Noel Coward’s Private Lives with Sara Ramirez, and Fifth Planet by David Auburn with Christina Kirk and Michael Ian Black. Gottlieb directed plays for Naked Angels, New York Stage and Film, malaparte, and Julliard.
Ben Granoff
Ben Granoff
Ben Granoff has worked as a cartoonist in New York City for over 20 years and has taught for even longer. He wears several comics production hats working with publisher Cosmic Lion Productions and has storyboarded commercials and independent films. Constantly seeking inspiration in the classroom has transformed Ben’s work into play.
Miraj Grbic
Miraj Grbic
Miraj Grbic is a Film, TV & Theater actor with more than 60 films and TV Shows including Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, The Hunting Party, Fast & Furious, Babylon, American Horror Story, SWAT, Santa Clarita Diet etc… He studied Acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo and got his MA in Acting. He started working on Films and on the main stage of the National Theater Sarajevo in the late 90s. He worked on Films and TV shows in US, Bosnian, Croatian, Turkish, German, Australian, Irish and Italian productions while starring on TV Shows and in Theater for more than two decades in plays from Shakespeare, Chekhov, Moliere, Camus and many others. Miraj is currently filming a studio feature film and is teaching Acting for Film and Business of Acting at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles.
Dennis Green
Dennis Green
Multi-decade professional actor/writer/producer. MFA,
Israel Gutierrez
Israel Gutierrez
Israel Gutierrez is a Mexican American filmmaker with a background in film and video editing. He worked as an editor at NBCUniversal for E! Entertainment International and Telemundo International. As a filmmaker, he recently won Best Film Screenplay (Mexican American Film Festival 2022) and Best Short Drama (Official Latino Film Festival 2022) for his multi award-winning historical drama They Call Us Sediciosos. Iz wrote, directed, and edited the short as a proof-of-concept for a feature film and TV series.
Mentored by Oscar-winning screenwriter David S. Ward and former DGA president and director Martha Coolidge, he is the recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant for the short he wrote and directed Sin Frontera, an immigration love story, which screened at the SAG Foundation, won numerous drama awards including official selections in Academy accredited festivals.
Andrew Hall
Andrew Hall
Andrew Hall has more than 30 years of experience working with such diverse elements as moving liquids, smoke and vapor, pure light and floating bubbles. Hall owns and runs the School of Light darkroom facility in DTLA. He teaches all of NYFA’s alternative processes and darkroom classes at his beautiful space in the Reef building in downtown Los Angeles. His clients include Kodak, IBM, Honda, BBC, Castrol, Infiniti, Lexus, Nokia, Nestle, L’Oreal. Awards won include The Association of Photographers Award, Communication Arts Annual Award, Graphic Photography Annual (Gold) Award, International Photography Awards, and Polaroid European Final Art Awards. His publications include Global Corporate Identity and The Art of Saying Hello.