LAUREN PATRICE NADLER director
Lauren Patrice Nadler grew up in Queens, NY. Her journey into the arts started with dance and continued with acting. She
studied for many years with Uta Hagen's protégé, Karen Ludwig. Teaching acting sprang out of clear recognition that Lauren had a talent for creatively digging up buried history and evoking emotion in other actors. Directing was the obvious next step for her.
Lauren enjoyed an independent film casting career in NYC that resulted in casting future Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) in his first lead role in Ten Benny (also starring Frank Vincent of the Sopranos). She also completed the NYC casting for Restaurant which featured a host of up-and-coming stars, including Lauryn Hill, Simon Baker, Jesse L Martin and John Carroll Lynch.
Lauren was the First and/or Second Assistant Director on numerous independent films in NYC. While being strongly responsible for the completion of these projects, the artist in Lauren was dormant. It was clear that assisting logistically was not where her passion was, so she threw herself into teaching bi-coastally, directing off-Broadway shows and coaching countless actors towards success. She has been strategically building her own army of actors. Lauren now has students on many different series, including GLEE, True Blood, Suburgatory and Army Wives, as well as working in major motion pictures, including Enders Game. She has had the pleasure of directing many of these students herself on film projects.
Lauren’s passion for performance makes her an "actor’s director", and her AD background makes her a "producer’s director”—everybody wins. She combines an understanding of the filmmaking process and the ability to draw powerful performances from actors, moves effortlessly, swiftly and efficiently through any shoot, without her passion and vision being compromised. Lauren’s track record indicates an equal flair for both drama and comedy.
Lauren completed production on the feature film The Bliss AKA Rocker, featuring veteran talent Bill McKinney (Deliverance) and Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men & The Mindy Project), Elisa Donavan (Clueless), James Dubello (Cabin Fever) and Danielle Nicolet (The Bernie Mac Show). Lauren also directed the short film In My Life, a tale about a fragmented family struggling to survive in the aftermath of 9/11. Lauren directed two short films for the Filmjack Film Festival: Deadgirl, which won awards for both Best Overall Director as well as Industry Favorite, and Massage Therapy, which won the Audience Favorite. In 2011, she directed Being Brielle, a fact based drama, and One Last Shot, a short film about bullying and preventing suicide due to bullying.
It was on Lauren’s LA directorial debut, El Mariachi Negro, a multi-cultural romantic comedy that she collaborated with veteran cinematographer Don E. Faunt Le Roy (Jeepers Creepers 1 and 2). This film starred Kasan Butcher (Disney’s UP UP and Away and Malcolm in the Middle). El Mariachi Negro screened in the Cultures Collide Community Film Festival in NYC.
In the last two years, Lauren has directed several live theater productions in LA, including Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan, Tape by Stephen Belber, The Dreamer Examines his Pillow by John Patrick Shanley, I’m Sorry (an original one woman show), and Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen by Tennessee Williams.
Most recently Lauren has produced and directed an 11 episode season of IT’S YOU NOT ME, a romantic comedy about on-line dating. She is always in development, prep or post with several projects. All the while coaching and teaching aspiring actors that have now become her acting army. The IT’S YOU NOT ME cast is entirely made up of her student alumni, many of whom are now recognizable names.
With a desire to inspire on a large scale, Lauren recently formed her production company Winged Warrior Entertainment.