Shea Kerry

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Shea Kerry is an American film producer and actor. In May 2006 he played the role of Steve in the thriller Dark Honeymoon (2007), ^[1] starring Academy Award nominee Roy Scheider (All That Jazz, The French Connection) ^[2], Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train), and Daryl Hannah. ^[3] Shea Kerry was also one of the producers for Dark Honeymoon (2007).

1 Early years
2 Los Angeles History
3 Hurricane Katrina
4 Recent films
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early years

Shea Kerry was born in Lawton, Oklahoma at the Army hospital in Fort Sill. He moved with his father's military postings to Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida until his family settled on the Gulf Coast in Long Beach, Mississippi.

His father was a veteran of the Cuban Missle Crisis in October 1962, best portrayed in the film, Thirteen Days (2000). ^[4]

Kerry was a child model at 4 years old when he was scouted by a fashion photographer taking family photos at a local mall. Kerry became a professional actor at 12 doing local TV commercials and theater. He began producing and directing TV and film as an intern at the local television station at age 16. He also began working as a Ballroom dance instructor in his Senior year of high school. He starred in the productions of Oliver, South Pacific, One Foot in Heaven, Cinderella.

Kerry adapted and directed an original stage drama titled Renfield from Bram Stoker's Dracula. Kerry appeared in this production at the Mississippi State Competition for Best Drama. He was encouraged by his drama coach and mentor Chuck Lembright, his dance partner Stacie MacDonald, and his sister Catherine to move to Los Angeles to enter the film industry.

Kerry moved to Los Angeles at age 17.

[edit] Los Angeles History

Shea Kerry was accepted as an actor and a choreographer of the teen ensemble, American Youth on Stage, which produced fashion and theatrical shows throughout Los Angeles from 1983 to 1987. His mentors and creators of the group were Ed Diamond and Lance Lenon, both long-time performers from the national circuit. Ed Diamond and Lance Lenon guided Kerry's early career, and at age 18 they assigned Kerry as the manager and lead talent coordinator of their new company, New Concept Casting which provided talent for The Discovery Project in 1987.

Kerry continued his professional career with acting and directing in the touring company of A Christmas Carol and by appearing in the film Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996) starring Ashley Judd. Kerry was the choreographer and one of the producers for the Angel Awards in the Embassy Room of the Ambassador Hotel, ^[5] the site of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy on June 4, [[1968]

"We changed into our costumes in the cramped and dingy pantry, and those of us who knew its sad legacy were silent," Kerry said.

Kerry continued to teach Ballroom dancing to the children of the The United Way and The Leukemia Society which gave him the DJ of the Year Award in 1995. "Children are the most fun to teach", he once said.

Kerry appeared on the hit TV show, Family Ties ^[6] with Michael J. Fox^[7] and in the Keith Carradine film, Number One with a Bullet (1987) with Billy Dee Williams. Kerry said ten years later, "I was playing an assault trooper with a big heavy gun, and I was so excited to be working with Keith Carradine that I wanted to really give it my all. When the director yelled Action, I ran full out down the wet grassy hill with my heavy gun, and I promptly fell flat on my face and slid all the way down the hill to come to a stop right in front of the camera and the entire crew. The director yelled, CUT! What was that?!!

"I had ripped out both knees of my uniform so I was sent back to wardrobe as they set up the scene again to re-shoot what I had just destroyed. I kept wondering why the make-up gal was smiling at me as they bandaged my knees and trashed my costume. Then came the note that told me I was done for the day. I had really wanted to meet Keith and impress him with my superb acting ability. I never got to meet him, but I believe he was very impressed with my sliding ability."

Another of Kerry's memorable acting roles was his scene with Tracey Ullman on her hit TV show, The Tracey Ullman Show (1987). ^[8] The show was broadcast live, and the sustained laughter from the audience reaction to the scene caused Kerry's fellow actor to sit in the wrong chair at the wrong time. The cameras rolled on while Kerry, Tracey, and the other actors adjusted their positions and completed the scene. "It was the longest pause for laughter in my entire stage career. Tracy almost sat on the actor's lap as he tried to get out of her way. The audience just wouldn't stop laughing. Tracy Ullman is the best comic actress I've ever worked with", Kerry said later.

Kerry appeared in the compelling and award winning film Remnants of Auric Healing (2004) about a school teacher driven by desperation to confront the obsessions that were destroying his life.

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

Kerry returned to his hometown of Long Beach, Mississippi on the Gulf Coast in August 2005 to search for his father who was injured and missing in Hurricane Katrina. "The entire Gulf Coast had been washed away, all of it", said Kerry.

Kerry was reunited with his father at the Veteran's Hospital in Biloxi, MS. Kerry helped with the Katrina disaster relief after visiting his father and is now writing a book titled Finding My Father from his experiences on the devastated Gulf Coast. Kerry returned to Los Angeles with a film record of the Gulf Coast residents made homeless, the National Guard troops protecting them, and the miles of destroyed houses and casinos. This will be broadcast in a documentary in 2007. "I filmed a line of police cars from Pensacola, FL that was so long I felt it might stretch all the way back to Florida," he said. "We stood quietly and watched them pass, as one mourns a funeral train, but instead of sadness it gave all of us the feeling that things would get better."

[edit] Recent films

Shea Kerry was one of the producers for Love is the Drug (2006) ^[9] from the acclaimed screenwriter Wesley Strick,^[10] the writer of Cape Fear, Arachnophobia, The Saint, and Wolf with Jack Nicholson. Wesley Strick was one of the writers for Mission: Impossible II, Batman Returns, and Face Off with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.

Love is the Drug stars Daryl Hannah, D.J. Cotrona,and John Patrick Amedori, and Lizzy Caplan, best known for her role in Mean Girls (2004) .

Love is the Drug received critical acclaim from Variety and The New York Times. The premiere at the 2006 Slamdance/Sundance festival was to sold-out SRO audiences. The film opened in Seattle, Washington theaters on October 6, 2006.

Kerry will produce two films in 2007 from his original screenplays.