| Jim O’Rear | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 28, 1970 Cordova, Alabama, USA |
| Website | |
| http://www.jimorear.com | |
Jim O'Rear (born 28 September 1970 Cordova, Alabama) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director.
Primarily known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, O'Rear has worked as an actor, stuntman, screenwriter, producer, and director for over 25 years.
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O’Rear began his professional career in the entertainment industry on tour as “The Youngest Professional Magician,” working on stage with the talents of David Copperfield (illusionist), Harry Blackstone, Jr., and The Great Tomsoni and opening for musical acts such as Cheap Trick and John Anderson. O'Rear became very well respected as a magician and was one of the youngest people to ever be accepted into the Society of American Magicians when he was only 12 years old. People seemed to be fascinated with the way O'Rear could manipulate objects with his small hands in the same manner as the adult magicians of his time.
O'Rear’s background in stage magic led him to other theatrical interests. He developed a love for stage acting and went to New York where he was trained at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After some very successful theatrical runs in dramas, comedies, and musicals, O'Rear was offered roles in films and television where he has worked steadily as an actor, stuntman, and special make-up effects artist on such projects as Day of the Dead, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Vampyre Wars, Lethal Weapon 3, Creature Feature, Hayride Slaughter, Cop & ½, Psycho Beach Party, Evita, Little Shop of Horrors, No Retreat No Surrender 3, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, and many more with prominent actors including Martin Sheen, Burt Reynolds, Mel Gibson, Amanda Plummer, Maximilian Schell, Robert Englund, Jon Voight, Chris Sarandon, and others. [1]
O'Rear had always been interested in writing and wanted to see some of his own ideas hit the silver screen, so he successfully moved into the area of screenwriting where he wrote and sold a number of horror-related screenplays, including The House Of Pain, Hayride Slaughter, Hayride Slaughter 2, The Deadly Obligation, Vampyre Tales, Wolfsbayne, Scream Farm, and The Deepening (featuring Gunnar Hansen and Scream Queen Debbie Rochon).
In addition to screenplay writing, O'Rear has also contributed many articles to national publications, such as Scary Monsters Magazine, Haunted Attraction Magazine, Comics Interview, and Underground Entertainment, and has been recognized in Fangoria, Alternative Cinema, Fright Times, and Femme Fatale Magazine. O'Rear was also “immortalized” as a comic book character opposite Thor in an issue of Marvel Comics What The--?! and appears as himself (along with Ken Foree, Brinke Stevens, Tom Savini, Debbie Rochon, and James Gunn (filmmaker)) in the new fictional horror novel, Bad Moon Rising the third installment of Jonathan Mayberry’s Ghost Road Blues trilogy and Zombie: C.S.U.. O'Rear also has two of his own books in stores with a third coming out soon. Currently available is the horror novel MORTUARY OF MADNESS and from Schiffer Publishing is a paranormal book, titled TENNESSEE GHOSTS, covering the history behind many actual hauntings in the state of Tennessee.[2]
O'Rear continues to work as an actor, stuntman, and screenwriter on several films per year, recently appearing opposite Andrew Divoff (Lost, Air Force One), Tom Savini (Planet Terror, From Dusk Till Dawn), and Jason Carter (Babylon 5, Angel) in The Dead Matter,[3] starring as Kane Hodder's brother in OLD HABITS DIE HARD, acting in a new Manson-based movie with Linnea Quigley titled Miss Maniac, making a cameo in Lions Gate Entertainment's horror film Dark Harvest 3, acting opposite Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise), and Bonita Friedericy (Chuck (TV series)) in FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, playing a zombie slayer in Eat The Living, portraying an alien bounty hunter in It Came From Trafalgar (with Reggie Bannister, Butch Patrick, Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Gunnar Hansen), appearing with Tiffany Shepis, Gunnar Hansen, Edwin Neal, and John Dugan in Shudder, pulling double duty as the star and martial arts stunt coordinator on Operation Eternal Darkness, appearing with Lynn Lowry in Philosophy In The Bedroom (written by the Marquis de Sade), and is in development deals for three more of his screenplays.[2] He portrays a wacky magician named Adam Cadabra in the horror/comedy film Beverly Lane,[4] which is the directorial debut of the screenwriter Joshua Hull,[5] the film is currently shooting in Indiana.[6]