Terrance Zdunich | |
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Terrance Zdunich |
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Born | Terrance Zdunich July 23, 1976 California |
Website | |
http://www.terrancezdunich.com |
Terrance Zdunich (Zuh-Dune-Itch) is an American actor, writer, composer, producer, illustrator and storyboard artist. He is most known for his role as Graverobber in the 2008 film Repo! The Genetic Opera.
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After graduating from Otis College of Art & Design in 1998[1] Terrance took a job at Sony Animation drawing storyboards on such animated television shows as Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles[2] and Max Steel.[3] Creatively frustrated, he left animation in 2002[4] to pursue freelance illustration gigs, including work on Fox’s television series Bones.[5] As a storyboard artist he worked on live-action films such as What We Do Is Secret[6] about the punk band The Germs, and Into The Wild,[7] directed by Sean Penn. He also worked part-time teaching drawing and painting[8] in Calabasas, California.
While transitioning from studio work in animation to life as a freelance artist, Terrance enrolled in an acting class at the South Coast Repertory Theatre where he met future collaborator Darren Smith.[9] Together, in 1999 they formed "The Gallery" and the two began writing and performing theatrical rock music in the form of ten-minute operas.[10] As a duo they played the Los Angeles club/theatre scene. Due to the positive response to their first ten-minute opera, The Necro-merchant's Debt,[11] they decided to expand the piece into a full-length theatrical format which was later renamed Repo! The Genetic Opera.[12]
In 2001, Zdunich and Smith assembled a small group of actors and musicians and began performing Repo as a one-act set at clubs in Los Angeles, California.[13] In 2002, Repo: The Genetic Opera received its first full-length staging in Hollywood, California at the John Raitt Theatre with Darren Lynn Bousman directing.[14] The original engagement also featured Zdunich in the role as the narrator “GraveRobber."[15] ‘Repo’ was remounted again in 2004 at West Hollywood’s SplitID Theatre, and finally, for the last time, it was seen on stage in 2005 at the Off-Off Broadway Wings Theatre in NYC with Zdunich both acting and directing.[16]
Zdunich, Bousman and Smith put together a ten-minute short film of Repo starring Zdunich, Shawnee Smith, Michael Rooker & J LaRose in 2006 .[17] The short film was screened for agents and producers at Endeavor Agency in Beverly Hills, CA.[18] Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures eventually brought Repo to the big screen in 2008, which starred Anthony Head, Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, and Sarah Brightman.[19] Zdunich maintained his acting role as “GraveRobber” and assumed new roles as well, which included drawing the film’s animated sequences[20] and becoming an associate producer. Despite the film’s initial limited theatrical release to 11 theaters world wide,[21] Zdunich still regularly travels the US attending "shadowcast" performances of Repo at conventions and private events.[22]
In 2009, in an effort to return to his drawing roots, Zdunich began work on a solo project, a comic book series dubbed The Molting. The Molting, which is being published independently, is expected to be released in 12 parts.[23] Zdunich wrote the story arc in its entirety before a single page was drawn.[24] He releases a new issue every few months, drawing the frames himself. He completes the work with the help of letterer Oceano Ransford and colorists Brian Johnson & Molly Rodman.[25] Zdunich admits the series is in part based on his real life experiences growing up in Southern California.[26] He also catalogs his artistic process in a blog series entitled “Molting with the Molting.”[27] As of April 2011, six chapters have been published: Guilty Susie, The Happiest Place on Earth, Ootheca, Lethal Raids, Mother’s Day and Allied Forces.[28][29]
On May 28, 2010, at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, Terrance debuted the first in a series of weekly online instructional videos, a project entitled The Tutor,[30] described as a “Bob Ross meets Ted Bundy” school of art.[31] As The Tutor, Terrance taught viewers how to paint a still life.[32] The Tutor encouraged audience participation through “homework”[33]– video and still art assignments provided in The Tutor’s accompanying blog.[34] On Saturday, October 23, 2010, The Tutor project concluded in an event held in Hollywood, California called The Tutor’s Gallery.[35] The event included a live performance by Zdunich[36] and an art show of the work created by his students.[37]
Followers of Zdunich will notice recurring ideas in his projects. He regularly attests to his love of the macabre and produces work normally dubbed “horror.”[38] From his earliest pieces, such as the illustrated God & the Box (seen on his website), his work has always prominently featured bugs, especially cockroaches. His website boasts flash representations of the critters with factoids about the animals and he maintains pet roaches as a hobby.[39] His fondness for the creatures, he says, comes from their generally misunderstood nature and their tenacity- characteristics he identifies with.[40]