Michelle Danner
There aren't many people who can point to a career full of success as a performer, teacher, storyteller, entrepreneur, and expert. But Michelle Danner can. The legendary acting teacher has recently opened The Creative Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Edgemar Center for the Arts) in Culver City. The facility houses a theatre for upcoming productions as well as two acting schools: The Los Angeles Acting Conservatory (for conservatory classes and international students), and the Michelle Danner Acting Studio (for single courses, coachings and children's classes.)
Danner is also a well-established as a successful feature film director. Her latest film "Bad Impulse," is a psychological thriller about family secrets and modern technology, starring Sonya Walger, Grant Bowler, and Paul Sorvino. The film won Best Narrative Feature at the 2019 International Independent Film Awards and the Best Director Award at the 2019 Culver City Film Festival.
Her upcoming film "The Runner, " is an action thriller and true-life coming of age story starring Cameron Douglas and newcomer Edouard Philipponnat as a troubled teenager forced to go undercover to expose a drug kingpin. The film has played at 28 festivals around the country including Cinequest, Worldfest Houston (winning Best Suspense/Thriller), the Suspense Thriller Festival winning (Best Feature) and the Flicker Festival in Rhode Island. Internationally the film was screened at the Ischia Global Fest (Italy), the London Independent Film Festival, the Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift and the Vancouver Independent Film Festival. Danner won Best Director at the Milan Gold Awards, the Montreal Independent Film Festival, the Paris Play Film Festival, the Vancouver Independent Film Festival, and L'Age d'Or.
A dedicated mom of two (one is an aspiring filmmaker), Danner still has her "day job" – overseeing the faculty of the Los Angeles Acting Conservatory, and conducting her weekly acting class. Danner's list of students has included Christian Slater, Salma Hayek, Gerard Butler, Seth McFarlane, Penelope Cruz, Chris Rock, Gabrielle Union, and Zooey Deschanel. A longtime student of legendary acting teachers like Stella Adler and Uta Hagen, Danner's eclectic approach (which she calls "The Golden Box") allows actors the freedom to employ a wide variety of techniques.
Raised in a show business family and with a deep appreciation for all of the performing arts, Danner also continues to run the boutique "Cinema at the Edge" film festival and is currently preparing to direct a new one-person play, Bonnie Culver's "Norris," starring Anne Archer, based on the memoirs of the widow of writer Norman Mailer.
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