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Faculty & Staff

Our faculty members are highly influential players in the industry.
They bring their rich experience, knowledge and passion to the Studio.
Get to know our talented team below.

Creative Team

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Hannah Lawrence

Office Administrator

Hannah is a Greensboro native & UNC Chapel Hill alumna. She has been taking classes at BTO & been with the Creative Film Group since the beginning of 2022. When she’s not at the studio or on set, you can find her cooking vegan food & binge-watching shows like Derry Girls & Outlander!

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Ethan Rodgers

BTO Intern

Ethan Rodgers is a Filipino/ Polish/ American actor from a primarily theatre background. Completing a cross-country trek from Northern Idaho, he has  moved into the film industry and become part of the BTO Creative Team. During his free time, he enjoys solving Rubik’s Cubes and juggling.

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Arelious Porter

Content Coordinator

Arelious likes to express his creativity through content creation! You can check out his content on Instagram and Tiktok. “Being a part of this community saved me from a career that I didn’t want for myself. Here I can grow and create freely and work with other creatives just like me!”

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Naima Said

Social  Coordinator

Naima is a Palestinian/ Italian/ American actor with a degree in theater from UNCG. She specializes in film, television, commercials, modeling, and theater, and is also the host of Heeere’s NeeNee Horror Movie Podcast.

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Richard Walden

Content Coordinator

Richard is an actor hailing from the loverly mountains of Asheville. He has a BA in dramatic art from UNC Chapel Hill, a background primarily in theater, as well as some VO & film training. After a small hiatus working in the health & wellness sector, he was delighted to join BTO in 2022.

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Jarom Rutter

BTO Intern

Jarom is a high school actor coming from the beautiful city of Raleigh. He has been part of the BTO community since the beginning of 2023 and since joined the creative team as well as dipped his feet in content creation. Off-camera, you can catch him rock climbing or enjoying top-tier thrillers.

Instructors & Coaches

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Caroline Ashcroft

BTO Career Coach

A Raleigh native, Caroline relocated to Los Angeles in mid 2021. Since then, she has booked several lead roles in student and independent films, featured on UFO Witness on Discovery and People Magazine Investigates on ID Channel, two national beauty campaigns seen on Sephora and QVC, and joined the cast of LA Connection's Improv Troupe.

Chris Hill

Chris Hill

Instructor & Coach

Chris Has had the privilege to work with some great talents including Pat Hingle in ‘Inherit The Wind’;, Samuel L Jackson, Christian Bale, Director Michel Gondry, and Christopher Nolan in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. Chris is also a writer for the Chuck E Cheese entertainment department and is helping to bring awareness to Dyslexia with his children’s book, and YouTube kids show ‘Ralphy and the Rang-E-Koos’; a book/show that teaches acceptance through knowledge.

Renée Fisher

Renée Fisher

Instructor

Having 10+ years of experience in creating films, narrative experimental and documentary forms Renee Fisher desires to tell meaningful stories as a director, writer, producer, production designer, DOP, and editor. Likewise, she enjoys working internationally and creating multicultural stories that transcend all borders her films have played in festivals worldwide including an original feature film between Canada, Finland, and the US.

Vanessa Neff

Vanessa Neff

Instructor

Vanessa has appeared in over 20 films and numerous television commercials, including NEA, medical and NC Education Lottery. She continues to book film and commercial work. Vanessa has appeared in magazines such as Triangle Style and Cary Lifestyle. Her credits include online representations for residential and retirement communities, healthcare, diagnostic and pharmaceutical.  Vanessa models for local boutiques utilizing live, print and social media.

Gus Allen

Gus Allen

Instructor & Coach

Gus Allen is a professional, full-time actor, having performed all over the Triangle for the past eight years. Notable productions include It’s a Wonderful Life (George Bailey), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), Spamalot (French Taunter), Doubt (Father Flynn), And Then There Were None (Judge Wargrave), Death of a Salesman (Biff Loman), and The 39 Steps (Clown 2). Gus started from the ground up with supporting roles in several Cary Players shows, and has since gone on to win the Pietzsch Award (Cary Players), the Cantey Award (RLT), the Cannon Award (NLT) and the Triangle Award. 

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Vance Daniels

Instructor & Coach

Vance is a proud graduate of East Carolina University where he studied Meisner technique under Don Biehn and received his BFA. After graduation he spent 17 years in Los Angeles, CA where he was active in the theatre community as well as appearing in a number of commercials, a few TV pilots, a number of short films and independent projects, and the Lionsgate feature film, Slaughter. He also co-created, wrote and produced the documentary feature, Parrot Heads, chronicling the die hard fans of musician Jimmy Buffett. The true joy is in the work, not the rewards.

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Carrie Thomas

Youth Instructor

The full-figured poetic sensation wondered what her calling was from a young age.  Leading to theatre off- Broadway, and a Telly Award in 2007. Carrie K. Thomas obtained her BFA from the the oldest, prestigious, first black institute for higher learning "Cheyney University." She completed her educational endeavors in 2018 with an MBA.  Recently she self-published a body of poems with Amazon; titled "Race with love and confidence." Volume 1

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Brittany Wilkerson

Instructor

Brittany Wilkerson is an actor, audiobook narrator/director and voiceover artist. Currently, she plays Diane on Will Trent on ABC (streaming on Hulu) but you can also hear her voice in over 85 audiobooks, numerous commercials and scripted podcasts. Some of her tv/film credits include Atlanta, The Resident, Claws, and The Mulligan. Brittany received her BFA in Acting from East Carolina University and went on to study at Steppenwolf West, IO West and The Groundlings.  Her favorite part of this whole thing is collaborating with other artists and she’s happy to have found this community.

Bronwen Carson

Bronwen Carson

Instructor & Coach

Bronwen has taught master classes in movement based arts, acting, somatic, and artistic development at The Actors Studio, Juilliard, NYU, Broadway Dance Center, Peridance, The Producers Club, and Steps on Broadway. She is accredited in The Science of Well Being (Yale) and conservatory trained in Meisner, StanislavskySystem, Michael Chekhov Technique, Laban Movement Analysis, Elemental Work, TheatricalClowning (Lecoq), and Butoh. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, SDC, AG.

Lynda Clark

Lynda Clark

Audition Coach

Lynda Clark is an accomplished theatre artist with numerous film and television credits including CRAZY PEOPLE, THE PERFECT CRIME, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, THE WATER IS WIDE; and recurring roles on the CBS series American Gothic and the Showtime series Linc's. She appears extensively in regional commercials, industrials, training films and voiceovers. When not performing, Lynda works as a theatre director, producer, costume designer, and acting coach. She has been recognized as one of our region's most distinguished theatre artists, with a career spanning four decades.

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Janice Baker

Instructor

Janice Lauren Baker began acting professionally after over twenty years experience designing and directing realistic training scenarios for military, law enforcement, and search and rescue agencies.  She made her directorial debut in 2022 with the award-winning short film Interview With Ian, which earned the best short film award at the Raleigh Film and Arts Fest in 2022 and several other awards in film festivals in the United States and Internationally. 

Chad & Leslie

Chad & Leslie

Instructors

​For over half a decade, Chad and Leslie Nifoussi have been full-time, on-camera media hosts and spokespeople. They have extensive experience on national TV, in new-media broadcasting and have represented everything from major international brands to local companies. They have distilled their years of knowledge into a six-week course geared toward setting the next generation of hosts up for success.

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