Meet the Team
BIOGRAPHIES
LARA JEAN CHOROSTECKI - EVETTE
Lara Jean Chorostecki is a Canadian actress best known for her roles as Freddie Lounds on NBC's critically acclaimed show Hannibal, Sybil O'Brien in BBC America's Copper, Charlie in CTV's Dan for Mayor, and Brigit in the STARZ miniseries Camelot among others. Lara Jean began her professional career on stage at the Stratford Festival of Canada before transitioning to a wonderful and rewarding Film and TV career. Her most recent projects include the short films Boxing (official selection of TIFF 2015) and The Girl Next Door (premiering at Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival 2015), the Canadian indie Barn Wedding, a guest spot on the webseries www.wearedisorderly.com, and the upcoming feature, The Masked Saint (opening in select theatres Jan 8, 2016).
Lara Jean is currently filming Season 2 of CBC's X Company, reprising her role as Krystina Breeland, whom she describes as "the confident and assertive, yet kind and generous leader of the communications centre at Camp X, who I would unequivocally say is sure to become a strong voice for the feminist movement after the war ends". X Company is produced by Temple Street Productions (Orphan Black) and created by the dynamic duo Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (Flashpoint).
PETER MABRUCCO - DIRECTOR
Peter Mabrucco has been involved with dramatic productions since he was ten years old. Starting off as an actor on the Toronto stage, he eventually found his passion in directing at age 16 while specializing in Drama at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts. He attended the University of Waterloo, earning his BA in Drama and Business and then moved to the UK where he took various film internships working with producer, Richard Johns of Corona Pictures, producer of Shadow of the Vampire and Dangerous Parking, and director, Peter Howitt, (Sliding Doors, Defying Gravity, Dangerous Parking) in London. He most recently producer a segment of the feature ‘ABC's of Death’ with director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice).
GREG CARERE - WRITER
Greg Carere is a Toronto-born, New York-based writer and actor. Previous writing credits include the play Starfall, produced as part of the University of Waterloo's UPSTART Festival, and Voices with Theatre After Four. He spends most of his time acting in theatre and films in New York, including The Downtown Loop with Three-Legged Dog, If You Can Get To Buffalo with the Incubator Arts Project, Dead Special Crabs with Wide Eyed, and most recently Cliff with Hazard Rep, a company of which he is a founding member. The Girl Next Door is his first produced screenplay.
LAUREN MACKINLAY - PRODUCER, BETH
Lauren MacKinlay is a Toronto-based Producer and Actor with a Masters with Distinction in Acting for Screen from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. A member of ACTRA, WIFT-T and the Toronto ACTRA Women’s Committee, Lauren currently works in television as a Project Manager for Sphere Media Plus, the production company behind Bell/Bravo’s most highly rated original drama series "19-2" and CBC’s upcoming original series "This Life." Lauren is also a Co-Founder and Producing Partner of Women On Screen, a not-for-profit organization committed to increasing the representation of women in the entertainment industry. To date, Lauren has produced and production managed half a dozen independent short films, many of which have toured the festival circuit internationally.
FARAH MERANI - PRODUCER, JOY
Farah Merani - Actor/Producer - Is a masters graduate of the Drama Centre London and an alumnus of Trinity College. In addition to being an actor, she has worked on over 14 films with her company, Lifeguard Productions, which she has successfully run for over 4 years. She is one of the co-founders of Women on Screen, a non-profit that encourages a more dynamic and inclusive representation in the entertainment industry, and also serves as the Actra Toronto Diversity Committee co-chair. Her short films 'Just a Prayer', 'Shavasana' and 'Entrain' are on the international festival circuit and have being screened at the Austin Film Festival, the Atlantic Film Festival, the Reel World Film Festival, Garden State International Film Festival, and the Cleveland International Film Festival. As an actor, her credits include: Nikita, Lost Girl, Covert Affairs, and The Listener. Currently, she is directing her first documentary, Through Her Eyes, a film about two women who find hope and meaning in their lives through a community arts group.
BRAD COOK - JAMES
Brad Cook trained in the MA Movement Studies program at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as well as the BA Theatre Arts program at the University of Waterloo. He now works across Canada as an actor, creator, puppeteer, movement coach and teacher.
Cook’s work in the theatre has always centered around exploring and pushing the limits of the actor’s body; whether it be puppetry for the Dora Award-winning War Horse for the National Theatre/Mirvish Productions, or as a co-creator and performer in Mercury with Monster Feelings, Body 13 at MT Space or Frankenstein’s Ghosts for InterArts Matrix. Cook has also performed in The Importance of Being Earnest with Guild Festival Theatre, Pearl Gidley and Twelfth Night for Lost & Found Theatre; The Adding Machine at Bradley University; Our Country’s Good, Our Town and Marat/Sade at the University of Waterloo. Selected film and television credits include Wilderness and My Babysitter's A Vampire.
Most recently he has been working alongside the accomplished coaching team as associate movement coach at the Stratford Festival.
DURAID MUNAJIM - CINEMATOGRAPHER
Duraid Munajim is an award-winning cinematographer and self-professed camera geek. He has worked as a camera operator on numerous Hollywood films including: Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker for Oscar-winning director Katherine Bigelow, Redacted for director Brian De Palma and The Sum of All Fears for director Phil Alden Robinson. He has also worked as Director of Photography on numerous music videos, short films and documentaries.
JIM MCGRATH - COMPOSER
Jim McGrath (pronounced McGraw) is a Toronto-based composer best known for his television work, which includes the critically acclaimed series Degrassi: the Next Generation, CBC's Republic of Doyle and The Kids in the Hall's Death Comes to Town. Film work includes ThinkFilm's The Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman, Alliance Atlantis' film Foolproof, starring Ryan Reynolds, Columbia Tristar thriller Resurrection and Odeon's Treed Murray, which was nominated for five Genie Awards including Best Picture and Outstanding Achievement in Music. The score for Treed Murray went on to win Gold in the Film Festival in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
McGrath has orchestrated and conducted film scores with the Munich Symphony, the Salt Lake Symphony, the London Philharmonia and the City of Prague Philharmonic. He has also written arrangements for such recording artists as Tom Cochrane (with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra), Ian Thornley and Big Wreck (with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra), the Tower of Power Horns, Manteca, The Northern Pikes, Chantal Kreviazuk, Justin Hines, Strippers Union (with Bob Baker of the Tragically Hip), Sarah Slean, Madeleine Peyroux, Brent Carver and Steven Page with the Art of Time Ensemble.
LINDSAY ALLIKAS - EDITOR
Lindsay was born in Montreal and studied Film Production at The University of British Columbia. Her thesis film won the Leo Award for best student production. Since moving to Toronto, she has edited several short films, including Vincenzo Natali's segment for The ABCs of Death 2. Her work has screened in festivals around the world and been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for best Short. Most recently, she worked as additional editor on Patricia Rozema's Into The Forest (TIFF 15) starring Ellen Page.
Lindsay spends most of her free time drinking coffee and walking her dog Whiskey.