Jeffrey DeCristofaro

<p>I'm a native of Tennessee. I lived the first decade of my life there, after which I spent another six years living near Charleston in South Carolina. After that, I moved with my family to Asheville, North Carolina, and am still a current resident there. I have a multi-dimensional personality weighed by my hobbies/interests, which include philosophy, ancient world history &amp; mythology, aerobic exercises, weather, space, aircraft, sword collection &amp; practice, and most importantly, the arts. Formerly homeschooled from the 5th grade all the way to the end of high school, with the exception of a few high school dual-enrollment courses at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Institute during my sophomore &amp; junior years, I was given an oppurtunity to pursue my interests in the arts, primarily in theater, writing, acting, dancing, singing, poetry, photography, and my particular favorite, cinema. In fact, during the summer of 2003, just before I turned 18, I enrolled at a summer filmmaking course at what is now the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. There my knowledge of film was enhanced not only by continous screenings of classic films and learning how they were made, but also by writing and directing my first film, a 5 min. digital video short called <em>Spared From The Wheelchair</em>, while fulfilling acting/technical positions in other students' projects. My deep hunger for, appreciation of, and minor contribution to film was followed in 2004 by my enrollment as a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. I majored in Literature -&nbsp;Creative Writing&nbsp;and minored in Mass Communications. This provided ample oppurtunity for my skills in my fields of interests to mature. Before I graduated with a BA in Literature in May 2008, I had sung twice for the University Singers; had a poem&nbsp;<em>Trek&nbsp;of the Scorpion</em>&nbsp;published in the campus's creative arts magazine <em>Headwaters; </em>wrote a one-act play&nbsp;called<em> Dance of the&nbsp;Reeds&nbsp;</em>for a playwrighting class that was immediately performed afterwards in Asheville's Flood Arts Gallery; acted in original Carol Belk Theatre productions and video production students' projects; and composed PowerPoint presentations for the Mass Comm. course textbook <em>Video Production Techniques</em> by dept. adjunct professor Donald Diefenbach; joined the Greek chapter Alpha Phi Omega-Chi Kappa; and founded the UNC-Asheville Cinema Society as its first president. Following my graduation, I immediately enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program at the same university, and am more than halfway through the program. As of now, my hobbies/interests have rarely changed. Currently, I sing for the Asheville Symphony Chorus and Unitarian Universalist Church Choir, perform for the North Carolina Stage Company's annual&nbsp;Shakespeare Bard-A-Thon&nbsp;fundraiser, compose and read my poetry at several local events and charity&nbsp;fundraisers, submit my photography to online magazines and charity fundraiser events, and still occasionally help video production students with their projects. And of course, model for local photographers - something I began doing following a small gig as a paid model for Asheville Speed Dating during its start in 2007. My biggest dream remains to make films both on and offscreen - particularly films in the science-fiction, fantasy, horror and epic genres - while modeling and publishing poetry/photography on the side. For my MLA Creative Writing project, I'm writing a screenplay for a science-fiction/fantasy/horror epic which I hope to direct, produce and star as the leading protagonist. I also dream of starting my own production company as an executive producer, which will not only give me an oppurtunity to make my own films, but also produce and star in films made by other visionary filmmakers who want to make their own contributions to cinema. I also dream of starting a global Neo-Renaissance. Like the Renaissance from the previous millenium, this will follow the goal of changing our world for the better, breaking down old frontiers and establish new ones, and proving that there are no limits except those we each choose for ourselves. As one following the classic Hellenistic view, I see modeling as just one way to start doing that.</p>