Cory McAbee

Cory McAbee was born in northern California. He spent the first 12 years of his adult life working as the head of security in bars and nightclubs throughout San Francisco. It was during this period that he became involved in theater. His early stage performances included the role of Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar.McAbee is the singer/songwriter for the musical group, The Billy Nayer Show. His first film was the hand-painted, animated musical short, Billy Nayer. It premiered at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival. In 1995 McAbee returned to the Sundance Film festival with a live musical stage presentation of his early short films. It was called, The Billy Nayer Chronicles. It was the first multi-media event ever to be featured at Sundance.Following a US tour of the Billy Nayer Chronicles, McAbee became homeless for three years. It was during this period that he wrote the screenplay for his first feature film, The American Astronaut. The screenplay was accepted into the Sundance Screenwriter lab. In 2000 the film was financed and produced with McAbee as writer, director, composer and lead actor. The American Astronaut has gone on to win numerous awards and continues to play theaters, festivals and universities worldwide.Following the release of The American Astronaut, McAbee toured the world with The Billy Nayer Show while continuing to write screenplays. In 2003 he performed at the NYC Lincoln Center and Guggenheim Museum as a musician in the Chinese opera, The Orphan of Zhao.In 2007 Cory McAbee was commissioned by the Sundance Film Festival and GSM Association to create a short film for newly emerging mobile phone film distribution technologies. Following this experience McAbee began working in alternative forms of self distribution. In 2009 he created the episodic feature film, Stingray Sam. Stingray Sam was written and designed for screens of all sizes. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier Program.As a filmmaker and for his work in alternative forms of self distribution Cory McAbee has taught Masters Classes and lectured at universities and symposiums worldwide.In 2010 McAbee wrote and directed a non-budget feature entitled, Crazy and Thief. The film is slated for festival release in 2012. Cory McAbee lives in Brooklyn, New York. Show less «