From Lakeshore To Hollywood

Elmhurst born Senta Moses has been acting since infancy, appearing in commercials as young as 6 months. As she got a little older she began landing roles in plays, movies, and TV, including the touring company of Annie, the movies The Blues Brothers, DC Cab, and Home Alone (1 and 2). At the same time she attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts. At 16, the high school grad moved to USC to pursue a degree in theater and focus on her acting career, becoming a familiar face on countless movies and television shows, including her recurring roles on My So Called Life, Running the Halls, Sister Sister, General Hospital, Greek, and most recently, Faking it on MTV and Bella and the Bulldogs on Disney.

Although born and raised in New York, Steven A. Jones is one of the premiere members of the Chicago filmmaking industry. After working as a director in commercial animation, he broke into feature film producing the controversial but critically praised Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. With Henry’s director John McNaughton, Jones produced subsequent films The Borrower, Mad Dog and Glory, Normal Life, Wild Things, Something About Sex, and The Harvest. Outside of their partnership, he also produced The Promotion, Drunkboat, The Merry Gentleman, and Finding North. In his free time he's also worked as a professional musician and teaches film at DePaul University.

Actor-turned-director Ted Wass graduated Glenbard West High School and went on to attend the prestigious Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University. After graduating, he headed east, making his Broadway debut in 1976 in the show Grease, and within a year was cast as one of the leads on the critically acclaimed (and controversial) sitcom Soap. He spent 4 years on Soap and another 5 on the series Blossom, and between these two TV roles starred in several films. While working on Blossom, he began a second career as a TV director for sitcoms.

Evanston native Steve Pink started his career working at the Piven Theater and as a co-founder for the New Crime Theater, both with frequent collaborator John Cusack. After a brief period of time working a day job, he became producing partners with Cusack, working on Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, and Hot Tub Time Machine (which he also directed). He has worked on such films including Accepted, Someone to Eat Cheese With, Night and Day, About Last Night and is currently developing the Toxic Avenger reboot. This episode is explicit, because when you quote Sarah Silverman, it’s usually something explicit.

Rick Le Fevour is one of the premiere stunt men in the film and television industry. After working in Hollywood for a few times to get his feet wet, he decided to make Chicago his home-base, and worked on modern classics, including Groundhogs Day, The Fugitive, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Dark Knight. He made the transition to stunt coordinator and along with working on big movies which shoot in and out of the city, he is the series coordinator for NBC’s Chicago Fire.

Michigan native Joe Swanberg has become one of the leaders of indie filmmaking not just in his adopted home town of Chicago, but throughout the industry. Jake Johnson was born and raised in Evanston, IL. He left the midwest to study dramatic writing at NYU and founded the comedy troupe The Midwesterners. In this episode, they talk all about their new film "Digging For Fire" and more! 

 Buffalo Grove’s Aaron Himelstein has been acting since he was a kid, in film, television, and stage. After appearing professionally in Chicago area projects such as Cupid, High Fidelity, and at the Steppenwolf Theater, he made his New York debut in The Dead Eye Boy (which earned him a Drama Desk Nomination). Then came a regular role on TV in Joan of Arcadia and found regular film work; and continues to work as a filmmaker himself. This year he appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron (reprising his role from Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and will appear at the Steppenwolf for a third time this fall in East of Eden, starting September 17th.

Allison Tolman is best known for her award winning role as Molly in the acclaimed FX series Fargo. She landed that role last year out of Chicago, where she had lived for almost 5 years, and training at Second City. The texan spoke with us about her decision to pursue acting in the Windy City, setbacks she faced, and landing her breakout role. Allison's new movie, The Gift, is out this Friday!

Joy Gregory came to the Chicago area as a Northwestern University student. She went onto to become one of the founding members of The Looking Glass Theater Company, as both an actor and writer/director. She is currently a television writer/producer, and has worked on shows such as Felicity, Joan of Arcadia, Jericho, The Nine, Switched at Birth, and her current show, Madame Secretary on CBS, which is about to go into a second season.