Meet the new Mentors for the NYUinLA Mentorship Program Class of 2014!!

Meet the new Mentors for the NYUinLA Mentorship Program Class of 2014!!

Acting Mentors 

Sonya Cooke Sonya Cooke is an actress, educator, and director from NYC. She has acted in numerous venues; some highlights have been Louie by Louie C.K. and Time Sensitive at The Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. Recently, she played the title role in an independent feature, Her Name is Lilly Grace, due out this fall. Specializing in acting technique, Sonya is the owner and head teacher of The Actors Studio of Orange County, The Seven Pillars Studio in Los Angeles, and the creator of The Seven Pillars of Acting Technique. Check out www.sonyacooke.com, to view more information and read her blog on acting technique. She holds an MFA in Acting from UC-Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts and a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Bryan Dechart (Tisch '09) trained at the Meisner Extension, ETW, Viewpoints, Stonestreet and Commedia dell'arte in Florence, Italy. When he's not working and studying as an actor he serves on the Tisch West Council organizing events to build a community for NYU alumni living in LA and he enjoys exploring photography, gardening and woodworking. 

Film and TV Mentors 

Michael Milberg Michael is Georgia native and graduate of TSOA's Film & TV program. During his time at NYU, he worked with writer, director, and producer Alan Pakula; renowned special effects guru Stan Winston; and actor Michael Douglas. Ultimately, Michael moved to Los Angeles to work with iconic talent agent Michael Ovitz at his newly formed management firm. Michael started in the mailroom before rising up the ranks of the company. He left to work for producers, Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, where he developed and supervised MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, BEWITCHED and JARHEAD. He then transition to DreamWorks SKG, where he oversaw BLADES OF GLORY, EAGLE EYE, THE RUINS, and TROPIC THUNDER. Michael has since made films with such producers as, Dan Jinks & Bruce Cohen, Donna Roth & Susan Arnold, and Jerry Bruckheimer. He currently consults with a variety of film companies and financiers and is pursuing his own producing projects. 

Pamela Goldstein is an agent at Resolution Agency. Previously she was the International Coordinator in the Motion Picture Department at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, where she started as an assistant in 2008. She has also worked with producers Tory Tunnell and Will Battersby at Safehouse Pictures, and as an assistant in the Production/Development Department at Miramax and Dimension Films. Pamela is a graduate of the 2006 class at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for Film/TV Production. 

Alexa Amin is a below-the-line agent at United Talent Agency working with cinematographers, production designers, costume designers, and line producers. Previously she worked at Warner Brothers in feature production on movies such as The Hangover, Clash of the Titans, Magic Mike, and Gravity. She also worked at UTA in Motion Picture Literary and Talent. She graduated NYU in 2006 and spent a semester at NYU in Madrid. 

Kellye Carnahan is a Creative Executive at Miramax, working on both the television and feature film side. A Southern California native, she graduated from the Tisch Film and TV Production Program in 2010 and moved back to Los Angeles. Kellye began her career at Verve Talent and Literary Agency before going to assist producer Julie Yorn on the set of WE BOUGHT A ZOO. Following ZOO, she served two years as an assistant/development coordinator to producer Zanne Devine. Kellye is an alum of the Tisch mentor program and in her spare time, loves to bake and invent cupcake recipes, take road trips, and run half marathons in/around Disneyland.

Patrick Walmsley is a production executive at LBI Entertainment, the management and production company founded by Rick Yorn. In his six years with the company under producer Julie Yorn, he has worked on feature films such as THE OTHER WOMAN, WE BOUGHT A ZOO, UNSTOPPABLE, MAX PAYNE and BRIDE WARS among others. In addition to the production division, LBI Entertainment represents clients such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Benicio del Toro, Justin Timberlake and Martin Scorsese among others. A native of Cincinnati, OH and a graduate of New York University, Patrick resides in Los Angeles. 

Erica Schreiber left Port Angeles, WA to attend NYU Tisch's Dramatic Writing Program in 2002. After interning at "The Colbert Report" and graduating in 2006, she worked as the Writer's Assistant for USA's "Monk." Since moving to LA she has worked in the writer's offices of the CW's "Nikita" and VH1's "Single Ladies," and on the Fox film "The Wolverine." Currently she freelances at Fox and FX and is repped by Caliber Media as a writer. She loves sushi, LA weather, "Game of Thrones," and good dystopian YA novels. She lives in Valley Village.

Volunteer Coordinator

Nicole Iizuka is a LA native who braved the cold east coast winters at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, but missed the sunshine of So-Cali. Nicole has worked for producers, agents & studio executives, yet her toughest boss by far has been her obsession with food. Two years ago she founded an experimental underground supper club Cloak & Dinner and after realizing that her torrid love affair could actually be a career, Nicole quit her creative development job at MGM for the fascinating freelance world of culinary & art. Since making the leap, she worked with the culinary team and art department on Gordon Ramsay's MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen, and with Stacey Kiebler, Debbie Fields and Chef Michael Chiarello on Supermarket Superstar. She is currently the Food and Lifestyle producer at POPSUGAR. Nicole also blogs about my food mis-adventures on itsborderlinegenius.com. You can follow her @nicolemiizuka