photo by Joel Maisonet
Benvenuti! My name is: Nico Grelli (they/them). AEA/SAG-AFTRA. NYC/CHICAGO based--originally from San Francisco.
I'm a NON-BINARY, ITALO-AMERICANO FILMMAKER, SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, and ACTOR (aka super geek multi-hyphenate art queerdo).
NEWS!--My writing partner Nidia Medina and I were recently Finalists for THE ORCHARD PROJECT'S EPISODIC LAB for our Pilot/TV Series "The Triumph of Tatty Bojangles." We didn't make Final Cut, but we are super grateful for the support and encouragement of their selectors and process. I also just received a HowlRound Grant as part of JNicole Brooks National Playwrights Residency project funded by The Andrew Mellon Foundation to write a play about Anti-fascism. And on JUNE 14th--stay tuned for my episode of The Unusual Creatures Podcast! I also got to stage some violence in the recent Keen Teens play series, produced by Keen Company. And performed as Federico Garcia Lorca in the workshop of Aime Donna Kelly's 'Plantame En La Tierra' directed by Raelle Myrick Hodges.
AS FILMMAKER/DIRECTOR: Short films include NUTELLA (Writer/Director/Producer--3 minutes, Digital, Color) and OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! (Writer/Director/Producer--16mm, B&W, Silent, 3 Minutes). *Clips from both film in my DIRECTOR'S REEL, and available to share privately upon request. Two episodes of the webseries BULK by C. Julian Jiminez and Deneen Reynolds-Knott. I also create, direct, write, shoot, cut, and compose for my LATE NIGHT PUBLIC ACCESS (inspired) STONER QUEERDO WEBSERIES: Pier Valentino's: SHOW WITHOUT END! SHOW WITHOUT END!, which has also existed as a live show, a Cabaret, and Pier often makes appearances at places like Shawn Randall's Symphonics Live at The Bowery Poetry Club, and Fear/Love at 67 Local. I worked on the crew of the webseries Jeesus Freaks by Shawtane Bowen and Benton Greene. I have directed plays by Nidia Medina (NYC Fringe) and Sarah Shaeffer (Self-Produced), and numerous short plays for NY Madness, Core Theatre Ensemble, and for The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (where a number of my actors have won awards for their performances).
SCREENWRITER: I am currently developing two 6 episode, 30 minute TV series, and a Historical Crime Drama Feature Film. I am the recipient of two HowlRound Micro-Grants as a screenwriter, and have had two short films and a pilot place as Quarterfinalists in the San Francisco International Screenwriting Competition. MORE INFO IN MY FILMMAKER/SCREENWRITER SECTION. My writing partner Nidia Medina and I were recently Finalists for THE ORCHARD PROJECT'S EPISODIC LAB for our Pilot/TV Series "The Triumph of Tatty Bojangles."
I create genre and hybrid genre TV Series and Films, and am something of a self-proclaimed queer futurist. My worlds are queer saturated, boldly diverse, muscular and tender, multi-lingual and multi-generational, and break down norms with an irreverent and passionate wrecking ball. My goal is to elevate and evolve genre film and tv making, and to place characters and circumstances in the forefront of stories in which they've been--if included at all--often sidelined, stereotyped, and ridiculed. And to move beyond stories that make otherized, marginalized people and their communities more palatable to Straight Cis Anglo Heteronormative audiences. Though they are welcome to enjoy my work, and may sometimes even be in my work--I don't make it for them.
As an ACTOR: I have worked with SF Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shattered Globe Theatre, terraNova Collective, Incubator Arts, Berkeley Rep, Labyrinth, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and many more. Accolades include: a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Lead Actor, and a Nomination for Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor. I appeared in the FEATURE FILM "IT HAD TO BE YOU" by Sasha Gordon and produced by Chris Columbus--where I got to act with Emmy Nominee Cristin Milioti, and Daddy DeFerrari of the upcoming Oppenheimer. I starred in the Short Film: "BAD HABITS" by Award Winning Filmmaker Shal Ngo, and "THE GOOD GIRL" by Daren Taylor, make of the critically acclaimed webseries BIFL. I've also starred in some of my own SHORT FILMS, and play Pier Valentino in my webseries: PIER VALENTINO'S: SHOW WITHOUT END!. AEA, SAG/AFTRA.
I am proud to have CHOREOGRAPHED VIOLENCE and INTIMACY CONSULTED in over 20 Off-Broadway, Regional, and Indie-Theatre productions, as well as in a few films. I'm a member of Theatre Breaking Through Barriers, and have worked extensively as a TEACHING ARTIST artist with Epic Theatre Ensemble, The 52nd St Project, and The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and more.
I trained at NYU/Tisch's Experimental Theatre Wing (class of 2005), and went on to study and apprentice with Maggie Flanigan, Labyrinth Theatre Co, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. I've also studied TV Writing with Andrea Ciannavei, and attended a Term London Film School's MA in Filmmaking program.
THEATREMAKER/ESSAYIST: Creative residencies in yester-years and workshops with places like The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Tank NYC, Theatre 167, and Grange Hall Cultural Center. Numerous short plays for One Minute Play Festival, NY Madness, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers. Stories for PULP MAG (thepulpmag.com), The Kitchen NYC OnScreen (thekitchen.org), and Broken Glass BK (brokenglassbk.square.site)
FOR ACTING INQUIRIES:
Grossman & Jack Talent | 213 W. Institute Place , Ste 306, Chicago, IL 60610
312-587-1155 x 14 (Office) | 312-587-2122 (Fax)
MEMBER of: SAG-AFTRA, AEA
I'm a NON-BINARY, ITALO-AMERICANO FILMMAKER, SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, and ACTOR (aka super geek multi-hyphenate art queerdo).
NEWS!--My writing partner Nidia Medina and I were recently Finalists for THE ORCHARD PROJECT'S EPISODIC LAB for our Pilot/TV Series "The Triumph of Tatty Bojangles." We didn't make Final Cut, but we are super grateful for the support and encouragement of their selectors and process. I also just received a HowlRound Grant as part of JNicole Brooks National Playwrights Residency project funded by The Andrew Mellon Foundation to write a play about Anti-fascism. And on JUNE 14th--stay tuned for my episode of The Unusual Creatures Podcast! I also got to stage some violence in the recent Keen Teens play series, produced by Keen Company. And performed as Federico Garcia Lorca in the workshop of Aime Donna Kelly's 'Plantame En La Tierra' directed by Raelle Myrick Hodges.
AS FILMMAKER/DIRECTOR: Short films include NUTELLA (Writer/Director/Producer--3 minutes, Digital, Color) and OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! (Writer/Director/Producer--16mm, B&W, Silent, 3 Minutes). *Clips from both film in my DIRECTOR'S REEL, and available to share privately upon request. Two episodes of the webseries BULK by C. Julian Jiminez and Deneen Reynolds-Knott. I also create, direct, write, shoot, cut, and compose for my LATE NIGHT PUBLIC ACCESS (inspired) STONER QUEERDO WEBSERIES: Pier Valentino's: SHOW WITHOUT END! SHOW WITHOUT END!, which has also existed as a live show, a Cabaret, and Pier often makes appearances at places like Shawn Randall's Symphonics Live at The Bowery Poetry Club, and Fear/Love at 67 Local. I worked on the crew of the webseries Jeesus Freaks by Shawtane Bowen and Benton Greene. I have directed plays by Nidia Medina (NYC Fringe) and Sarah Shaeffer (Self-Produced), and numerous short plays for NY Madness, Core Theatre Ensemble, and for The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (where a number of my actors have won awards for their performances).
SCREENWRITER: I am currently developing two 6 episode, 30 minute TV series, and a Historical Crime Drama Feature Film. I am the recipient of two HowlRound Micro-Grants as a screenwriter, and have had two short films and a pilot place as Quarterfinalists in the San Francisco International Screenwriting Competition. MORE INFO IN MY FILMMAKER/SCREENWRITER SECTION. My writing partner Nidia Medina and I were recently Finalists for THE ORCHARD PROJECT'S EPISODIC LAB for our Pilot/TV Series "The Triumph of Tatty Bojangles."
I create genre and hybrid genre TV Series and Films, and am something of a self-proclaimed queer futurist. My worlds are queer saturated, boldly diverse, muscular and tender, multi-lingual and multi-generational, and break down norms with an irreverent and passionate wrecking ball. My goal is to elevate and evolve genre film and tv making, and to place characters and circumstances in the forefront of stories in which they've been--if included at all--often sidelined, stereotyped, and ridiculed. And to move beyond stories that make otherized, marginalized people and their communities more palatable to Straight Cis Anglo Heteronormative audiences. Though they are welcome to enjoy my work, and may sometimes even be in my work--I don't make it for them.
As an ACTOR: I have worked with SF Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shattered Globe Theatre, terraNova Collective, Incubator Arts, Berkeley Rep, Labyrinth, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and many more. Accolades include: a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Lead Actor, and a Nomination for Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor. I appeared in the FEATURE FILM "IT HAD TO BE YOU" by Sasha Gordon and produced by Chris Columbus--where I got to act with Emmy Nominee Cristin Milioti, and Daddy DeFerrari of the upcoming Oppenheimer. I starred in the Short Film: "BAD HABITS" by Award Winning Filmmaker Shal Ngo, and "THE GOOD GIRL" by Daren Taylor, make of the critically acclaimed webseries BIFL. I've also starred in some of my own SHORT FILMS, and play Pier Valentino in my webseries: PIER VALENTINO'S: SHOW WITHOUT END!. AEA, SAG/AFTRA.
I am proud to have CHOREOGRAPHED VIOLENCE and INTIMACY CONSULTED in over 20 Off-Broadway, Regional, and Indie-Theatre productions, as well as in a few films. I'm a member of Theatre Breaking Through Barriers, and have worked extensively as a TEACHING ARTIST artist with Epic Theatre Ensemble, The 52nd St Project, and The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and more.
I trained at NYU/Tisch's Experimental Theatre Wing (class of 2005), and went on to study and apprentice with Maggie Flanigan, Labyrinth Theatre Co, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. I've also studied TV Writing with Andrea Ciannavei, and attended a Term London Film School's MA in Filmmaking program.
THEATREMAKER/ESSAYIST: Creative residencies in yester-years and workshops with places like The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Tank NYC, Theatre 167, and Grange Hall Cultural Center. Numerous short plays for One Minute Play Festival, NY Madness, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers. Stories for PULP MAG (thepulpmag.com), The Kitchen NYC OnScreen (thekitchen.org), and Broken Glass BK (brokenglassbk.square.site)
FOR ACTING INQUIRIES:
Grossman & Jack Talent | 213 W. Institute Place , Ste 306, Chicago, IL 60610
312-587-1155 x 14 (Office) | 312-587-2122 (Fax)
MEMBER of: SAG-AFTRA, AEA
