Brian Rosenthal
Brian is a founding member of StarKid Productions (A Very Potter Musical Trilogy, Apocalyptour) and Tin Can Brothers. Recent Digital Credits: Legendary Digital’s Choose Our Destiny: Improv Adventure, Flop Stoppers (Official Selection at Buffer Festival 2016 & Newport Beach Film Festival 2017), The Solve It Squad Returns. Recent Writing Credits: Flop Stoppers, Spies Are Forever, The Solve It Squad Returns, Idle Worship (Official Selection at Buffer Festival 2017). Brian can be seen performing improv and clown regularly in LA. He has appeared nationally in commercials and holds a BFA in acting from the University of Michigan. @brian_rosenthal / IG: @brianro_______
Joey Richter
Joey is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan BFA Acting program where he also Minored in Global Media Studies. Film/TV credits include: Nickelodeon’s Genie in a Bikini and Henry Danger (The Time Jerker), Disney Channel’s Jessie (Officer Petey), several seconds of Fox’s Glee as Apple #8, The Legend of Korra, Mad, Monsters vs. Aliens, Manly, as well as Triggerfish’s film Khumba. Online credits include: School of Thrones, Muzzled, I Ship It (Sundance Film Festival), Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Ernest Hemingway), and the upcoming Case of the Gilded Lily as Dash Gunfire. Joey is an original member of the online sensation, StarKid Productions and can be seen in countless productions, including the A Very Potter Musical Trilogy, the S.P.A.C.E and Apocalyptournational concert tours, Starship, Firebringer and The Trail to Oregon! (Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC). Stage: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot(Stage 773, Chicago). Cofounder of the Los Angeles based comedy group, The Tin Can Brothers and most recently co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in their original musical, Spies Are Forever, as well as their short film, Flop Stoppers (Official Selection at Buffer Festival 2016 & Newport Beach Film Festival 2017). @joeyrichter / IG:@jonyricker
Corey Lubowich
Corey is an LA-based writer, director, and designer. Past stage projects include: Spies Are Forever & The Solve It Squad Returns (Tin Can Brothers), Airport For Birds (Second City), Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Basement Arts), Reefer Madness (Athenaeum Theatre), and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Stage 773). Other projects: the musical short films Flop Stoppers & Idle Worship (Tin Can Brothers), Listen Up concert tour (Darren Criss), the webseries World’s Worst Musical (Verse Factory), and the tabletop game Detective Bullshit (Tasty Penguin Games). Upcoming: the podcast/digital series Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye. @coreylubo / IG:@coreylubo
Carlos Valdes
Carlos is thrilled to join the Tin Can Brothers on this adventure. As an actor, his most recent credits include appearances on the various television shows of the DCTV universe as mechanical engineer Cisco Ramon (The Flash, Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl). As a musician, he is most widely represented by the various sounds available on thalos.bandcamp.com. Proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. University of Michigan graduate. @Tha_Los
Chuck Criss
Chuck Criss is a musician, songwriter and composer based out of Westchester, NY. Chuck first got his start in soundtracking when he released his first solo EP The Break, where his songs were used to help soundtrack the web series Little White Lie. Shortly after, he joined the indie group Freelance Whales, whose songs were featured in commercials for Starbucks and Chevrolet, as well as placements in television shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Skins, Reign, and well, Chuck. Chuck has most recently founded a new band with his brother Darren Criss called Computer Games, whose EP Lost Boys Life came out this past May. Chuck Criss loves talking in the third person, and is beyond psyched to score this project :) @chuck_criss / IG: charlescriss
TalkFine
Brooklyn based band TalkFine (@talkfine) is composed of Clark Baxtresser (@claark) and Pierce Siebers. Baxstresser graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of musical arts and Siebers received his degree in composition and theory at the Blair School of Vanderbilt University. Soon after moving to New York, the duo formed TalkFine. Following the release of their EP Lesser Known Hits, TalkFine was named 1 of 9 Brooklyn bands to watch by Harper’s BAZAAR magazine and premiered their new hip-hop-inflected track and music video, “Dance Like This,” on Out magazine’s website in Spring 2014. On stage, TalkFine's work has heard in their scores to Spies Are Forever (Tin Can Brothers), Ani: A Parody (Team StarKid), and in Movies, Musicals, & Me: An Evening With Me, Halpert Evans with writer/performer Al Fallick. They also provided music direction for Firebringer and Trail To Oregon (Chicago and New York Productions) with Team StarKid.
Benji Dell
Benjamin “Benji” Dell is an alumnus of the University of Michigan’s Screen Arts and Cultures program and the American Film Institutes Cinematography Conservatory Master’s Program. Beginning in the stills world and quickly transitioning to film, Dell has lensed a collection of music videos, commercials, shows and shorts including 4 shorts of the week and two Vimeo staff picks. He has been involved in photographing ad campaigns for THE ACADEMY, NBA, GMC, ALDIS, LOWES HOTELS, GOOGLE, ASHWORTH, SKECHERS, NIKE, and MOUNTAIN DEW. @benjid / IG:@dellphoto
Mary Kate Wiles
Mary Kate is best known for her work as Lydia Bennet in the Emmy-award winning webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, as well as her work in other popular webseries Squaresville (Zelda), School of Thrones (Sansa), and Kissing in the Rain (Lily). She played the lead role in the popular short film I Ship It (featured at Sundance Film Festival 2015), as well as in many feature films including Hello My Name is Frank and The Sound and the Shadow. She recently delved into producing with Shipwrecked Comedy on their successful series Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party as well as their most recent project, The Case of the Gilded Lily, premiering at Buffer Festival in Toronto. She's a Tin Can Brothers alumna, having played Russian spy Tatiana Slozhno in their original musical production, Spies Are Forever. She liked the guys well enough to agree to work with them again and can't wait to be a part of The Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye. @mkwiles / IG:@mkwiles
Steve Zaragoza
Steve Zaragoza is an LA based Mexican-American actor, host, writer, nerd and comedian. He first saw success, starting his hosting career as one of the original members of Philip DeFranco’s award winning news and current events YouTube channel, SourceFed and SourceFedNerd. Steve also starred in PBS Digital and Pemberlely Digital's Frankenstein MD, his own internet talk show on Lionsgate's Comic-Con HQ called Mostly Harmless, and most recently featured on TV on the Disney Channel show Bizaardvark, and DisneyXD's Polaris Primetime, Parker Plays, and The Attack. Steve is known for his comedic, and musical improvisations, as well as his infectiously energetic movie/video game/comic book fandom. @stevezaragoza / IG:@stevezaragoza
Sean Astin
Sean Astin is an American actor well known for his film debut portraying Mikey in Steven Spielberg's The Goonies, for playing the title role in the critically acclaimed Rudy, and for his role as the beloved Sam Gamgee in the Academy Award winning trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. Sean's acting career has spanned over 3 decades with over 130 credits including starring roles in Toy Soldiers, Where the Day Takes You, Memphis Belle, Harrison Bergeron, FX's The Strain, and the upcoming season of Netflix's Stranger Things. In addition to countless video games, cartoons, and animated films, Sean currently voices Raphael on Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Chester on Warner Brothers' Bunnicula. He directed and co-produced the short film Kangaroo Court, which was nominated in the best short film category at The 67th Annual Academy Awards. Politically, Sean has been very active having served in two non-partisan Presidential appointments. Sean also hosts a live weekly 2 hour in-studio bi-partisan political radio talk show, 'Vox Populi Radio' which was made possible by a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2013. @seanastin / IG: @seanastin
Darren Criss
Darren Criss is an American actor, singer, & composer. Most recently, he starred in American Crime Story: Versace, for which he was Emmy-nominated. He starred as Blaine Anderson on Fox's Emmy and Golden Globe Award‐winning series Glee for 5 seasons. Criss made his Broadway debut in January of 2012 as J. Pierrepont Finch in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and starred in the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2015, as well as opening the touring production in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The San Francisco-native is a co-founder of StarKid Productions, a Chicago-based theatre company whose works have spurred viral hits, multiple Billboard charting cast albums, and sold-out national tours. His additional film and TV credits include Girl Most Likely opposite Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening, The Wind Rises, Web Therapy, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise. He is also one half of the rock band, Computer Games, with his brother Chuck. @darrencriss / IG: @darrencriss
Carlos Valdes
Carlos is thrilled to join the Tin Can Brothers on this adventure. As an actor, his most recent credits include appearances on the various television shows of the DCTV universe as mechanical engineer Cisco Ramon (The Flash, Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl). As a musician, he is most widely represented by the various sounds available on thalos.bandcamp.com. Proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. University of Michigan graduate. @Tha_Los
Titus Makin
Titus is an actor and musician. Titus started to sing around the age of nine, but did not start acting until his senior year of high school at the age of 17. After graduating from Buena High in Arizona, he was accepted into The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He soon found success as a recurring character on Fox's hit show Glee, a series regular role on CW's network drama Star-Crossed, a recurring character on Freeform's Pretty Little Liars, and a recent recurring role on Hulu's The Path. Titus has also done episodic work including Grey's Anatomy, Key & Peele, NCIS, The Closer, and Castle. As a musician he has written with and been produced by some of music elite, recently releasing his first full length album "Love Addict". The album is available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, & various other sites. Visit www.titusmakinmusic.com for more information, merchandise, and upcoming show dates. @titusmakin / IG: @titusmakinmusic
Joanna Sotomura
Joanna Sotomura was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She moved to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University before starting her career in film and television. After graduating, Joanna starred in the cult horror film Madison County. Since then, she's worked on such series as Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Rizzoli and Isles, Revenge and The Good Place. She also starred in the acclaimed series Video Game High School and Emma Approved, both of which were named the top 1 and 2 webseries of 2013 by VARIETY Magazine. Be sure to catch Joanna in both Wong Fu Production's feature film Everything Before Us (available on Vimeo) and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare out now! @joannasotomura / IG: @joannasotomura
Jon Cozart
Jon Cozart is a filmmaker and musical comedian, having spent a decade in the online video space and graduating middle of his class from The University of Texas' film program. With an emphasis on high concept, high quality, highly offensive acapella comedy, Cozart has garnered four million YouTube subscribers on his channel, Paint, with only forty videos to his name, a rarity in the space. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Bo Burnham and Tim Minchin, Jon performed a one man show for the duration of the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 25 shows back to back, and now has his sights set on TV writing, gay tinder, and furthering his comedic sensibilities, whatever that means. @joncozart / IG: @joncozart
Ryan Simpkins
Ryan Simpkins has been acting and writing most of her life and is excited to join the Tin Can Bros on their newest endeavor. She will soon be entering her sophomore year at UC Berkeley where she was recently kicked out of a film class for attending the Sundance Film Festival. This summer, she starred in The House (alongside Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler) and Brigsby Bear (against Kyle Mooney and Mark Hamill). You may also know her from films such as A Single Man, Revolutionary Road, or Arcadia. Ryan has been performing improv since the age of 11, taking classes at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and being a proud member of UC Berkeley’s premier short form improv team. She spends most of her days petting her dogs, listening to Lorde, or tweeting her Game of Thrones opinions. @ryan_the_ryan / IG @ryan_the_ryan
Ashley Clements
Ashley Clements is best known for starring in the Emmy Award winning digital series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, in which she played the title role. Tin Can Brothers fans may recognize Ashley from their original play The Solve It Squad Returns, in which she also played the title role. Other appearances include Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party, Inside The Extras Studio, VGHS, BlackBoxTV, Muzzled the Musical and TableTop. Her feature credits include Non-Transferable, August Falls, Call of the Void, and All The Creatures Were Stirring. She received her MFA in Acting from The Old Globe/University of San Diego, so she's, like, classically trained and stuff. She's also won awards and stuff but she’s not going to talk about them here because she is very very humble. She’s spends way too much time on the internet and you can join her @TheAshleyClem / IG: @TheAshleyClem
A.J. Holmes
A veritable Mormon pinball, AJ has portrayed Arnold Cunningham in every company of The Book of Mormon thus far, including: London’s West End, on tour in the U.S., and on Broadway. Other theatre credits include Frederick Frankenstein in the national tour of Young Frankenstein and Henry in Next to Normal (Arizona Theatre Co. & SJ Rep.). AJ is also a composer, having worked on several shows with StarKid Productions (Twisted, A Very Potter Musical, Me and My Dick), all of which can be found on the hit website, YouTube. AJ also recently had an accident where he can only speak in 3rd person, but he loves it. He sends love and gratitude to Mom, Dad, Kellyn, Ksenia, and his incredibly supportive tribe of extended family, friends, and collaborators. Well represented by BRS/GAGE. Proud University of Michigan graduate.
Lauren Lopez
Lauren Lopez is an actress, singer and dancer currently living in Los Angeles, CA. She last worked with TCB on their latest play, The Solve It Squad Returns and is so excited to be working with them again. Lauren is an original member of Team STarKid and has performed in plays and musicals throughout Chicago, LA and NYC. In addition to performing, Lauren also works as a choreographer for new musicals and has done a bunch of commercials. Fun! @LaurenLopez1 / IG: @slowpez8 / YT: MsLaurenLopez
Whitney Avalon
Whitney Avalon has been striving to make people laugh her entire life, starting in musical theater and adding on film, television, and digital. She is best known for her effervescent performances in sitcoms including The Big Bang Theory (CBS) and Girl Meets World(Disney Channel), over 50 national commercials, and many funny web projects like Ikea Heights, Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party, Hyperlinked, and Comic-Con the Musical. She created the Princess Rap Battle series, which has had hundreds of millions of views worldwide, and she starred opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Yvonne Strahovski, Eliza Dushku, Laura Marano, and others in each episode. She also co-writes and co-produces the battles, as well as her original comedy songs (check 'em out on YouTube!) She’s been featured in Variety's Comedy Impact Report, IFC's Comedy Music Hall of Fame, and Cosmopolitan's Internet's Most Fascinating list – so the whole ‘making people laugh’ plan seems to be going well so far, for which she’s genuinely grateful. @whitneyavalon / IG: @whitneyavalon
Clayton Snyder
Clayton is your friend and he's really happy to be here. He has starred in the independent films What Happened Last Night, Hide in the Light, We Can't Die, and guest starred on NCIS. On YouTube, he's been featured in Crazy Things You Do When You’re Jealous, The Truth About Autocorrect, FLURGSTÅRGG, and the web series Edgar Allan Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party, Mondays, and Dream Job. Clayton also frequents the stage doing sketch and improv shows at The Groundlings and iO West, as well as performances with 30 Minute Musicals and Pop-Up Theatre LA. He is currently working as an understudy at Sacred Fools Theatre for the LA premiere of Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric-Play, opening in October. Oh and he's Ethan from Lizzie McGuire. @heyclaytron / IG: @heyclaytron
Dylan Saunders
Dylan Saunders couldn't be more excited to join forces with (and eat lunch with) the Tin Can Brothers for this wild adventure. He most recently appeared as a recurring guest star on the AMC drama, Turn: Washington's Spies. Other television credits include: American Koko (ABC Digital, executive produced by Viola Davis), Chicago Fire (NBC), and Kevin From Work (ABC Family). He appeared opposite Brian Dennehy in The Steward of Christendom at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and in the American regional premiere of King Charles III at Arizona Theatre Company. Other theatre credits include: Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Theatre Apostrof (Prague, CZ) and the National Theatre of London (Connections Festival). His voice has been featured in projects for Disney, Fox, video games, and national commercials. Dylan is an founding company member of the digital new media company StarKid Productions, which has amassed over 200 million YouTube views since 2009. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity. @dylansaunders / IG: @dylansaunders
Curt Mega
Curt is a Los Angeles based actor, writer and director from Dallas, Tx, best known for his four season recurring role as Nick the Warbler on Fox’s hit show Glee. He led the Warblers in Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl and toured with the Glee cast for the 2011 Glee Live International Tour. Additional film/television credits include The Get (CBS Pilot), NCIS: LA on CBS, Switched at Birth on ABC Family opposite R.J. Mitte, Code Black on CBS, Game Shakers on Nickelodeon and Crazy Ex Girlfriend on CW and the indie comedy film Spare Change from the producers of Orange is the New Black and the recent workplace comedy series Brian Remus, Science Genius from Relativity Media. As a writer and producer, he co-created and starred in the digital comedy series Buffering. in 2016, he originated the lead role in the original spy-comedy musical Spies Are Forever from the comedy trio The Tin Can Brothers with music by Talk Fine in both Los Angeles and Chicago. Additional theatre credits include the 2014 Ovation Award nominated Les Miserables at Cathy Rigby’s La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, Damn Yankees with Richard Kind at Casa Mañana Theatre and the regional debut of The Light in the Piazza at Theatre Three in Dallas, Tx. In 2013, he toured the country in the original sketch comedy show The JoMoShow, was a multi-season company member of Second City’s TMI The Show, and can be seen in various comedy shorts on the internet, including a recent episode of Last Moments of Relationships from YouTube sensations The Fine Brothers. Curt is currently working on finishing up the the psychological horror/thriller POV as co-director and writer. In addition to his work as an actor, he is also an acting teacher, and coach both in LA and nationwide, teaching Scene Study, Improv, and Sitcom. Over the past two years, he has served as the Director of Creative Operations for a major LA acting studio, writing, directing and producing 60+ short films in that time and developing their comedy/improv training program. @curtmega / IG: @curtmega
Daniel Strauss
Daniel Strauss is a Los Angeles based actor, improvisor, writer, and voice over artist. He is a recent alum of The Second City Mainstage in Chicago, where he co-wrote and performed in two critically acclaimed revues, Fool Me Twice, Deja Vu andPanic on Cloud 9. Other credits include The Improvised Shakespeare Company, Chicago Fire, The Second City's National Touring Company, and The Second City's Incomplete Guide to Everything. Daniel can be seen in the upcoming Hulu original sitcom There's... Johnny! @danielstrauss / IG: @danielstrauss