About our mission...


Dumbass Filmmakers is produced by Fatelink Productions, a young production company with a film collective ethos and roots in independent theater.  

Read more about our mission here


Hunter grew up splitting his time between his father’s close-knit family in Houston and his mother’s mobile family in Ohio, Georgia, New Jersey and Michigan.  He booked his first audition as a 12-year old for a kiddie fright flick made for a plastic 3D toy and has been acting ever since.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Trinity University in San Antonio, Hunter moved to Los Angeles and has appeared in more than 20 theatrical productions, some indie films and a television pilot. Seeking to create more opportunity to play three-dimensional characters, Hunter turned to writing in 2004.  His characters in the plays Fate of the Monarchs and The Sermons of John Bradley overcome grief and un-reconciled inner divisions through sexual expression, creative ventures and the seeking of transcendent religious experiences. Winner Takes All, Fatelink’s first short film, marked Hunter’s debut as a filmmaking hyphenate. He trains in Ivana Chubbuck’s master class.

Hunter financed Dumbass Filmmakers! through the generosity of his entire family, including his brother Parker, his mother Kerry, his father David and his wife Flo, his late grandmother Kathleen, who introduced Hunter to Greek mythology and theater as a youngster and his late grandmother Ruth, who taught him the art of being an "eternal optimist."



Elizabeth was born and raised in the Silicon Valley, and then went to college with hippies, vegans, and yuppies at University of California, Santa Cruz. While at UCSC, Elizabeth was cast in the world premiere of Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s Cinderella: A New Telling of an Old Tale as one of the evil stepsisters. Playing to thousands of people, she was introduced to the professional theatre community at a young age. Elizabeth went on to perform and stage manage in two SSC summer festivals and earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts in 2001.

She then moved to Los Angeles to study at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts – West. After graduating in 2003, she went on to perform in shows all over Los Angeles and Orange County and received glowing reviews in publications such as The L.A. Weekly, Backstage West and StageSceneLA. Elizabeth has also studied acting in London and New York.  She has taught children through city educational programs for the City of Long Beach and the City of Santa Ana. Elizabeth also works as an independent theatre & film producer. With Fatelink Productions, she produced The Sermons of John Bradley and the short film Winner Takes All. Currently, she is writing a feature film to be produced in Scotland in 2013. 

Elizabeth is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Jimmy was born in Vietnam during “The American War,” a war child born to war child parents who struggled to feed their family and survive falling bombs. These tough times growing up made Jimmy the fearless man he is today.

In 1991, Jimmy and three of his siblings fled Vietnam for America, spending six months in a Philippine refuge camp in the process.  With no money and poor English, they managed to make a place for themselves in a new country.  Jimmy earned a degree as an Esthetician and divided his time between his comedy career and helping grow his brother’s celebrity eyelash extension business.  He studied acting in the master class at the Ivana Chubbuck Studio in addition to Tasha Smith’s Acting Workshop and the TVI Actors Studio.  His comedic instincts were honed at the Judy Carter Comedy Workshop, The Groundlings and at open mic performances all over Hollywood. 

Jimmy’s physicality, accent, passion and jokes grounded in his Vietnamese background combine to make him one of the most unique comics on the stage today, as seen in his 2010 appearance on America’s Got Talent.  He is active in Vietnamese charity, sending school uniforms, food, money and medicine to families in the homeland he left behind.


Justin grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois, a suburb just outside of Chicago with two brothers, Jonathan and Michael, and loving parents, Wendy and Howard.

A natural athlete, Justin played every sport offered at the high school level, then focused on football and baseball at the collegiate level.  He graduated from North Park University with a B.A. in Marketing.  Justin moved to Los Angeles in 2007 to pursue an acting career and has appeared in numerous theatrical productions, including The Columbine Project as well as booking leads in a few independent feature films, most recently Cutback.

With the love and support of his family, Justin is focused and determined to make a living in the City of Angels.

For Christmas this past year, Dale was given the book Six Word Autobiographies.  After much thought, she decided hers was “Montana Girl Lucky Onstage and Off”.

She began her professional career at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, appearing in Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew.  Jobs in many other regional theatres followed – Arizona Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory, New Mexico Repertory, the Pasadena Playhouse and lots more.  In the early 80's, Dale moved to Los Angeles to begin working in television and film.  She has appeared in dozens of television shows, favorites being SeinfeldL.A. Law, NYPD BlueFriendsMister SterlingThe OfficeDesigning WomenThe Middle and Six Feet Under.  Her least favorite was probably Alf

A highlight of her film career was Out to Sea with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau – best of all, they shot on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and Dale got to dance all day with Donald O’Connor. For the past three years, she has appeared as Mama Maxine Fortenberry in the wildly popular HBO series True Blood.  She is currently in the midst of shooting Season Four.

Offstage, Dale is married to CBS lighting designer Ray Thompson and they will celebrate their 25th anniversary this year.  They live on a hill in Los Angeles with their two dogs.

Barbara was born in Lisbon and raised in Asia, where she became an accomplished ballerina in Hong Kong and Macau.

Later, while studying for a law degree back in Lisbon, Barbara was discovered by a local modeling scout and began to work as a runway model in Lisbon, Paris, Spain, Taiwan and Japan.  She appeared in numerous print ads, runway shows for Moda Lisboa and Paris Fashion Week and television commercials for brands such as Fiat, Mitsubishi, Adagio, Optimus, Ola and Banco Santander.  Barbara then earned a Master of Law from the Universidade de Direito de Lisboa.  She practiced criminal law as a prosecutor for two years before deciding to change routes and become an actor.

Barbara studied for two years at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.  During this time, she also starred in several Off-Off Broadway productions include Ne’re Do Wells at the Sanford Meisner Theater, Diamond Girl at the Producers Club, and Mademoiselle Colombe, Crimes of the Heart and Uncle Vanya at the Marilyn Monroe Theater, among others.  Two years ago, Barbara moved to Los Angeles to focus on her film and television acting and producing career.  Since then, she has appeared in several films, including Beyond Words, which she also produced, Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog, Four Simple Rules, The Magazine, EM and Four Single Fathers.  She also had a guest spot on NBC’s Days of Our LivesBeyond Words, produced through Barbara’s company Essence Entertainment, was featured as an official selection in several film festivals, including the Provincetown International Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival, LA Shorts Film Festival and the Lady Filmmakers Festival, where it won the award for Best Film in the “Ladies Illuminate” category.  She also associate produced Four Single Fathers alongside Gabriele Muccino and is currently developing two other projects.

Barbara is currently a student of the master class at the renowned Ivana Chubbuck Studios.  She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Denise was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, where she learned the viola and played in several orchestras before opting for more scientific endeavors.

Denise received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Sciences from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges prior to receiving her medical education and M.D. degree from Drew/UCLA.  After completing a general surgery internship and orthopedic surgery residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, she returned to California for subspecialty training in knee and shoulder reconstructive surgery and sports medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Diego. After 14 years in private practice, she is now a consultant.  Looking for a creative outlet, she was bitten by the acting bug in 2008 and hasn’t looked back, working her way up from the beginner to master class at the Ivana Chubbuck Acting Studio. Denise is proud to make her web-series debut with Dumbass Filmmakers!

Mother to eight-year old boy/girl twins, Denise credits her kids with helping her rediscover her creativity.

Melinda grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, where she developed her trademark perkiness as a high school cheerleader before catching the acting bug.

Melinda attended Denison University, earning a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance, learning awesome vocal exercises and practicing the incredibly useful skill of parallel parking.  At the New York branch of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the British American Drama Academy in London, Melinda became skilled in breathing practices and reciting dramatic monologues.  As useful as these skills can be to film and television productions, Melinda continues to train with Ivana Chubbuck in her master class in West Hollywood.  She can be seen in a webisode called Breakdowns and in other independent projects that might require some serious Googling.

Melinda is thrilled to be a “Dumbass Filmmaker” and add this project to her IMDb profile.

James was born in Arizona and grew up splitting time between Chicago and Southern California, where he developed a love for music and movies.

James is a multi-talented artist and an extremely fast learner, having taught himself how to play guitar, bass, drums and piano within a year’s time.  He landed his first gig as a drummer just three months after learning the instrument.  His love for music is only trumped by his craving for movies.  James wrote the feature film Clean Sweep, edited the short film Winner Takes All and has a background in comedy improv. He makes his acting debut with Dumbass Filmmakers!

Being goal oriented helps James stay hungry, keep focused and continue to strive for great things, all while having a great time along the way…

Adrian, a native Texan, relocated to Los Angeles after run-ins with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and has been a working actor in Hollywood ever since.

Adrian earned a B.F.A. from Abilene Christian University, which included courses in London, France and Italy.  Since moving to L.A., he’s appeared in hit TV shows such as CSI: NY, Undercovers, Bones, No Ordinary Family, iCarly, Criminal Minds and Brothers and Sisters.  He also starred as one of the leads in the comedy film Eating Out 2 and as Ernesto in Winner Takes All, set to tour film festivals in 2011.  In theatre, he’s starred in productions such as Suburbia, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and The Outsiders.  He has worked with top instructors like Howard Fine and Ivana Chubbuck and currently studies with Stan Kirsch.

Adrian possesses a 12-year martial arts background, including Kajukembo, Wu Shu Kung Fu and Taekwondo.  He’s also a musician and a proud father.

Eric Colton is a native of Franklin, Michigan and a 2006 graduate of Michigan State University.

He has been acting professionally in TV, film and commercials for over 10 years.  His career started in Michigan during high school and continued there while he attended MSU.  Eric starred in a feature film, Clocking Paper, during his third year of college.  With that role and several commercials under his belt, Eric moved to Los Angeles upon graduation.  He’s been working hard in class and auditioning regularly for TV and film roles since he arrived in June, 2006.  He landed a supporting role in the 2008 horror film The Lost One, as a paralyzed Olympic skier named Christoph, then reprised the role in 2009 for the sequel Krankenhaus: War of Souls.  Eric has co-starred on popular TV shows such as HBO’s Entourage and CBS’ A Minute with Stan Hooper.  Most recently, Eric co-starred alongside Marcia Cross on the ABC hit show Desperate Housewives.

He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Ben was born and raised in Springfield, Illinois.

He moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to study at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Telvision, graduating with honors in 2003.   Since then, he’s studied acting in Ivana Chubbuck’s master class.  Currently in the final stages of the Groundlings Conservatory, Ben has worked across the board in the entertainment industry, playing lead and supporting roles in commercials, television, films and video games.

Ben is a founding member of Murder Artists, LLC, which seeks to develop artists who have “a presence of mind amongst chaos.”

Jared grew up in Chicago.

He graduated from Illinois State University in 2006 with a B.S. in theater, with an emphasis on acting.  After a couple of years working on theatrical productions and independent film in Chicago, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.

Aside from acting, Jared also writes and produces for MORE Productions, an independent production company operated by Chicago natives.

And Finally…

Slate:

Hi! I’m Erwin Stone, aka "Stone" I was born at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and raised around the globe.  My dad is a retired Army officer.  I graduated from high school in Germany and went to college in Utah on an athletic scholarship.  My diverse and unique upbringing provided me an array of life experiences that most wouldn't believe unless they'd been there.

I’m a Groundlings, Sunday Company Alum and I’m currently studying with celebrated acting coach Ivana Chubbuck.  How do I feel about this business you ask?  This business is crazy, painful and full of dumb-ass filmmakers, which is why I am excited to be playing OMEGA in this production that will show the WORLD (cause we are on the web baby!) what's really going on in the most influential city in the world - Los Angeles, California!