NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Ben Granoff

Ben Granoff has worked in New York City for twenty years as a visual storyteller with production houses, animation studios, advertising agencies, publishers and museums. Since his teenage years, he has been teaching cartooning for after-school programs, summer camps, charter schools, and social service agencies. He has been helping NYFA students bring their imaginations to life since 2017.

Dennis Green

Multi-decade professional actor/writer/producer. MFA, Yale School of Drama, Yale University; BFA, Wayne State University. Writer: Screenplays, works for theater, published essays and poetry. Fellow – Sundance Institute Screenwriters’ Intensive; The Hermitage Artist Retreat. Semi-Finalist – Austin Film Festival TV and Screenplay Competition. His theater work has been produced at Symphony Space, NYC; Performance Space 122; HERE Theatre; Nagleburg Theatre, CUNY; NY Int’l Fringe Festival; Minnesota Fringe Festival; and Dixon Place, NYC. Actor: His films include the horror classic Jacob’s Ladder, Forever Lulu, August the First (Hulu, Netflix, Showtime, Reel 13 on PBS); Somewhere in the Middle (Netflix, Amazon, over 20 national & international film festivals); The Sisters Karras; as well as the audio drama/podcast Harlem Queen (Apple, Spotify, Sticher).

Dave Hanson Acting for Film Instructor

Dave Hanson is an internationally published and award winning playwright, television writer, actor, improvisor and comedian known for his work on Chelsea Lately, Inside Amy Schumer, Trainwreck and for his play Waiting For Waiting For Godot.
Originally from Seattle, Wa, Dave studied theatre at Whittier College, The Oxford School of Drama, and long form improv at UCB (LA/NY), IO West (LA) and The Second CIty LA.

Diana Henry

Diana Henry is an award winning professional actor with over 25 years experience in television, theatre, film, voice overs and commercials. Since 2009, Diana has been a series lead regular on ABC’s “What Would You Do?”, appearing in over 70 episodes. Other credits include: co-star roles in “The Equalizer”, “The Sinner”, “Law & Order”, “The Blacklist”; and female lead in the feature film “Fortunes”. Diana captured three NY Emmy Awards as the presenting host in “The Lineup: Best Sports Movies”, featuring Fran Healy, Spike Lee, and Chazz Palminteri. She is also a private coach for children and teens, focusing on the audition process for performing arts high schools and colleges. In 2010, she co-founded The Drawing Board NYC, a collective of screenwriters, playwrights, and actors dedicated to developing new works through table readings. Diana has an MFA in Acting at Rutgers University – Mason Gross School of the Arts, studying under William Esper and Maggie Flanigan; and a BFA in Acting at Miami University in Ohio.

Daniel Hernandez-Alonzo

Daniel Hernandez-Alonzo moved from Mexico City to New York to study Film and Video at the School of Visual Arts. Inspired by his professors’ work and downtown Manhattan’s arts and music scene, he decided to specialize in non-fiction. Daniel teaches Non-Fiction Videography and Personal Journalism for the Broadcast Journalism at the New York Film Academy; and is the department’s Technical Lead and Studio Director for NYFA News.

Outside NYFA, Daniel is a cameraperson and video producer, the Director of Photography at the NYU School of Law and a Professor of Cinematography at The New School.

Recently, Daniel was Director of Photography for China: Frame by Frame, a feature-length documentary airing on PBS. He also documented the New School’s ACT-UAW Local-709 Strike. Daniel is currently pursuing a graduate degree at Columbia Journalism School and lives in Brooklyn with his partner, with whom he runs a company that creates non-fiction video content.

Liz Hinlein

Liz Hinlein is an accomplished DGA director, creative director and visual artist with a vast portfolio of critically acclaimed work across film, commercials, and immersive media. Her debut narrative feature, Other People’s Children, premiered at the Director’s Guild of America and garnered high praise from Variety as “an intriguing debut.” The film received multiple film festival honors, including the prestigious Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, and is currently available for viewing on Apple Tv+ and Amazon Prime.

Liz’s short films have been screened globally at renowned festivals such as the Berlin Film Festival, Slamdance, and The Hamptons Film Festival. In the immersive space, her documentary VR experience, OSAGE ’85, is currently supported by the Venice Biennale. Liz’s work in the VR/AR space has earned recognition from clients such as the NFL, Walmart, Accenture, and Byton Auto, with her Accenture project winning Best VR Branded Content at CES.

As a sought-after director for high-profile commercials, branding videos, and music videos, Liz has worked with a diverse range of brands and artists, including Castrol Oil, Dove, Lifetime, Revlon, Gillette, Maybelline, A&E, Wella, NARS Cosmetics, Bare Minerals, Clairol, and MAC Cosmetics. She has also creatively directed and photographed projects for renowned artists such as Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears, Quincy Jones, Incubus, and Fishbone. She was selected for the DGA Directors Initiative, The Sony Initiative and the Viacom Initiative.

Liz is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and holds an MFA in Cinematography from The American Film Institute. She is also the Creative Director of Film and Cinematography at the New York Film Academy, where she created and hosts the popular Zoom talk show series The 20/20 Online Series, which amassed over 1.5 million followers. Currently, Liz is in pre-production on OSAGE ’85, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Drew Hirshfield Acting for Film Instructor

As an actor Drew Hirshfield has appeared in new and old plays around the country (at places such as Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York, and many others). Other credits include a first Broadway National Tour, network TV, and independent film. He’s been nominated for a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award and he once played a lemur, professionally. Drew has trained with, and completed a pedagogical teacher-training program under, clown and physical acting master teacher Christopher Bayes and has studied with the renowned clown Aitor Basauri of Spymonkey. He is a trained practitioner of the Michael Chekhov Technique. Drew is a an alum of the National Alliance of Acting Teacher’s Teacher Development Program.

Amanda Hood

Amanda Hood is an Australian comedy writer and director based in New York City. She began her career making documentaries for the BBC. After a stint at Working Title Films in London, Amanda moved into script development and freelanced on everything from commercials to TV shows to feature films. She has written and directed ten short films which have screened at major film festivals and aired around the world. In 2023, Amanda completed a director’s attachment with director Erin White on Paramount Plus’ TV show, Paper Dolls. Prior to that, she completed a director’s attachment with Oscar-nominated director Bruce Beresford on the Sony Pictures feature film, Ladies in Black. Amanda has received the Australian Directors Guild Metroscreen Fellowship and her feature script Baby Boomers was a finalist in the Page International Screenwriting Awards, placing in the top ten out of more than 6000 scripts from around the world. Amanda is a graduate of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and loves mentoring the world’s next generation of storytellers.

Kenny Ingram

Kenny Ingram is proud to have been a part of the New York Film Academy’s musical theatre faculty for four years as a tap and jazz dance instructor. He also has had the pleasure of teaching tap for NYFA’s high school summer programs. Mr Ingram is currently in Disney’s “The Lion King” on Broadway.

Paula Rey Jimenez

Paula is an spanish freelance photographer currently based in New York City. She divides her time between New York and Spain, if she is not shooting for editorial publications she is pursuing long-form photo essays.

She holds a BS in Physical Activity and Education and a BA in Journalism from the University Camilo José Cela in Madrid, Spain, with a minor in Media & Cultural Studies from the University of California, Riverside. She is a 2014 graduate of the Photojournalism and Documentary program at The International Center of Photography, NY.

Interested in stories about home, identity and community Paula is excellent in creativity, dedicated and love to tell stories for a broad audience.

Bob Kale Acting for Film Instructor

A partial list of the projects Bob has worked on as a casting director would include: Broadway (Most for Nat’l Tour as well)— Souvenir, King Hedley II (August Wilson), An Inspector Calls, A Tale Of Two Cities, Little Women-The Musical, The Who’s Tommy, Titanic-The Musical (1996), The Life, Jekyll & Hyde (1996), The Scarlet Pimpernel. Off-Broadway includes—Frank McGuinness’ Gates Of Gold, Dracula, Dietrich & Chevalier, Over the River and Through the Woods, Avow, The Deep Throat Sex Scandal, Tap Dogs. Tours include—The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas starring Ann-Margret, Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, Nunsense (25th Anniversary Tour), Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk starring Savion Glover; Television—HBO’s Scarred City, Due South, Elmo’s World: Happy Holidays!, PBS Sesame Street, Cosby Mysteries, As The World Turns, and the miniseries Sally Hemmings (NY Casting). Feature Film includes—Jack & Jill (additional NY Casting), You Don’t Mess With The Zohan (additional NY casting), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (additional NY casting), Beavis and Butthead Do America (NY Voice Casting), The Quest for Camelot (NY Voice Casting), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (NY Voice Casting), Big Daddy (NY Casting), Little Nicky (NY Casting).. See www.bobkaleonline.com for more information.

Isac Kalsky

Isaac Kalsky (Instructor) is a 3D Animator with over 10 years of digital media experience. He has created animations for advertising agencies, film, television and fine art companies. Isaac teaches animation, rigging, and motion capture at the New York film Academy.

Krysanne Katsoolis

Krysanne Katsoolis has over 20 years of experience in financing, producing and distributing film and television properties. She is an entertainment attorney and recently launched a media venture, Liquid Media Group, on NASDAQ.

Prior to Liquid Media Group Katsoolis formed film sales company Cargo Entertainment which specialized in International distribution of feature films up to $15M including The Angriest Man in Brooklyn with Robin Williams and Zipper with Patrick Wilson. Katsoolis founded Cactus Three for the production of high end non-fiction films such as The Cove and The March, executive produced by Robert Redford. Prior to this Katsoolis served as Head of Acquisitions and Business Affairs for Winstar New Media Company, Inc., the content arm of Winstar Communications, a publicly traded (NASDAQ) provider of broadband communications services and content. At its peak the company had a market capitalization in excess of $4.4 billion and revenues of $445.6 million.

Krysanne was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia Law School and after graduating went on to start her career at Miramax Film Corp and Fox Lorber Associates, two of the main players in setting the paradigm in aggregating film and television content for worldwide distribution. She has worked as an Executive Producer on over fifty films and series along with Academy and Emmy Award winning directors.

Rachel A. Kaufman

Rachel A. Kaufman is a multi-instrumentalist Brooklyn native who has music directed and/or played for well over 300 musicals and cabaret shows world-wide. She has been thrilled to be part of NYFA’s wonderful faculty since 2013. Theater credits include: Off-B’way: Tale of Two Cities (10th year reunion concert), Goldstein (with Julie Benko & Megan McGinnis), A Taste of Things to Come (Lorin Latarro, dir.); Tours: Rent, Phantom of the Opera, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Smokey Joe’s Café; Regional: Tom Jones (North Shore), Hallelujah, Baby! (Arthur Laurents, dir.) Rachel can also be seen playing for auditions, improv comedy groups, at churches, synagogues, piano bars, and restaurants. She has worked with such Broadway greats as Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee, Hinton Battle and Pat Birch, just to name a few. Rachel holds a B.A. in Music (and Russian) from the University of Chicago

Bryan Kazmarck Acting for Film Instructor

Director of Standing Eight. Kazmarck is a New York based filmmaker whose films have screened at a multitude of film festivals domestically and internationally. He has directed 3 shorts and a feature. His feature, Terminal Legacy, a sci-fi thriller, was released on Dec 1, 2015. His short, The Portland Empire premiered at the 2012 Festival De Cannes, and proceeded to sell to Shorts International (U.K.) and to the Worldwide Mobile Movie Theatre App in the U.S. He also the owner of Open Fire Films.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Claude Kerven

Kerven’s career began with the debut of his short film Candy Store, which won an Academy Award for Best Dramatic Student Film. In 1982, he directed a series of Afterschool Specials for ABC-TV, including the Emmy Award-winning Starstruck and the Director’s Guild of America-nominated High School Narc. Kerven also directed over 25 short films for Saturday Night Live, including the much-celebrated Synchronized Swimmers. His most recent directorial work, They Never Found Her, starred Madmen’s Elisabeth Moss and Fargo’s Peter Stormare. In 1990, Kerven co-authored Mortal Thoughts, for Columbia Pictures, starring Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, and Demi Moore.

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