BIOS

About the Cast ...

Michael Gilio (KEVIN) wrote, directed and starred in the feature film KWIK STOP, which premiered at the 2001 IFP West/Los Angeles Film Festival. The film toured the festival circuit, most recently with Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival and won "Best Director" prize at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. In addition, Gilio's writing and directing talents for KWIK STOP garnered him a nomination as "Someone to Watch" at the 2002 Independent Spirit Awards. Michael also starred in the films, NO SLEEP TIL MADISON and LOVE AND ACTION IN CHICAGO (starring Kathleen Turner & Jason Alexander), his television credits include Chicago Hope, Early Edition, Profiler, and the MOW"S DON KING: ONLY IN AMERICA (Won Golden Globes and Emmys starring Ving Rhames), and TO SIR WITH LOVE 2 (starring Sidney Poitier directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

Krissy Shields (JULIE) is currently playing Tracy Lord in " The Philadelphia Story" at Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado. She is a company member and resident photographer of Defiant Theatre in Chicago and performed in "Burning Desires", "Dracula", "Action Movie - the play", "The Director's Cut", "The Skriker" and "Macbeth" as Lady Macbeth. Also, in Chicago she has acted with such theatre companies as Famous Door, Baliwick, the Aardvark, Strawdog and Mary Arrchie. After graduating from Illinois State University she toured internationally in "Henry V", "Julius Caesar", "Comedy of Errors" and played Rosalind in "As You Like It". Krissy has worked on several commercials, voice-overs as well as a few short films. She recently finished shooting the lead role in the independent film MEDITATIONS OF TRAFFICKING.

Ann Rickhoff (MICHELE) is a graduate of Northwestern University in Performance Studies where she especially enjoyed developing a cultural performance based on local philanthropist Jane Addams. She had great fun taking the stage for Chicago's Famous Door Theatre Company's long running hit "Hell Cab", and is honored to call 2WKS, 1YR her first feature film.

Alex Emanuel (STEVE) has acted both onstage and in films in New York and Chicago. His most recent stage credits include "Afraid of Heights" with the Hypothetical Theatre Co., "Three Days of Rain" with the Neva Theatre Co., "The Years" by the Artistic Home and the new play "Shhh" at New Perspectives. His Chicago theatre credits include the premieres of "Disappeared" at the Steppenwolf Theatre, "Eagle River" at the Mary Arrchie and "Possible Worlds" at the Chicago Cultural Center. Alex's other films include the features LAND OF FALSE CLOCKS and MONOTONY, and short films TARPAULIN (NY International Film Fest, 2001) and TALKING RICHARD WILSON BLUES (Tribeca Film Festival, 2002). This summer Alex is appearing once again as "Dish" in the live Radio Noir "Broken Shadows" at Tonic in NYC. When not acting, Alex plays bass, sings lead and writes songs for his band Transit Belle.

Belinda Bremmer (ANN) is a Joseph Jefferson Award winning actress who has appeared at the Goodman, Court, Northlight and St. Nicholas theatres and was a founding member of the Body Politic Ensemble and ShawChicago. Her film roles include PRANCER, THE LOST HONOR OF KATHERINE BECK, ON THE RIGHT TRACK and SWEET DREAMS, as well as several television series. She is on the faculty at Roosevelt University and is the author of, among others, Acting In Chicago and the play "Mrs. Coney", which won the Kennedey Center Prize.

About the Crew ...

WRITER/DIRECTOR, Writer/Director, Chris McKay was born in Winter Park, Florida and raised in Chicago where as a child, he would showcase his Super-8 films to the neighborhood kids. After studying film for two years at Southern Illinois University, he moved back to Chicago to complete his film school education at Columbia College. McKay got his first film job as a production assistant on UNCLE BUCK.

Fascinated with editing, Chris took a position at a medical supply company in their industrial video production department, where he learned to use an AVID. When the division was shut down he took out a loan with the help of a friend and bought the division's video equipment. The duo then formed: Brand X Filmworks to produce and edit commercials, industrials, and music videos. Over the course of three years, between 1995 and 1998 Brand X was responsible for the editing of a dozen feature films, shorts and documentaries, all produced and finished in Chicago.

McKay edited many of the feature films edited at Brand X, including STRICKEN (starring Jaime Kennedy of SCREAM, SCREAM 2 & THE JAIME KENNEDY EXPERIMENT), 35 MILES FROM NORMAL (which screened at the 1997 Sundance Film
Festival), and BULLET ON A WIRE (which screened at London's ICA).

After closing Brand X, McKay was hired by Manning Productions, where he edited KWIK STOP for director/actor Michael Gilio.

2WKS, 1YR is Chris McKay's directorial debut.

PRODUCER, Carrie Holt is founder of Holt Productions, a company created with the intent to support new and experimental film, video and theater works. Some of Carrie's projects include the stage productions, "Debt", "Just Say Blow Me" and "The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria"; video productions, Leah Ryan's SHORT ORDER and IMAGEBOMB99; films, DZINE IN AFRICA, CHIEROLOGIC TRAGEDY, LAND OF FALSE CLOCKS, EYE OF CRUELTY, MEDITATIONS OF TRAFFICKING and IF YOU STEP ON A CRACK (short). Since 1996 Carrie has been collaborating on video/multimedia projects that have premiered in Nairobi, Kenya; Cornwall, England; Trondhime, Norway, Paris, Berlin and Chicago.