Jonathan Messer

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Jonathan Messer

Born	Jonathan William Arthur Messer March 17, 1973 (1973-03-17) (age 35) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Years active	1990 - present

Jonathan Messer (b. March 17, 1973 in Melbourne) is an Australian director of theatre and film.

1 Early years
2 Training
3 Career
4 Personal life
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] Early years

Jonathan grew up in Beaumaris, a middle-class Bayside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Baptised a Catholic, at the age of five he began studying at Stella Maris Catholic Primary School. Messer began his theatrical career at St. Martins Youth Arts Centre in Melbourne, where he appeared in various productions both acting and singing from the age of 12 to 15. He also appeared in a number of television commercials as a child. His secondary studies were at St. Bedes' Catholic Boys College in Mentone, where he undertook his high school work-experience on the Australian drama series Neighbours.

[edit] Training

Master of Fine Arts (Directing) 2000-2002 American Film Institute Conservatory (LA, USA). Graduate Diploma Directing 1999 – National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) (Sydney, AUS). Drama Direction (Single Camera: Multi Camera Studio Direction) 1998 BBC Television Training (London, UK)

[edit] Career

Jonathan Messer is an Australian Director of film, and theatre. Directed the theatre production Tejas Verdes by Fermin Cabal in 2006 with Red Stitch Actors Theatre, following the successful run of Vincent in Brixton by Nicholas Wright in 2005. In 2005 Jonathan went to New York where he was invited to The Sloan Film Summit at the Tribeca Film Institute, where he screened his short film Joshua Tree starring Taylor Dayne. Jonathan also worked as the Assistant Director to Jim Sharman in the production of Three Furies at the Sydney Opera House. He has also directed and co-produced music videos for the bands Tiltmeter, Nokturnal and 67 Special. Jonathan trained in Los Angeles for three years, where he developed his film making skills and experience studying film direction at the American Film Institute. He then worked as production assistant for the Kennedy-Marshall Company producing feature films such as Seabiscuit and The Bourne Supremacy. Before graduation from the MFA program in directing at the American Film Institute (AFI) in 2002, Jonathan underwent an internship at Killer Films in New York, working in pre-production on the Todd Haynes film Far From Heaven. Jonathan also received a Queens Trust Scholarship and an Ian Potter Foundation Grant to pursue his MFA at the AFI. Jonathan is also a graduate director from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, in Sydney. Having also worked in London at the BBC as an Assistant Director and Floor Assistant in Drama and Light Entertainment on the shows Absolutely Fabulous, Top of the Pops, Blue Peter, and The Hello Girls.

[edit] Personal life

Messer is also a photographer, a painter and a writer. He is also a volunteer in a harm reduction project, working with street based sex-workers. Jonathan Messer was born under the Zodiac sign of Pisces, the fish.