CAST

Kat Castaneda as Tal

LA based actress, Kat Castaneda, has returned to her home state, California, after spending a few years on the east coast. While in New York City she was chosen for the lead role of Tal in The Sickness from over the two hundred women who auditioned. This was her first major role in a feature film. Her other feature film works include, Knock Knock, a suspense / horror film set in a small town, and a comedy titled, Catching The Fever. Prior to her acting career, Kat was enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Robert Chaney as Vilmer

Robert Chaney has been living in New York City for over a decade. He loved working with the cast and crew of The Sickness and cannot wait for the sequel. His recent film credits include the short films Salvatore and Cluster. His current hobbies include, but are not limited to, underwater basket weaving and whittling little wooden sticks to whittle with.

Kevin T. Collins as Justo

Kevin T Collins received a BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2001, and he still carries it on his person at all times. When he’s not performing, Kevin enjoys looking for work, writing about himself in the third person, providing English voices for Japanese Anime releases, and working on his second original album, Inbetween, currently in production with White Nite Productions, NYC. Recent projects include the NYC Premiere of One Way Ticket to Hell, World Premieres of the new musicals Paradise Lost and For the Love of the Boy. Recent TV & film credits include Law & Order, the ABC Pilot Pros & Cons, Comedy Central’s Stella, Guiding Light and the feature films Aunt Rose, Inner Rage, Last Rites of the Dead, Creating Karma, Tuesday and Black Mary, all due for release this year (but what he really wants to do is direct…).

Keith Herron as Frank

Keith Herron (www.keithherron.com) was born in Lexington, KY on a cold winter morning in the middle of the last century. He was a professor's brat who never stayed in one place too long. He moved from Kentucky to North Carolina to Germany to Florida to Indiana to Washington, DC to Indiana to Malaysia to Minnesota to his current home in New York City. Keith interrupted his acting career in 1987 but returned to the business in 2003. He has appeared in more than two dozen student, independent, and feature films. His television credits include Law & Order: Criminal Intent; a featured segment on EWTN produced by Arcadia Films; pilots for Showtime, Comedy Central, and the WE Network; and on Forensic Files for Court TV. He can be heard on the CD of a new musical still in development and appeared in the 2004 NY International Fringe Festival as Aloysius Finster in Apple Rug Productions' Granola! The Musical. Keith worked at various theatres in Minneapolis including Dudley Riggs (with Peter Tolan), The Children's Theatre Company, and Chanhassan Dinner Theatre (with Jerry Mitchell). In New York, he played Arpad in Equity Library Theatre's revival of She Loves Me. Keith studies with Richard Scanlon and John Strasberg.

Christa McNamee as Claire

Christa McNamee is a graduate with Honors from NYU’s lauded Dramatic Writing Program. Christa co-wrote and is currently co-producing the feature film Goyband with Red Sky Pictures. Recently, she headed the New Media department of HiLo Productions, specializing in short mobile content, or 'mobisodes'. Christa was the Senior Producer for Short Form Content on The Edge with Jake Sasseville. Segments of the show are in beta testing through xCella$ave in association with major cell phone carriers. Christa's film industry experience includes production manager credits and other crew positions on various independent films. She also co-leads, writes and sings in the band RIPE. Christa has played character roles in several independent films, her favorite parts being the larger-than-life Commandant in Last Rites of the Dead.

Natalie LaSpina as Lena

Natalie recently moved to NYC about 2 years ago and since then has had the opportunity to work on many exciting projects including a nationwide ad campaign for Match.com, shooting for the YRB fall catalog, as well as her 5 lead roles in independent films, including Gate Of Fallen Angels, Synaptic Twitch, Bitter Sweet, Second Chance and Office Beast. She also stars as Lead in the comic action web series Vixens Of Virtue, Vixens Of Vice. Among Natalie's work in Independent Films she has also landed appearances on popular TV series such as Law And Order: SVU, Law And Order: CI, Rescue Me, Damages and a pilot for Comedy Central. Natalie has studied at The School For Film & Television and has also taken classes with top casting directors in NYC. If you are interested in learning more about Natalie view her website: natalielaspina.com

Thomas Daniel as Male Interviewer

This one time farm boy graduated from Michigan with an electrical engineering degree and was awarded four government patents while working in the technical field and traveling abroad. After doing some print work in Toronto, Ontario...acting became his new big quest. In the summer of 2001, he moved to New York City. Since then, he has made appearances on popular TV series/pilots, off-broadway theatre, and named films where he has progressively advanced to large supporting/lead roles and recently "Star Billing" in Hard Damn Hitch. If you would like to see more of what Thomas is up to, please visit him at: www.myspace.com/beachbacon .

Antoinette Armande as Female Interviewer

Antoinette Armande debuted in the part of the Female Interviewer in The Sickness.

Keenan Vinnedge as Man in Elevator

…because there was no one else who could have possibly filled that role quite like he could. When Keenan wasn’t in front of the camera, he was behind the camera building the sets, painting the sets, breaking down the sets and sleeping under the sets, or wondering how he ever got involved in this project in the first place. He currently lives in Michigan, but aspires to travel back to New York again one day and call it his new home.

Paul J. Mason - Producer

Paul J. Mason, producer and Special Makeup FX Supervisor for The Sickness has been involved in various areas of production for over ten years. Starting with a background in Special Effects Makeup and Prosthesis, Puppetry/Animatronics, and Props; and branching out into Producing as the studios scale of projects increased to full production.

In the Special Effects field, he has partnered in two full service production studios, initially Daydream Productions as an on site Prop and FX artist, then finding his home in Carl Paolino Studios Inc, where he remains supervising the FX division and producing and developing new projects for CPS’s Production division. His focus on both has always been creating the highest quality product within budget and against the tightest deadlines. Highlights of his credits include a score of television commercials, including Guinness, Good Year, Fed EX, Jeep, TV Land, Black and Decker, Foxwoods Casino, Verizon, Victoria’s Secret and many others; feature films, among them Personal Velocity and recent prosthesis work on Across the Universe; TV shows, such as Law and Order: SVU, Monday Night Football, and supervising the puppet fabrication crew for the series Celebrity Deathmatch; music videos for Fallout Boys and David Bowie/Trent Reznor; and live events including Broadway shows (The Goat and King Hedley II among them) and many other productions and promotional events.

Mason forayed into Producing in the studios self produced stop motion animation series, The Wrong Coast, where his services as Supervising Producer became integral to both the creative side: design and look of the show as well as its physical fabrication; to the production side: day-to-day operation and animation production, and setup and technical issues. He has also produced an animated commercial for North Kansas City Hospital in Stop Motion Animation. The Sickness is his debut in live-action production, in which he also served as Special Makeup FX Supervisor and artist.

Currently Mason continues to work with Carl Paolino Studios in a Special FX capacity fabricating for films, TV, web, music videos, print, and live events; as well as the development of further live action and animated productions. He is also on the faculty on the School of Visual Arts.

Chelsea Manifold – Associate Producer

While still attending the School of Visual Arts, where she first met the producer and director team as her professors, Manifold quickly gained ground as a promising professional in the fields of make up FX and stop motion animation. Before graduation she accumulated several professional credits on both feature films and on TV commercials. Soon after graduation she became part of an international animation team collaborating on a film project in France only to win the competition.
For The Sickness, she had to wear many hats. For example, she contributed to creating the elaborate make up FX, as well as the day-to-day operations as a storyboard artist, and later on set as the Assistant Director.

Demian Barba - First Director of Photography (Principal Photography)

Demian was born and raised in Mexico City and began working as a PA on film sets since he was sixteen years old. He applied to film school, but was rejected and in retrospect, this turned out to be beneficial for him. He joined a young and very busy film production company where he worked for the next three years on TV commercials and music videos. Hungry for a more well rounded art and humanity education he enrolled at the University IberoAmericana and National Autonomous University of Mexico where he took classes in film, philosophy, art history, aesthetics, communications, history, literature and dramaturgy.

In 2001 he enrolled at the New York Film Academy and hasn't left New York since. Since that time he has directed the photography of several feature films, short films and TV commercials. On The Sickness, he designed the complex lighting scheme for the maze of rooms and corridors of a set only known as, "The Facility".

You can find out more about Demian and his work at: www.demianbarba.com

Peter Schmitt - Second Director of Photography (Reshoot Material)

More than just a cinematographer, Peter is an innovator. In his relentless mission to photograph the-best-shot possible, Peter designs and builds many of his own camera rigs and has used them in hundreds, if not thousands of TV commercials, TV series, music videos and feature films. Combining his mechanical and cinematography skills Peter is quick to adapt to the ever-changing film industry.

On The Sickness, Peter not only recreated the original look of the first production shoot but added his own personal touch to the lighting scheme as well, and his collective experience of documentary-style television camera operation, brought yet another unique dimension to the film.

Larry Schmitt - Editor

After seventeen years of editing film, Larry has acquired a careful eye for accurate cuts that provided The Sickness, with the look of a feature film produced with many times its original budget. His gift for color correction also added to the color styling of the film in the final stage of post, by choosing just the right colors and saturations to the scenes, creating subtle nuances that play upon the psyche.

Larry can be found at Mega Playground, a complete post production facility, whose clientele include Academy Award winning films, national commercials and network television series.

Peter Calandra - Composer

He has written over 800 compositions for television including the theme music for IMAX. He composed music used in NBC’s broadcast of the 2000 Summer and 2002 Winter Olympic Games. His music has also been heard on many other television shows including The Sarah Jones Show, Good Morning America, All My Children, The Today Show, and many others.

As a performer, Peter spent 10 years playing the piano chair for the Broadway production of Miss Saigon. He also toured the U.S.A playing Keyboard 1 with Les Miserables and played in the Broadway Production of Phantom Of The Opera. He also served as Pianist/Conductor and Musical Director for the award winning original NYC production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Peter has a Master’s Degree in Music Composition from Queens College, CUNY where he studied with Thea Musgrave, George Perle, Jimmy Heath and Sol Berkowitz.

Android Lust/Shikhee - Composer (Opening Song)

Shikhee continues this trend with Devour, Rise, and Take Flight (2006 Projekt Records), her new full length release since 2003's The Dividing. "Dragonfly", the first single and video from the new album aims to do more than ever before, with it's stunning visuals and and alien imagery. Android Lust's songs have also appeared on CBS' Navy NCIS (including an on-air mention of the band's name) as well as MTV's The Real World, Road Rules, and Made.

Oscar Zambrano - Sound Designer (Zampol Productions)

Oscar Zambrano is a sound engineer that has worked with several multi-platinum artists as well as independent films. Since 2002 he has been working in Manhattan as a freelance engineer and at Zampol Productions, working on a variety of genres from hip hop to rock, jazz, pop, and classical music as well as a sound post-production engineer for clients such as Mercedez Benz, Old Navy, Chase, Stouffer's, Maybelline, to name a few.

Jorge Castellanos - Sound Designer (Zampol Productions)

Jorge Castellanos has been involved in the music industry since he graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2001. He splits his time working as a sound designer and multimedia engineer at Zampol Productions and writing audio software.

Rachel Bick – Costume Designer

Unique fashion styles created with unusual materials is a trademark of Rachel Bick. After attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Rachel soon found her nitch in the entertainment industry creating costumes for television, music videos, and feature films. She and Carl Paolino Studios go back many years together to when she created the miniature clothes for the puppet characters of Celebrity Deathmatch.
For The Sickness, she tailored the recreation suits for the entire cast as well as fabricated the hazardous materials (or, Haz Mat) costumes.
Rachel’s work can be found at: www.rachelbick.com