University of California, Riverside
Highlander
Walk of Fame
Many UCR alumni have become successful actors, writers, directors, producers, and much more. Scroll down the Highlander Walk of Fame for a glimpse of their wide-ranging careers in Hollywood.
Faithfulness Adebayo-Ige is an American actor, model, writer, and athlete of Nigerian descent who has been featured in several commercials and ad campaigns for brands and organizations including Microsoft, Adidas, Dole, 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and 2022 FIFA World Cup. Adebayo-Ige was nominated for Best Actor in the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival for his work in “A Night’s Prayer.” He also portrayed Artrell Sparks in the TV series “Mixed Boy Joy.”
Screenwriter Mark Andrus co-wrote the acclaimed film “As Good as It Gets” with filmmaker James L. Brooks, for which the duo earned the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. His other films include “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” “Life as a House,” and “Georgia Rule.”
Brian Peter Asman is a writer, producer, and actor with several credits in the sci-fi and horror film genre, including “Worst Laid Plans,” “The Macabre,” and “Alien Planet.” He was also a producer for the sci-fi documentary “In Search of Tomorrow.” A TV adaptation of his novel “Man F*ck This House” is forthcoming.
Known as the “Father of Modern Rodeo,” Earl Wesley Bascom was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, cowboy, inventor, and Hollywood actor. He appeared in the Western “The Lawless Rider” and commercials with Roy Rogers for the Roy Rogers restaurant chain. In addition to a legendary career in rodeo, Bascom was an internationally known Western artist and took sculpture and bronze casting classes at UCR.
Lynn Grant Beck is a writer whose credits include the Roku TV series “Cypher” and the TV movies “My Mom Robs Banks,” for Lifetime and “12 Gifts of Christmas,” for the Hallmark Channel. Her play “All American” won the Hollywood Encore Producers’ Award at the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Beck was previously the vice president of production at Kopelson Entertainment and a creative executive at Interscope Communications.
Stephen Bishop was on the UCR men’s baseball team as an undergraduate and played professionally for Atlanta’s affiliate in the Pioneer League before transitioning to a career in acting. He went on to star in the Oscar-winning sports drama “Moneyball” in 2011 and has appeared in numerous films and TV series, including “Criminal Minds,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “The Terminal List,” and “The Equalizer.”
Francesca Lia Block is the author of the acclaimed young adult novel “Weetzie Bat.” A series adaptation of the novel for Peacock is currently in production.
Andy Blumenthal has been a film editor for Castle Rock, Samuel Goldwyn Films, MTV, Disney, and other studios. His credits include “Waiting for Guffman,” “Desert Saints,” “Waiting …,” “The Natural,” and “Lucky 13.”
Shukora Brown is an assistant music supervisor at Walt Disney Studios, where she assists in music supervision for various Disney Studios, Disney Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Fox, and Disney+ theatrical trailers, TV spots, and content pieces.
Aaron Carew is a writer and producer known for TV series such as “Power Book IV: Force,” “Dirty John,” and “L.A.’s Finest.” He is also a co-executive producer on the CW’s “Walker.” He is writing two drama series for CBS Studios – the legal drama “Carver” and “Law and Guard.” Carew also co-created and is executive producing a series titled “VA” for A&E, which is being executive produced by Bradley Cooper and Alyssa Milano.
Megan Chao is an award-winning documentary producer and picture editor and is currently the vice president of development and production for Birman Productions, Inc., based in Los Angeles. Her credits include producing for the documentary series “Impact” and “Nova” and the Netflix documentary “Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story.”
Yaying Chen is a production operations coordinator for NBCUniversal, where she supports over 50 unscripted series across Bravo, E!, USA, and Peacock. She formerly held a production coordinator role at FX Networks.
Lee Michael Cohn is a writer, director, producer, and acting coach. He produced the feature film “Bachelor Lions” for RiverRock films and is currently producing “Seven Days as a Kingpen” for the studio. Lee’s acting credits include the films “Redbelt” and “Harlem Aria” and the TV series “Law and Order.” He is also the co-author of the best-selling acting textbook “A Practical Handbook For The Actor.”
A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Jalysa Conway is a TV writer and producer known for her work on the hit series “9-1-1: Lone Star” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Conway is currently developing a coming-of-age ROTC drama with executive producer Spike Lee for Amazon Studios.
Stephanie Cuevas has been in the entertainment industry since 2013, working with major companies like LA Film Festival, Universal Pictures, AFI Film Festival, Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, and Tubi. Cuevas currently works at Roku as the manager and lead for international content merchandising and editorial.
Shannon Dang is a Los Angeles-based actress known for her role as Althea Shen in the CW series “Kung Fu.” She has also appeared in the TV series “Sorry for Your Loss,” “The L Word: Generation Q,” and “American Vandal.” Dang was formerly a dancer for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
An attorney and advocate for foster youth, Jay Paul Deratany is the writer and executive producer of the film “Foster Boy” based on his own experiences in the courtroom. The film stars Matthew Modine and is co-executive produced by Deratany’s former UCR professor John Schimmel and NBA legend Shaquille O’Neil.
Paul DiLorenzo serves as vice president of production software at DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind such popular animated movie franchises as “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Shrek,” and “Kung Fu Panda.”
Marina Dompke is a TV and film producer responsible for the acquisition of several original projects, including collaborations with HBO, Showtime, Legendary Entertainment, Miramax, Paramount, Village Roadshow Pictures, and CBS. Her credits include the TV series “American Gigolo” and “How We Roll.” Currently, her slate includes live action film and TV partnerships with companies such as Skydance Entertainment, Hello Sunshine, Court Five, and Goldcrest Films.
Charli Engelhorn is a staff writer for the hit TV series “The Cleaning Lady” on Fox. He was also a producer for Comedy Central’s long-running adult puppet show “Crank Yankers,” created by Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel.
Roy Finch is a composer and producer whose credits include the films “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “The Secret Garden,” “Gang Related,” and the reality TV series “Survivor.” He is currently a tenure-track professor at Loyola Marymount University in the School of Film and Television’s recording arts program.
Katherine Fugate is the creator of “Army Wives,” a TV series that aired on ABC from 2007-13. She also wrote the screenplays for the 2010 film “Valentine’s Day” and the 2011 follow-up “New Year’s Eve.” Fugate was chosen as one of Variety’s annual “Women of Impact in Hollywood” in 2008 and worked with First Lady Michelle Obama on the “Joining Forces” campaign, writing and producing PSAs to shine a light on the sacrifices of military families. She credits her attraction to the arts to her aunt, “I Dream of Jeannie” actor Barbara Eden.
Joe Garrity is an editor whose credits include Disney and Pixar productions, including “Cars 3,” “The Good Dinosaur,” and “Finding Dory.”
Elizabeth George is a renowned mystery writer famous for her Inspector Thomas Lynley series. The first 11 novels were adapted into episodes of the BBC crime drama “The Inspector Lynley Mysteries” based on George’s characters. The 21st installment of the series was released in January 2022.
Joe Hackett is a writer, editor, director, and actor who played the role of Count Fangula in the “Beetleborgs” TV series and movies. His other television credits include roles in NBC’s hit drama “ER” and TNT’s “Southland.” He has also appeared in several Lifetime movies including “Stalked by My Mother” and “Web Cam Girls.”
Ross Helford is a writer whose credits include the movies “Sniper: Reloaded,” “Single White Female 2,” “Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough,” “Sniper 3,” and “Alien Lockdown.”
CV Herst is the screenwriter and executive producer of the 2018 feature film “The Maestro.” He is also a research scientist, developing vaccines for infectious diseases and immunotherapies for cancer.
Jim Jennewein is an author and screenwriter best known for several major Hollywood comedies of the 1990s, including “The Flintstones,” “Getting Even with Dad,” “Major League II” and “Richie Rich” He also appeared in the Christopher Guest mockumentary “A Mighty Wind” in 2003.
Kevin Jones is the former senior vice president of production at Columbia Pictures, where he supervised production on several features including “Excess Baggage,” “Multiplicity,” and “Money Train.” Prior to Columbia Pictures, he was vice president of production at Paramount Pictures, where he was involved with development of the films “Forrest Gump,” “Star Trek V,” and “Coming to America.”
Rene Jones serves as partner and chief of social impact at United Talent Agency, a premier global media agency representing many of the world’s most acclaimed figures in entertainment and media.
Lia Langworthy is a writer, filmmaker, and essayist whose TV writing credits include “The Shield,” “Media,” and “The Young and the Restless.”
Patricia Ja Lee is best known for her role as Cassie Chan, the Pink Ranger on the TV series “Power Rangers Turbo” and “Power Rangers in Space.” Lee is also the voice and motion capture actress for Jill Valentine in numerous entries in the “Resident Evil” video game franchise.
Shola Lynch is an award-winning filmmaker known for the feature documentary “Free Angela And All Political Prisoners” and the Peabody-winning documentary “Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed.” She has also written and directed for CNN, ESPN, HBO Sports, and PBS. Since 2013, Lynch has served as curator of the Moving Image & Recorded Sound division of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In 2016, she became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Trevor Lyons is an actor whose credits include the Lifetime movies “Murder at Blackthorne Manor” and “Bad Nanny” as well as the TV series “The Food That America Built.”
Katherine MacDonald is a producer at Netflix and previously served as the senior vice president of animation at Paramount Pictures. MacDonald has also held executive positions at Nielsen Corporation, MGM, Lionsgate, and New Line Cinema.
As an undergraduate, Daryl Furumi Mallett was cast as a background actor in “Cannibal Women and the Avocado Jungle of Death” shot on the UCR campus. He has also appeared as a background actor in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.” Behind the scenes, Mallett has served as a writer, producer, and location manager as well as other crew positions in several film and TV projects including “Sphere” and “American Pickers.” Mallett is also the founder and a producer at Dustbunny Productions, partner and producer at Caribou Moving Pictures LLC, and a producer at Paddlefoot Productions.
John Mattson is a screenwriter whose credits include “Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home” and “Free Willy 3: The Rescue,” part of the most successful live-action family franchises in Warner Brothers’ history. His screenplay “Milk Money” sold to Paramount Pictures for $1.1 million. His screenplay “Me” was named one of the ten best unproduced scripts by the Los Angeles Times. Prior to screenwriting, he worked as a development executive at HBO, contributing to “And the Band Played On,” “The Josephine Baker Story,” “Heist,” and “The James Brady Story,” among other projects.
Jacqueline McKinley is a writer and producer whose credits include the TV series “The Neighborhood,” “Our Kind of People,” “Raven’s Home,” “The Quad,” “The First Family,” and “The Bernie Mac Show.”
Monty Mickelson is a screenwriter known for the “Clubhouse Detectives” series of kids’ movies. He is also the author of the 1993 novel “Purgatory.”
Emmy-winning writer and TV producer Guy Nicolucci was one of the original writers for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” where he wrote nearly 550 episodes. His other credits include “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” “Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial,” “Prisoner of Love,” “Lucy Comes Home,” “Cheer Squad Secrets,”and “Killer In Law.”
Leena Pendharkar is a writer, director, and producer. She recently served as writer and director for Lifetime’s “A Date with Deception” and directed episodes of the TV series “Hello Jack! The Kindness Show” for Apple TV+. Her 2017 feature film “20 Weeks” premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was released in theaters and on Hulu.
Tom Provost is a writer, editor, director, and producer who wrote the screenplay for the film “Under Suspicion” starring Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. Provost also wrote, produced, and directed “The Presence” starring Mira Sorvino and Shane West.
Chelsea Ramirez played Shirley in the anthology series “Little America” on Apple TV+. She has also appeared in the shorts “We Were Kids” and “Cielito Lindo” and produced the short, “Moose Tracks.” She is currently a teaching assistant at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Bill Ratner has had a prolific career as a voice actor in film, TV, and video games and is best known as the voice of Flint in Hasbro’s syndicated TV cartoon “G.I. Joe.” His other TV credits include “Community,” “Robot Chicken,” “Knightfall,” “I Almost Got Away with It,” “Family Guy,” and “The Transformers.”
Lindsay Ridgeway was the second actor to play Morgan Matthews on the TV show “Boy Meets World.” In 1994, she originated the role of Tina Denmark in the Los Angeles cast of “Ruthless! The Musical.” Ridgeway was also the singing voice of Darla Dimple, the villain in the 1997 animated film “Cats Don’t Dance.”
Dan Rosen is a writer, director, and producer whose film credits include “The Last Supper,” “The Curve,” and “Freeloaders.” He was also a writer and producer for the TV series “The First Family,” and executive producer for “Cinco De Mayo Is Not a Thing.”
John Rosenberg is a film editor, producer, and production executive with over three dozen film credits, including the cult classic “Mac and Me,” Wes Craven’s “Wishmaster,” and “Suicide Kings” starring Christopher Walken. Along with his feature work, Rosenberg has written and edited a variety of documentary projects including the award-winning documentary “More Than the Rainbow” about New York street photographers, the miniseries “The Gift of Fear” based on the bestselling book, and National Geographic’s acclaimed documentary series “Expeditions to the Edge.”
Clarinda Ross is an actor and producer who has appeared in several TV series, including “ER,” “Medium,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “United States of Tara,” and “Judging Amy.”
Film producer Susan Ruskin is the dean and executive vice president of the American Film Institute. Her producing credits include the films “Anaconda” and “Haunted Honeymoon.” She has also served as president of production at Middle Fork Pictures/Cinema Line and Gene Wilder’s Pal-Mel Productions, and as a creative executive at Lucasfilm Ltd.
Stephen Jay Schwartz served as the director of development for filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen, known for films such as “Das Boot,” “In the Line of Fire,” “Air Force One,” “Troy,” and “The Perfect Storm.” Schwartz is also the bestselling author of the novels “Boulevard” and “Beat,” which follow the dysfunctional journey of LAPD homicide detective Hayden Glass. The novels have been optioned by producer Ben Silverman for development as a TV series.
Eileen Shields is a writer and producer of the thriller “The Amaranth.” She was awarded the silver prize at the 2021 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards for Best Thriller/Horror Script for the upcoming film “Released,” currently in pre-production.
Philip Michael Thomas is best known for portraying Detective Rico Tubbs in the 1980s TV series “Miami Vice.” Thomas’ other TV roles include Kingston St. Jacques in “Starsky and Hutch,” Furst in “Wonder Woman,” and Eddie Conroy in “Good Times.” He attended UCR as a transfer student before ultimately leaving the university to pursue a career in acting.
Breanne Washington works for Netflix in original series scripted comedy development. She previously worked for companies such as Make it Happen Productions, Pearl of a Goa Productions, CORE, and Creative Artists Agency.
Tanisha Quilter Williams has been a writer in the entertainment industry since 2004, working at such companies as Inside Edition, E! Networks, US Weekly, and Tangible Films Entertainment. She is also the writer, producer, and creator of the “Forties AF!” podcast.
Lilliana Winkworth is a comedian, actor, and screenwriter. She has written for Nick Jr. and her comedy has been featured on Adult Swim and Funny or Die.
Christian Yeung was on the men’s basketball team at UCR and played professionally in both China and Mexico before shifting his focus to acting. Yeung has appeared in over 20 national commercials and in several hit TV series, including “Westworld,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “NCIS: Hawai‘i.”
Eric Neal Young is a writer and producer whose credits include the documentary “I Got a Monster,” the supernatural thriller “Brooklyn 45,” and the horror series “Welcome to Daisyland.” Young is also a former executive for The Walt Disney Studios, where he was involved in productions including “Toy Story II,” “The Santa Clause,” and “The Rocketeer.”