Tony Severio

Actor/Director Tony Severio was raised in rural south Louisiana by two hardworking parents where he was surrounded with a rich culture that influenced his artistic endeavors. Having parents that came up through hard times and poor conditions, they were not educated and although being raised poor he never knew it. His parents influenced his character through hard work, self motivation and love. He is the oldest child with two siblings, a brother and sister. He attended school in Denham Springs, Louisiana and later in Tylertown, Mississippi.

When he was 14 years old his parents divorced. This had a devastating effect on him and being creative was how he coped with it. He moved to Mississippi with his mother and again encountered a culture that molded inspiration for the arts. He, along with his siblings, helped his mother pay bills and buy groceries by working for farmers and other various jobs. Drawing on tons of real life characters he submerged himself into acting, directing and participating in school plays as well as entertaining family and friends. Being poor, he did not have the advantages of film education and agents. There was no Internet so networking was almost non-existent. Not one to be held back, he submerged himself into everything he could find about acting and film-making. What he could earn above and beyond what was needed for the family went towards purchasing equipment to make shorts and narratives in which he directed and acted in. Having completed around 20 shorts he also began to contract various forms of media production.

He first began creating stop motion films with a pawn shop purchased super 8 camera and then to narrative productions such as his current hit horror film "Rugaru", starring Randall Oliver and Joe Estevez. His appearance in Rugaru as the supporting character Shorty has opened doors for serious roles where he normally does comedic characters. Having been recently cast as a mobster, a killer and an rowdy country boy is a testament to his ability to play various roles and cross the hard line from comedy to action characters with serious portrayals.

He also ventured into the realm of television. Having created a character that he has successfully marketed, he has appeared three times on the hit outdoor show, Lip'em & Rip'em on NBC Sports. His portrayal as the comedic Bubba Survivorman is hilarious and contagious. These television performances are unscripted and ad-libbed, again a testament to his performance abilities.

Tony was also an avid martial artist and studied with the likes of Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell and Ted Wong all of the Jeet Kune Do foundation created by Bruce Lee. They were students of the late Bruce Lee. Tony apprenticed under Sifu Ted Wong whom was Bruce Lee's last private student. Eventually he began to share his knowledge and experiences with the public and began teaching. He worked with everyone from law enforcement to football and baseball players to private citizens. He holds a 3rd degree black belt in Eclectic Bujutsu which is no longer an organization. He now devotes all of his energy to acting and directing but still enjoys an occasional workout session with a partner to stay sharp.

Being an outdoors-man, he enjoys fishing and hunting. He believes in the character building experiences of the outdoors and draws upon them for inspiration for characters and story creation. He has no limitations for genres but his favorites are period pieces and particularly westerns. Clint Eastwood is his western idol and loves the trilogy work he did with the great director Sergio Leone. The dark characters Eastwood played that included flaws and vulnerabilities is what attracted him to his performances. The realism of the sets and decoration all influenced Tony's visions on how films should be made and how actors should perform. His influences on comedy come from the likes of Don Knott's, Jerry Lewis and Edie Murphy.

Tony is happily married with two wonderful children and a grandchild. Life is grand.