Hollywood Handshake Tour

Dennis Farina
Dennis Farina, one of Hollywood's busiest actors and a familiar face to moviegoers and television viewers alike, can be seen in several film releases this year: "The Grand," an improv comedy about a poker tournament in Las Vegas directed by Zak Penn, in which Farina is joined by Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano and Jason Alexander;  "Bag Boy," an independent comedy co-executive produced by National Lampoon and the Farrelly Brothers which goes behind the scenes of competitive grocery bagging; "Bottle Shock," about the historic events that occurred when the French challenged the Napa Valley wine makes to the now famous blind tasting in Paris in 1976, with Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Bradley Whitford; Fox's "What Happens in Vegas," set in Sin City,   in which he stars as Cameron Diaz's boss; as well as in a cameo in Disney's "Old Dogs."
    
In recent years, Farina starred in HBO's miniseries, "Empire Falls," directed by Fred Schepisi, which also starred Helen Hunt, Ed Harris, Paul Newman and Robin Wright Penn and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Mini-Series.  He also starred on the NBC series "The In-Laws" and "Law and Order," and co-starred with Brad Pitt and Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro in the darkly comedic crime drama "Snatch," directed by Guy Ritchie. Farina played "Avi," a Jewish diamond merchant who masterminds a disastrous jewelry heist.  He was reunited with "Get Shorty" director Barry Sonnenfeld to play the role of the seat belt challenged hit man, Henry Desalvo, in Touchstone's comedy "Big Trouble" and teamed up with Jason Lee and Tom Green in Bruce McCullough's "Stealing Harvard." Last year he starred in "You Kill Me" with Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni and Luke Wilson.

In Paramount Classics' "Sidewalks of New York," Farina re-teamed with his "Saving Private Ryan" co-star Ed Burns, who also directed the film.  In this ensemble, which co-stars Stanley Tucci, Heather Graham and Brittany Murphy, Farina played a news anchor colleague of Burns' who dispenses outrageous dating advice.  Last year Farina and Burns appeared together in "Purple Violets."

Farina is well remembered for his role in memorable features such as Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight," the sly and sexy crime caper in which he played "Marshall Sisco," the retired lawman father of Jennifer Lopez's character.  This was Farina's second outing in an Elmore Leonard best seller adaptation for Jersey Films, the previous one being "Get Shorty," directed by Sonnenfeld and co-starring John Travolta, Rene Russo and Gene Hackman. Farina received an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male for his performance as "Ray 'Bones' Barboni."  In 1998's "Saving Private Ryan," directed by Steven Spielberg, Farina played "Col. Anderson," a pivotal role in the film.  It is this character who convinces Tom Hanks' character "Miller" to lead a squad deep into Nazi territory to rescue "Pvt. Ryan."

Farina's numerous other screen credits include John Frankenheimer's "Reindeer Games," "Paparazzi," "The Mod Squad," Martin Brest's "Midnight Run," "Little Big
League," "Striking Distance," "Another Stakeout," and the Michael Mann films "Manhunter" and "Thief," the latter of which was Farina's feature film debut.

Farina is also recognized for his roles in two critically acclaimed television series: CBS's  "Buddy Faro," created by Mark Frost ("Twin Peaks"), and NBC's "Crime Story," created by long-time collaborator Michael Mann.  He also appeared in the Emmy-nominated "The Drug Wars:  Columbia."

A veteran of the Chicago theater, Farina has appeared in Joseph Mantegna's "Bleacher Bums," "A Prayer For My Daughter," directed by John Malkovich, "A Class Three Trial in Yokohama" directed by Donald Finn, "The Time of Your Life" directed by Donald Moffat, "Heat" directed by Roberta Custer, "Streamers" directed by Terry Kinney, "Tracers" directed by Gary Sinise (a Joseph Jefferson Award Winner for Best Ensemble) and others.

Ramon De Ocampo
Ramón de Ocampo is a stage, television, and film actor. His Television credits include recurring roles as Otto, fictional presidential nominee Santos’ (Jimmy Smits) speechwriter on the multiple award winning “the West Wing” (Season 7); as the sharp technical pro Harry Oka on Josh Berman’s (known for the CSI series) “Killer Instinct”; and as Aaron on “Medium”; as well as memorable guest starring roles on “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Brothers and Sisters”, “Night Ride Home”, “CSI”, “CSI:NY”, “Law and Order”, “Wasteland”, “Cosby”, “Uncommon Sense”, “Now and Again”, “The Education of Max Bickford,” and “Saving Grace” among others.

His film credits include: being a proud member of the ensemble cast of Happy Endings which also includes Maggie Gyllenhal, Lisa Kudrow, Bobby Cannevale, Jason Ritter, and Tom Arnold (directed by Don Roos.) He played Agent Meadows, an NSA agent who chases Ice Cube as Scott Speedman’s partner in XXX: State of the Union, and was one of the players in Campbell Scott’s Hamlet.

His favorite New York Stage credits include: Dogeaters (at the NY Public Theatre, directed by Michael Greif of Rent fame), Middle Finger, The Romance of Magno Rubio (with the award winning Ma-Yi theater company), Letters From Cuba (Signature, directed by playwright Maria Irene Fornes), Taming of the Shrew (as Bartholomew/Biondello, at the world famous Shakespeare in the Park, which starred fellow West Wing member Alison Janney), Birth Marks (EST Marathon), and Ice Island: the Wait for Shackleton (at the Melting Pot).

His favorite Regional theatrical credits include: Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo at the Kennedy Center), Shakespeare’s R&J (as Juliet, NCSC), Taming of the Shrew (as Kate, Yale Rep, directed by Mark Lamos),The Merchant of Venice (as Lorenzo, NJSF), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Studio Theater, WDC), Spinning Into Butter (Pittsburgh Public), Dogeaters (Kirk Douglas), Pera Palas, Tonight @ 8:30, (Antaeus), M. Butterfly (Song, East West Players), and two years at the O’neil, and Ojai Playwrights conferences.

As a member of New York’s Ma-Yi Theater company, Ramón has toured the country as well as Manila, Bucharest and Sibiu in Romania with “the Romance of Magno Rubio,” an award wining play about Filipino migrant farmhands, of which he was one of the original cast members.

A classically trained actor, Mr. de Ocampo got his BFA in Acting at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama in Pittsburgh. He is a Narrator for Recorded Books Inc. and has recorded more than two dozen books to date including “the Summer of Riley”, for which he won Audiophile Magazines Earphone Award for excellence in recording. Mr. de Ocampo is an OBIE award winner (a prestigious Award for the best of OFF BROADWAY in New York) for his work in “the Romance of Magno Rubio,” an LADCC and Garland Award Winner as a member of the cast of “Pera Palas” for Best Ensemble (produced by the Antaeus Classical theater company in Los Angeles, of which he is a company member.) He is also a proud winner of a Princess Grace Award (Robert and Gloria Hausman Award.) For more information visit: www.ramondeocampo.com

Lissa Layng Reynolds
Lissa is an actress, a producer, an entrepreneur in the business community, and a valued member and benefactor of her South Pasadena community as well as a wife and mom. Her interests are varied and her accomplishments are many.

As an actress Lissa just completed a five-month run of a one-person show, A Woman of Independent Means based on the international best selling novel by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. She has just returned from a 3-night benefit performance in Colorado where proceeds were designated to augment the towns Library expansion project. Lissa has received several acting awards for other stage performances, among which is the 1999 ADA Award from the Valley Theatre League as Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her performance in Oliver Hailey’s And Where She Stops Nobody Knows, the DramaLogue Award for Best Comedy Actress in Station WVIP, and the 2000 ADA Award for Best Ensemble performance in Much A dieux (in which she played four different characters!) In film she received the Angel Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Association for her performance in the feature film, a romantic comedy with Jonathan Winters, Say Yes!

As a producer and entrepreneur, Lissa, along with her husband James (well known as Commander Abe Carver on NBC’s Days Of Our Lives) shared a vision of establishing a small professional theater. In 1991 they found the perfect location and set about to realize their vision. First, they started a business, Classes Unlimited, an adult learning center, to help build a financial basis necessary to start a theater in the future (being fully cognizant that a small theater is NOT a profit venture!). Lissa was the Program Director of Classes Unlimited while simultaneously teaching at the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts (LACHSA). In 1994 the Reynolds received the Chamber of Commerce Business Persons Of The Year Award for their Classes Unlimited business. In the summer of 1997 Lissa and James were ready to open their theater full time and the Fremont Centre Theatre (FCT) opened at 1000 Fremont in South Pasadena with an inaugural performance of Three Songs an original play with music that was wildly successful and critically acclaimed and subsequently moved onto an Equity venue. This year FCT begins its sixth year season! The first production The Tangled Snarl and Murder Me Once by Frank Semerano and John Rustan, directed by James Reynolds and produced by Lissa Reynolds has been selected as Critics Choice by the L.A. Times Critics Pick by Back Stage West and RECOMMENDED by the L.A. Weekly. FCT was nominated for last year’s Ovation Award for the Best Musical in a Small Theater for its production of Nuncrackers. The Fremont Centre Theatre has received awards and accolades from the theater going public and the professional media. Valley Magazine selected FCT as Best Equity Waiver Theater in L.A. The Reynolds share credit as co-artistic directors of the theater and purchased the theater building in 2001 to help insure the continuity of FCT’s theater home.

Elevating the importance of the Arts in the community and schools is a passion of Lissa's. Three years ago, during the Year Of The Arts, Lissa spearheaded a large citizens group of teachers, students, business owners, artists, musicians, and actors to plan a proposed Theatre and Arts district for South Pasadena as a program under the Community Redevelopment Agency. Though the community support and involvement was strong it was voted down 3 to 2 by the South Pasadena City Council.

Lissa was last years chairman of the design committee for the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses float, where the float Blast From The Past won the Special Judges Award for Spectacular Showmanship and Dramatic impact. She received a Medal Of Excellence last year from the Pasadena chapter of Women at Work, and has received two PTSA distinguished service awards, one for her 3 years as chair of the South Pas High School’s Career Connection matching students with professionals for a day. The other for the Shakespeare productions she and her husband adapted, and directed at Arroyo Vista Elementary School for several years.

Lissa received the Amy Walker volunteer award from Haven House of Pasadena, a shelter (one of the first in the country) for battered women and their children. She and her husband have organized a Celebrity basketball fund raising event annually for 14 years pitting teams of Days Of Our Lives cast and crew members against other celebrity teams and coaching staff. Through this event they have raised literally thousands of dollars to benefit the sport programs the Middle School and High School.

The Fremont Centre Theatre hosts many fund-raising events and, for the past year, partnered with the San Gabriel Valley Hospitality House and its Welcome Home Project. FCT’s preview performances were used to provide funds for the Welcome Home mission to establish a temporary, affordable home away from home for families of critically ill children receiving treatment in nearby hospitals.

These are but a representative sample of the many activities to which Lissa devotes time, energy, talent, and resources. One other important, but little heralded activity, is the Over Forty Women’s Basketball team she formed (coached by husband, James) which has practiced Tuesday nights for the past few years. Thursday nights she plays volleyball and when time permits she goes horseback riding at the Arroyo Seco.

The Reynolds son, Jed, a graduate of UCSB, majoring in Theatre. Holiday time finds the Reynolds, either James and son, Jed, or James and Lissa, on overseas USO tours. Last year they are visited the troops and their families in Afghanistan and Iceland. Instead of Being Home for the Holidays, they travel to Bring Home for the Holidays to the troops overseas.


Bill Brochtrup
Bill Brochtrup is best known for his role as receptionist ‘John Irvin’ on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning police drama “NYPD Blue.” After initially being cast for only two episodes, the actor proved so popular that producers Steven Bochco and David Milch hired Brochtrup as a series regular. Bill was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble, shooting more than 150 episodes over the course of the series’ twelve year run, and generating more fan mail than any other character on the show.

Brochtrup has appeared as a series regular on two other Bochco shows- CBS sitcom “Public Morals,” and co-starring with Jim Belushi on the ABC private eye drama “Total Security.” He has guest-starred on shows such as “Without a Trace” and “Dharma and Greg,” is a frequent guest host of the PBS newsmagazine “In the Life,” and suffered a humiliating defeat on Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown.”

Bill’s film credits include starring with Philip Baker Hall in festival favorite “Duck,” the thriller “Ravenous,” starring Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle, and the futuristic “Space Marines.” He will be featured this spring in the upcoming all-star comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You,” with Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore.

Onstage Bill has appeared in theatres in New York and Los Angeles, and has toured the country in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” and “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” with Ed Asner. He will star this winter at Tony Award winning South Coast Repertory in the comedy “Noises Off.”

James Reynolds
It's not many acting hopefuls who get the chance to personally quiz the likes of Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Madeline Kahn, Ann-Margaret and Peter Fonda on how to make it "big" in Hollywood, so when a young James Reynolds got the opportunity, he grabbed it. Having studied journalism in college, Reynolds spent time as a film reviewer for the Topeka Daily Capitol and, as part of his duties, interviewed a number of filmdom's brightest talents. Reynolds' research has paid off as viewers who have seen him regularly on NBC-TV's "Days of Our Lives" and "Generations" will attest.

After serving as stalwart police Commander Abe Carver on "Days of Our Lives" for nine years, Reynolds moved to the new series, "Generations" in 1991 to play powerful business tycoon Henry Marshall. He was rewarded for his powerful portrayal with an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. With the subsequent demise of that series, Reynolds was invited to return to "Days" where he has been promoted in rank to Commander and named the top law enforcement official in Salem, the mythical community which is home to "Days". Reynolds has subsequently established Abe Carver as the longest running African-American character in television history, and Reynolds, of course, the only African-American actor to portray a single character for so many years.

In high school, the subjects James enjoyed most were English and History. With a small student body, there was never any shortage of extracurricular activities and, in addition to performing in many school plays, he became very active in sports, playing football, basketball, and track.

Following graduation from high school, Reynolds joined the Marines. After boot camp he was assigned to the Information Service Office where, first stationed in Hawaii, he became a reporter for the service newspaper, The Windward Marine. Later he was sent to Vietnam and served for almost a year with a variety of units in and around Chu Lai, adding battlefield reporting to his combat duties, until a wound resulted in his discharge.

Returning to the States, Reynolds enrolled in Topeka's Washburn University, majoring in pre-law and journalism. Advised that the best place on campus to meet girls was the theater department, he began auditioning and performing in plays. In addition to his improved social life, Reynolds reaped another unexpected benefit -- he discovered a passion for acting. He went on to appear not only in regular campus productions of musicals and dramatic plays, but with local theater groups as well.

James enjoyed campus life but, after all the traveling he did in the service, he often became restless and took periodic breaks from his studies in order to travel the country. Working the docks of Houston, the orange groves of Southern California or hopping freight trains in between, he got a unique look at the U.S. before deciding to leave school permanently and head to San Francisco where he worked as an actor for a time.

A few months after landing in San Francisco, Reynolds' life took another turn. Finding it necessary, for family reasons, to return to Kansas, he used his experience and background in journalism to land a post with the Topeka Daily Capitol for which he wrote on theater, film, dance, and music. It was here over a period of almost two years, that he met and interviewed many film and TV stars. It was here that he resolved to pursue a professional career in acting.

When he learned a few years later that a new repertory company was being organized in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he auditioned and was accepted. Reynolds played major roles in a number of productions until barely through its inaugural season, the company went broke. Undaunted, Reynolds simply walked into the offices of the Colorado Springs Sun and landed another newspaper job as entertainment reviewer and feature writer, a job which still allowed him time to investigate other acting jobs in the area. Soon, he landed his first national television commercial as well as a featured role in the motion picture "Mr. Majestyk", which starred Charles Bronson and was filmed in Colorado.

Finally, moving to Los Angeles, Reynolds soon amassed an impressive list of prime time television and motion picture credits as well as becoming one of the foundation blocks of "Days of Our Lives". In addition to guest spots on such series as "Seinfeld", "Highway to Heaven", "Room 227", "Hart to Hart" "Nero Wolfe", and "The Dukes of Hazzard", he costarred with Vincent Price in the CBS series "Time Express" and appeared in such feature films as "The Magic of Lassie", "The Foundation", "Hotline" and "Welcome to LA" and the soon to be released video "Tracers". Continuing his interest in theater, he organized and became the Managing Artist Director of the Los Angeles Repertory Theater for seven years.

Despite his heavy schedule on the series, Reynolds, along with partner Morey Sullivan, still finds time to head Free State Productions, a film and TV production company headquartered in Kansas, and to make occasional appearances on stage in Los Angeles. He starred in "Buffalo Soldier" at Theatre/Theater, a taut drama about black US Army troops in the American West following the Civil War for which he was nominated for a NAACP Theatre Award. He recently, costarred with his wife Lissa, in Oliver Hailey's "And Where She Stops Nobody Knows" at their own Fremont Centre Theatre. Last year he starred with other Vietnam Veterans in "Tracers" the acclaimed drama, which was conceived by John Difusco and created by a group of actor/veterans in 1980. When time permits, Reynolds tours colleges in his one-man show, "I, Too, Am America", a commentary on the African-American experience from the time the first slaves were brought to this country up to the present. James and Lissa are also the Artistic Directors for the, aforementioned, award winning Fremont Centre Theatre.

Reynolds, and his wife, actress Lissa Layng Reynolds own and operate Classes Unlimited a learning center in South Pasadena, California, where one can enroll in such classes as "How to Write a Romance Novel", "Rapid Spanish", "Basic Bookkeeping", "Gold Prospecting", many computer classes, and a variety of other classes. The South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce recently named James and Lissa Business Persons of the Year. And the Pasadena Weekly has named them as one of the one hundred most influential couples in the Pasadena area. Reynolds was raised in the small farming community of Oskaloosa, Kansas. "It was great growing up in a small town," he recalls. "The town's entire population came to only eight hundred, at that time, and our lifestyle was generally one of peace and quiet, disturbed only rarely by an unexpected event. My grandparents told me of the time they were held hostage overnight by several escaped convicts from the nearby Leavenworth Federal Prison. That, of course, was the exception to the rule and it was the biggest news event to occur in Oskaloosa within anyone's memory when I was growing up there."

In fact one of Reynolds' greatest honors is being named to the Kansas Historical Society's list of famous Kansans, a list that includes such notables as President Dwight Eisenhower, Amelia Earhardt, Langston Hughes, Barry Sanders, and many others.

Deeply committed to his charitable work, Reynolds has been involved in more than 300 fund raising events in the last ten years. He annually hosts a "Bowl-a-thon" in Los Angeles to benefit the National Asthma Center and a celebrity basketball game in South Pasadena for the city's schools. Haven House (a home for battered women and children in Pasadena), the PTA, YMCA, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, The National Asthma Center, The National Jewish Hospital, the Boy Scouts of America and numerous other national and local charities and service organizations have recognized James' work with awards and commendations. Reynolds, Lissa, their son Jed and other members of their family have established Big Men Stuff; a company that utilizes clothing items with slogan embroidered on them (such as: Big Men Don't Hit They Hug) to help in the fight against abuse.

James' son, Jed is a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

James is listed in Who's Who in Entertainment, Who's Who African-Americans, Who's Who in Business, and Who's Who International.

Reynolds is an active sportsman, enjoying basketball and racquetball on his days off. He, his wife Lissa and son Jed make their home in suburban Los Angeles.


Amy Danielson
Born in San Antonio, TX, Amy graduated from Oklahoma City University as a Dance Performance Major and with a Bachelor of Performing Arts degree. She has studied acting with film and T.V. veterans: Brad Henke (of Choke, October Road, World Trade Center, Sherry Baby, and several others, and will be in the upcoming feature Star Trek), Greg Itzen (of 24, Murder One, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Strip Mall, and several others), and John Walcutt (of Jag, Ghost Whisperer, Titanic, Little Miss Sunshine, Mad Men, and several others).

Most recently, Amy can be seen in the critically acclaimed and receiver of several film festival awards the feature film, Take Out. Amy can also currently be seen in a music video on the canopy for the Freemont Street Experience in Las Vegas and in a music video for MSTRKRFT feat. NORE. Amy is a company member of Theatre of NOTE in Los Angeles. This past summer she performed in THIRD FROM THE LEFT in the NYC International Fringe Festival 2008.

Additional film credits include: Dominique’s Game w/ Corbin Bernsen (of L.A. Law, JAG, Psych) and Simmone Mackinnon (of Baywatch, McLeod’s Daughters), Spyware (winner of several awards in the 48 Hour Film Festival), Guido!, Pandemic, American Family (PBS television series).

Additional theatre credits include: Beirut! ( The Actor’s Playpen L.A. – directed by John Walcutt from Ghost Whisperer, Titanic, Mad Men, Jag), My Fair Lady (OKC), The Tempest (Pulse Theatre NYC), Strip (L.A.), This Contract Limits Our Liability (Theatre of NOTE), Clowns (The Actor’s Playpen L.A.)

She has been a company dancer in The American Spirit Dance Company (Oklahoma City), The Mantis Project (New York City), RileyDance (New York City), and Layla & The Lotus Dancers (L.A.). Amy has been an international Master Class Instructor in Manila for Ballet Philippines. She performed in the Opening Act for the televised Holiday Persian Concert at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. She has performed in music videos for Good Charlotte, Kambiz, and 1208.

In 2006, Amy founded GENESIS: SARAJEVO, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading dance and artistic outlets throughout war-torn and post-conflict countries, specifically Bosnia and eventually Uganda, and Manila. Our purpose is to empower these young artists and unify different cultures through dance and arts education. Amy will be featured in the upcoming December ’08 issue of DANCE Magazine for her work abroad. www.genesissarajevo.org

Armed Forces Entertainment Tour 2008-2009