Mel England discusses his life, acting, producing & directing & coming out as an HIV+ performer on stage in NYC. Part One.

Mel discusses in background and early life in this first episode.

MEL ENGLAND has starred on Screen and Stage, Off-Broadway, internationally and across the USA, since his debut at age 10 in CYRANO DE BERGERAC, directed by British Actor/Director Anton Rogers at the Dallas Theatre Center. He's played Brad in the play ELECTRICITY for audiences around the country, from New York, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, to Minneapolis, where he won Best Actor in a Tour from Lavender Magazine.

On film, he starred in the title role of RON AND LAURA TAKE BACK AMERICA for which he won a Best Acting Ensemble award (IIFC) and two Best Actor nominations (NYCIFF & IndieFest). The film, which he co-wrote and co-directed with co-star Janice Markham, earned 13 other wins and nominations, including Best Comedy & Best Director, co-starred Golden Globe Best Actress Nominee Irene Bedard and Jim J. Bullock, and can be seen on Amazon Prime. He stars in the feature BEST DAY EVER, Winner Best LGBT Film (IndieFest) also on Amazon, and appears alongside Academy Award Best Actress Nominee and Golden Globe Winner Sally Kirkland in ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN. He recently signed to star with Kirkland in the upcoming feature film LOVE ANONYMOUS.

Other film roles include Mr. Ghoulden in the hilarious dark comedy feature PERSONA AU GRATIN, Winner Best Comedy (IndieFest USA) and co-starring alongside horror film star Sid Haig in the indie hit LITTLE BIG TOP (released worldwide on Netflix & Amazon). He also starred in the dark comedy PERSONA AU GRATIN (Best Comedy, IndieFest), and as a minister confronted with his own crisis of faith in HIGHLIGHTS (Best Drama Nominee, Moviefone Film Festival). Most recently, he can be seen in the feature FROM ZERO TO I LOVE YOU, and in the TV movie FAME AT DEADLY COST on Lifetime and internationally on Canal.

On Stage, England's solo show SWIMMING WITH THE POLAR BEARS directed by Jill Andre, premiered Off-Broadway at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre, as part of a benefit for The Climate Project, featuring posters of the show signed by former Vice President Al Gore, and then toured world-wide, to the 2009 UN SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE in Copenhagen, LA, and the National Mall in Washington DC for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Other Off-Broadway credits include HECUBA, MARRIAGE with the Pearl Theatre Company.

England has been a proud part of many notable "original" New York productions, including THE RING OF DEATH by Off-Broadway legend H.M. Koutoukas, director Chris Sanderson's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in Washington Square, HONEYSUCKLES (developed for TV by FOX), SEA MONKEYS at Playwrights Horizons by Tony Nominee Chad Beguelin (THE PROM), FREDDY at LA’s Fountain Theatre, and KING OF CONNECTICUT with Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

England studied with legendary acting teachers Stella Adler and Terry Schreiber, attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, trained with internationally acclaimed director Agousto Boal, with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the British American Theatre Institute, and is a graduate of Dallas' High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with Karon Cogdill & Jane Farris, and in the beginning at the children’s theatre program the Dallas Theatre Center, under the direction of Synthia Rogers.

For Mel's full bio and other information, please go to: http://www.MelEngland.com

Photo: Copyright Wilkinson/2023

Opening and closing music courtesy the very talented Zakhar Valaha via Pixabay.

To contact Wilkinson- email him at BecomingWilkinson@gmail.com