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Jack Venturo was born in Lima, Peru on January 9, 1981. Jack left Peru
and came to the United States in March of 1990, spending
two months in New York before settling in Miami, Florida. Hurricane
Andrew struck on August 24, 1992 and Jack then settled
in St. Petersburg, Florida where he was accepted in The Pinellas County
Center for the Arts (P.C.C.A) at Gibbs High School in
1996 as a Visual Artist.
While in P.C.C.A. he pursued a wide range of visual arts including
photography, oil painting, welding, rendering, sketching,
design, sculpture art history and film history.
An interest in puppeteering led Jack to create his puppet, Stanley
who quickly became very popular and inspired him to write
a full three-part screenplay about the puppet. He started his production
company Moviegod Productions Entertainment and
then created his first feature length film, "Natural Born Stanley"
which was released on December 19, 1997.
Jack went on to build two more puppets Seally and Eddie and with them
came
the much-anticipated sequel "Stanley 2 - The Legacy", released
on February 13, 1999.
Jack continued his sculptures, painting and artwork and held an art
exhibition in March of 2000, entitled "Fear", which dealt
with horror and its portrayal in motion pictures.
Jack quickly moved on to the next project, writing and directing "Lost
in the Wilderness" which opened on June 22, 2000
at the Film Paradiso Beach Theatre in St. Pete Beach, Florida.
The premiere was an undisputed success, with lines forming around the
theatre, it was sold out opening night.
The premiere included a display of behind the scenes photos, complimentary
gifts for pre-purchase ticket holders,
autographed pictures of the cast, movie-based merchandise and a live
performance by "Kill Theory", who played live music
from the original motion picture soundtrack. "It was more than
a premiere, it was a celebration," a fan later said.
Jack was a fulltime high school student at Gibbs and a part time cameraman
and floor director at The Home Shopping Network.
While working there he wrote four projects including movies and cartoon
shows.
Jack graduated High School on June of 2000 and on December 24 he packed
up everything he owned, took a seven day
road trip and moved to Los Angeles, CA. He spent the first several years
learning the ropes and finding odd jobs.
Jack's 4th film, entitled "The Shortest Day" was released
on September 5, 2003 to critical acclaim. It was the most nominated
and
most awarded movie at The 2003 Circle of Excellence Film Festival Archie
Awards.
The awards ceremony included both Los Angeles and Ventura Counties and
was held at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California.
It was nominated for four Archie Awards, of which it won three:
Best Screenplay - Jack Venturo, Best Actor - Chris Pagano and Best
Director - Jack Venturo
Jack created www.Jackorama.com in June of 2004 which is a portfolio
of all his art work from dioramas to paintings and sculptures.
In December of that year Jack was working in Simi Valley where he met
Eydie, they quickly became great friends.
Later that year Jack took a much needed sabbatical from creative arts.
He spent his personal time off hiking, sightseeing and reading,
soul searching, meditating and learning about himself, life and people.
Eydie and Jack started dating In October of 2006.
In 2007 Jack became a set intern for Shadow
Machine Films building miniature sets and props for "Robot
Chicken" on
Cartoon Network's [adult swim].
While working on Robot Chicken Jack learned more about miniatures, dioramas,
stop motion and cartoons.
On August of the same year Jack became a citizen of The United States
of America, being sworn in at the Staples Center in
Downtown Los Angeles and in September Jack and Eydie discovered they
were pregnant with their first child, and 9 months
later on May 29, 2008 at 4:35 PM they welcomed their daughter Athena
Phoenix Venturo into the world.
She weighed 8lbs 5oz and measured 20 inches long. Athena is Eydie's
4th and Jack's 1st daughter.
On September 1, 2009 Jack and Eydie got married in a small private
ceremony in Los Angeles.
Jack's 5th movie "The
Death of Tempo" was released on January 1st, 2010.
The movie began production in 2008 and with the help of several contributors
Jack was able to finalize the post production
and release the film on DVD.
This time around Jack wanted to make sure everyone knew the process
of his filmmaking, his passion and his labor,
so he documented every production day as a behind the scenes video diary.
Jack
Venturo's Production Diaries
can be seen on the official website and on the special features of the
DVD.
The film was accepted into the Crystal
Palace International Film Festival in London and got nominated as
a finalist and a
special transmitter award.
The movie was also accepted into the 10 Squared Film Festival in Fullerton,
CA where it won:
- 1st Place Jury Award (Panel of judges included a film critic for
the L.A Times)
- Best Picture - 1st Place People's Choice (After watching all 10
films the audience chose the movie as their favorite)
Jackorama premiered for the first time to the public as a whole entity
at DesignerCon
in November 2011 at
the Pasadena Convention Center. It was the first time any of the dioramas
where shown to the public and it was a
great success, it was shared on Instagram and other blogs on the web
by many people including an iCNN reporter.
In February of 2012 Jack and Eydie found out they are pregnant with
their second child!
And 9 months later on November 28th, 2012 at 4:17 AM they welcomed their
daughter Vivian Jade Venturo into the world.
She weighed 8lbs 6oz and measured 21 inches long. Vivian is Eydie's
5th and Jack's 2nd daughter.
In July 2012 he became a film critic for Divulge
Magazine. He offers a unique perspective on film reviews making
it the
one and only three point of view movie review. A film lovers view, a
film maker's view and a parent's view.
In January 2013 Moviegod Productions Entertainment was renamed Venturo
Productions.
VP is a whole new forum of filmmaking for Jack focusing on writing original
scripts and spec scripts.
While scrolling through Facebook one day Jack came across a post from
The Jim Henson Company stating they were looking
for new puppeteers to join their crew and attend an eight week puppeteer
workshop.
Jack quickly filmed an audition video of himself performing his puppets
Stanley, Seally and Eddie.
A week later he was invited to audition with more than 200 other candidates.
Jack auditioned in front of Brian Henson, Kevin Clash, Patrick Bristow
and Allan Trautman.
Jack got the callback and in the summer of 2015 Jack and thirty other
puppeteers worked once a week at The Jim Henson Studios
training in the Henson puppetry technique and improv performance.
Jack is currently living in Palmdale, California. Working on dioramas,
custom toys and prints, for Jackorama.
He is writing and developing several projects ranging from T.V. sitcoms,
cartoon shows, short and feature length movie
treatments for Venturo Productions.
When not at his desk he practices his puppeteering craft with his new
puppet Chester Pepper on a weekly basis with his fellow puppeteer friends.
When Jack is not working on his projects he spends time with his amazing
family.
His beloved wife Eydie and daughters, Isabella (2002), Xochitl (2003),
Athena (2008) and Vivian (2012).
Their other daughter Hali (1994) finished trade school became a hairstylist
and is currently living in
North Carolina with her wife Ellen who is in the Air Force.
Eydie is a writer and a craft artist specializing in headwear for girls,
you can visit her shop on Etsy!
To be continued...
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