Instrctor at Lone Star Actors Studio
Lone Star Actors Studio has a variety of helpful instructors to help you improve your talents and confidence.
From Film and Television to Voice Over and improv. Learn the skill you need to make it in todays marketplace.
(click on an instructor for more info)
Eleese Lester Read Bio
Eleese Lester has been a working actress for the past twenty-seven years with credits in both film and broadcast. She has worked opposite such stars as Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Pena, Chuck Norris, Joshua Jackson, Jason Priestly, Mickey Rooney, Kyle Chandler and Adrian Pasdar. She has performed in such films as Lone Star, named as one of the ten best film of 1998 by New Yorker magazine, under the direction of legendary director John Sayles. Her most recent appearance has been on the NBC hit show, Friday Night Lights and she is currently in production in the movie, The Book of Ruth, playing the role of Naomi.
She has performed in hundreds of corporate training videos, national and local commercials and voiceovers for television and radio. She has been the national voice for Centerpoint Energy and Chef Boyardee as well as appearing more locally in commercials for St. Luke's Hospital, The Worksource and many others.
Ms Lester has been coaching film, commercial and voiceover actors since 1989. She taught for over 16 years at the prestigious Houston School of Film and Theatre and served on its board of directors and was Executive Director of the School from 1997-2004. She estimates that since 1989 she has worked with well over 3000 actors. Many are now working actors in Houston , New York and Los Angeles including Leven Rambin, teen star and two time Emmy nominee of the daytime soap opera All My Children. Lester credits her success as an acting coach to a love for the vulnerability and courage of actors and a desire to give them the tools that she wished she had in the beginning of her career.
Eleese Lester is also a sponsor of the Miss Texas, USA pageant and the Miss Texas Teen USA pageant . She has trained young women such as Crystle Stewart, Miss USA 2009 and Brooke Daniels, Miss Texas 2009. She is also a proud member of WIFT, Women and Film and Television and TXMPA, the Texas Motion Picture Alliance .
In 1995 Ms Lester created Authentic Communication, authentic-communication.com, a unique media-coaching firm in which she applies acting principles and communication skills to help serve the business community. She has become a top Houston media coach working with corporations like Compaq (HP) and Conoco as well as coaching business and civic leaders such as Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, former Miss Texas and film actress, Nicole O'Brien and Fox TV news anchor, Krystle Kaliszewski.
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Jim Conlan Read Bio
Jim Conlan is a 40-year veteran of the broadcast media as a DJ, voice actor, announcer, and writer.
As the co-founder of Radio Works, Jim has a national reputation for writing and producing some of the most memorable radio commercials in the country. His voice has appeared in over a thousand radio and television commercials. He has directed hundreds of voice actors and announcers in Detroit , Houston, Los Angeles and New York .
Jim has conducted voice-acting classes in Houston since the early 90's, when he collaborated with Mercury Studio. Since then he has helped to develop many of the actors who are heard daily in the Houston media. He has also offered workshops through Pastorini-Bosby Talent and Leisure Learning Unlimited, covering everything from beginners to master classes and training both adults and children.
"I think the opportunity for people to earn income from their voices has never been greater. The challenge for each of us is first to recognize and develop our own unique voice, then to find as many ways as possible to market it. The saddest thing is when a talented person tries to be something they're not, or to be misled by bad direction. In those cases, there is as much to un-learn as there is to learn."
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Alison Coriell has trained with and performed almost all the major improv theater in the country including: The Pit, Improv Olympic, Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade, Comedy Sports and Theater Sports.
She has been teaching and directing improv for the past five years. She has written and has worked as a script doctor for multiple sketch reviews in both Chicago and New York. Alison has her BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and last summer completed the acting residency at Steppenwolf in Chicago. She was recently seen as Jo in Stages Repertory production of American Brat.
Celeste Roberts Read Bio
Celeste Roberts has been a working actress for the past fifteen years with credits in film, commercial, industrial, voiceover and theater. She recently completed filming on Gary the Tennis Player starring Seann William Scott and directed by Danny Leiner. Locally she is a company member at Main Street Theater where she has performed in numerous productions that include the recent hit Intimate Apparel, The Women, James Joyce’s The Dead, Experiment with an Air Pump, Uncle Vanya, An Ideal Husband, and Ouroboros. She performs with the Houston Shakespeare Festival and has played Kate in Taming of the Shrew, Celia in As You Like It, Tamora in Titus Andronicus, and Ceres in The Tempest. Celeste has also performed locally at Theater LaB, Stages Theatre, and The Ensemble Theater. Ms. Roberts is a member of the national Actor’s Equity League.
Currently, Celeste is the featured female narrator for Hewlett Packard’s website. Additionally, she performs in local television and radio commercials that include Reliant Energy, Academy, Fiesta, and Murphy’s Deli. Ms. Roberts also does voiceover for anime features produced by ADV films. Her industrial credits include Shell, BP, Randall’s, Prisma Energy, Exxon-Mobile, Centerpoint Energy, BMC Software, Romar Consulting and Compaq.
Ms. Roberts holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Houston. She has studied with casting director Michael Shurtleff (author of Audition) and Alley Theatre actor James Black. Originally a native of New Orleans, Celeste is proud to call Houston home for the past eighteen years and thoroughly enjoys her local acting career.
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Heaven Stephens Read Bio
Heaven Stephens has trained with some of the best teaching artists and directors in the country. Including Voice coach Bonnie Raphael, Movement coach Craig Turner, actor Ray Dooley, Benny Sato Ambush, renowned actor/director/Shakespeare scholar David Hammond and Emmy award winning director and actress Joan Darling. As well as workshops with industry pros like Emmy nominated casting director Pat McCorkle, entertainment career consultant and author Brian O’Neil, and the legendary actors Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson. She has performed in staged readings of new theater works by Playwright Samm-Art Williams and Comedian Lewis Black. Professional productions include, Amadeus, The Little Prince, Romeo and Juliet, Cyrano De Bergerac and The Bluest Eye (directed by Tony award winning actress Trezana Beverley).
She has been a teaching assistant for 3 years and is eager to share her knowledge. Heaven has a B. A. in Theater (Suma Cum Laude) from Stephen F. Austin State University and a M.F.A. in Acting from UNC-Chapel Hill / PlayMakers Repertory Company.
Philosphy/quote:
The key to acting for any medium is truth in given circumstances --believability in imaginary circumstances. This truth is unique to each actor and my purpose is to help all of my students discover the freedom of this truth by breaking down the walls of confusion and fear that often plague actors. Through the techniques I will teach they will become better actors and stronger more confident individuals.