Charismatic Producer, Director, Writer and Actor Joey Lanai Guests on Eye on Entertainment

Partners Lanai and Thom Michael Mulligan of Drop Dead Pictures Won Best Film Awards for “Callous” and Are Now Shooting the Movie “Two”

Joey Lanai was born in Compton, California and has been a Los Angeles native ever since.  Joey is an uncommon mix of ethnicity with a Samoan father and a mother of Native American origin. This diversity allows him to pursue a great range of roles as an actor.  Lanai was an outstanding high school and college athlete, competing in football and baseball.  A wandering spirit with a troubled youth, he dabbled in many pursuits as a young man from seminary school and ministry to telecommunications to medical-surgical equipment and device sales. 

 In his 20's, a close friend working as a model brought Joey into the agency where he was signed on the spot. He booked his first commercial and the "bug" bit him that changed his life.  Lanai trained at the Van Mar Academy of Film and Television Acting from 1996 to 1999 under Ivan Markota.  In 2000, he pursued a closer and more intense acting direction from acting coach, Frank Conn, who pushed Joey to new limits. 

Lanai is a very busy man these days.  In addition to his textured, fiery performance as a macho bully who is forced to re-examine his racist attitudes in "Target Practice (www.thetargetpracticemovie.com), he also appears in the films "Strategem" and "Fierce Target".   He recently starred as Detective Dylan Kacerek in The Final Song by Jon Voight Entertainment, and he is set to play Dr. Albert Franco as the lead in “Two”, a sci-fi thriller involving military cloning experiments which will shoot at the end of 2010.  “Two” will be produced by Drop Dead Pictures, formed by partners Lanai and Thom Michael Mulligan.

Lanai’s film “Callous” has won many awards on the festival circuit, including Best Director (Joey Lanai), Best Actress (Kari Nissena) and four Best Picture Awards.   The feature film was also produced by Drop Dead Pictures.  Lanai directed “Callous” and the film, based on a true story, was written by Chris Billett and Lanai.  For more information, visit:   www.callousthemovie.com

To see the EOE interview with Joey Lanai, please go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NkpEcs5pMw

About Eye on Entertainment
"Eye on Entertainment", a division of Eye on Excellence™ Productions, is aired twice weekly on Time Warner Cable in Southern California and on Cox, Comcast and Verizon in Washington DC.  The EOE team covers entertainment and music events, film festivals, red carpets and award shows, and features interviews with successful people in all walks of life, exploring the traits they have in common. Dawna Lee Heising, EOE executive producer and host, is a member of SAG & AFTRA, has an MBA and PhD and is Ms. Universe 2010.  To schedule appearances or films, please contact Matt Chassin at matt@mattsmarketing.com. The EOE team includes Linda Maxwell of Time Warner Cable, producer John Cox, producer Jerry Moore, director Steve Van Wormer, editor Gordon Michael, PR guru Stan Goodrich, and photographers David McNeil, and Kevin Le.  Please visit www.eyeonentertainment.tv, www.dawnaleeheising.tv and www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment.