The creativity keeps coming—and we’re still catching up! Our Trojans have been writing, performing, directing, and making their mark in every corner of the industry, and we’re back with another round of highlights. Here’s a look at alumni activities and achievements through December 2025. Fight on!
Classes of 1980s – 2000s
Inga Ballard MFA 1983 starred in the World Premiere of John Spellos’ Rosie is Red and Everybody is Blue at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, NY.
Bellamie Blackstone BA 2001 was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Game Show and serves as Executive Producer for Wheel of Fortune.
José Checo Cuevas MFA 1982 published a selection of his set renderings for the theatre from 1972 to 2023.
Erica Dasher BA 2008 is starring in the mystery comedy series The ‘Burbs for Peacock.
Jimmy Fowlie BA 2008 won a 2025 Emmy Award for Writing for a Variety Special for the SNL50: The Anniversary Special and received a 2025 nomination for Writing for a Variety Series for his work on Saturday Night Live.
Grant Heslov BFA 1986 was the co-writer of the acclaimed revival of Good Night and Good Luck on Broadway, and he additionally served as a producer of the live stream event of the production for CNN.
Brian Jordan Alvarez BFA 2009 starred in Megan 2.0 which released last summer.
JP Karliak BA 2003 voiced Gargamel and Razamel in the newest Smurfs movie directed by Chris Miller.
Edgar Landa BA 1992 directed Twelfth Night for Off Square Theatre/Thin Air Shakespeare in Jackson Hole, WY, last summer.
Sari Lennick BA 1997 starred in the film Good Sport which premiered at L.A.’s Dances With Films film festival.
Kevin Mambo BFA 1995 appeared in Arena Stage’s production of Fremont Avenue.
Mykle McCoslin BA 1996 serves as president for the SAG-Aftra Houston-Austin Local.
Scott Porter BA 1993 is a professor at Cal State University teaching Sports & Entertainment Marketing.
Michael Schwartz BA 2006 wrote, directed and produced the audio series Arlo’s Type.
Steve Sobel BFA 1995 appeared as Escaba on NBC’s Chicago P.D.
Richard Speight Jr. BA 1992 toured last summer with his band Dick Jr. & The Volunteers.
Danny Strong BFA 1996 wrote the book for the Broadway revival of the musical Chess, now performing at the Imperial Theatre. Stark Sands (BFA ‘01) is on the producing team.
Melissa Trueblood BA 1991 was nominated for an 2025 Emmy for Outstanding Game Show and serves as Co-Executive Producer for Celebrity Family Feud.
Noah Wagner BFA 1985 performed in Veronica’s Room at the Long Beach Playhouse last September.
Donald Webber Jr. BFA 2008 joined the cast of Tom Hanks play The World of Tomorrow.
Forest Whitaker BFA 1982 was nominated for a 2025 Emmy for Best Drama Guest Actor for his work in Andor.
Peter Vack BFA 2009 wrote and directed the film www.RachelOrmont.com, which was featured in Forbes.
Class of 2010s
Amielynn Abellera MFA 2011 is part of the cast of The Pitt, which won a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. The series also features alumna Taylor Dearden BA 2015.
Erin Anderson BFA 2012 won a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for their work on The 67th Annual Grammy Awards and picked up a second nomination for her work on The Voice finale.
Katie Baker BA 2016 was seen in Apple TV’s Stick starring Owen Wilson.
Jacob Bond BFA 2019 starred in the feature film Singing in my Sleep and appeared as a character in Hideo Kojima’s new video game Death Stranding 2, doing performance capture.
Justus Bradshaw BFA 2017 is the lighting programmer for country/hip-hop artist Shaboozey.
Tucker Bryan BFA 2010 starred in the Ne’er Do-Wells’ production of Almost, Maine.
Molly Chiffer BFA 2017 performed in POTUS at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse and appeared in The Art of Leaving at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre.
Alanna Darby BA 2012 was recently seen in a three-episode arc as Christine Jorgensen on Ryan Murphy’s Monster.
Alex Diehl BA 2014 was featured in episodes one and four of The Rumour in the UK.
Michael DiNardo BA 2017 served as a fight captain for the production of Romeo y Julieta at Let Live Theatre in Los Angeles.
Kimberli Flores MFA 2015 was seen in the cast of John Leguizamo’s new play The Other Americans at the Public Theatre.
Troy Guthrie BFA 2017 starred in the film John Wilkes Booth, which was screened at the LA Shorts Fest.
Megan Guthrie-Wedemeyer BFA 2016 was nominated for a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Period Costumes for her work on 1923.
Savannah Harrow BFA 2018 served as assistant stage manager for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl.
Ethan Haslam BFA 2017 performed in the Bardfly Theatre Company’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Bella Hicks BA 2016 performed in La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts’ production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
Cyrus Hobbi BA 2014 was featured in a new Nationwide Insurance advertisement alongside Peyton Manning and Saquon Barkley.
Allison Jaye BFA 2018 stars as young Joyce Byers in the Broadway production of Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Kapil Talwalkar 2015 was seen in the Public Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theatre. He can also be seen in The ‘Burbs for Peacock.
Veronica Long BFA 2015 appeared in the Netflix film The Wrong Paris.
Perry Mattfield BFA 2016 stars in the Hulu series Chad Powers.
Taubert Nadalini BA 2017 appeared in a benefit concert with the Musical Theatre Guild at the Broad Stage.
Bukola Ogunmola MFA 2019 starred as Olivia in an Off Square Theatre/Thin Air Shakespeare production of Twelfth Night last summer.
Gabriela Ortega BFA 2017 is involved in the newly-announced film 52nd State.
Nirvan Patnaik BA 2019 participated in a reading of Harvest at the Thymele Arts in Hollywood.
Shane Paul McGhie BFA 2016 worked on Battlefield 6, where he plays character Travis Armstrong.
Katie Peabody BA 2015 performed Beth in Little Women at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Alice M. Pollitt BFA 2015 stage-managed the musical Glory Ride.
Elmira Rahim MFA 2015 has been named Associate Artistic Director of Playwrights Arena.
John Redlinger BFA 2012 was seen in Laundry and Bourbon: Lone Star at the Two Roads Theatre.
Delaney Rowe BFA 2017 was recognized as one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Creators and was recognized on The Hollywood Reporter’s Creator A-List.
Jon Rudnitsky BFA 2012 starred in Stealing Pulp Fiction alongside Karan Soni BA 2011 and has been added to the cast of Super Troopers 3.
Molly Sharpe BA 2014 received the Fringe Award for Comedic Theatre at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Calahan Skogman MFA 2019 was cast in an upcoming football drama series for Hulu.
Tessa Slovis MFA 2019 appeared in Kingsmen Shakespeare Company’s production of Cymbeline.
Madigan Stehly BFA 2012 won an Emmy for Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for his work on The 67th Annual Grammy Awards and picked up a second nomination for his work on Dancing With the Stars Semi-Finale.
Haley Spence Brown BFA 2018 performed at Desert 5 Hot Spot last June in her musical comedy duo, The Doohickeys.
Tonatiuh BA 2014 starred in the musical drama, Kiss of the Spider Woman, alongside Jennifer Lopez and Diego Luna.
Chema Verduzco BA 2015 is on the producing team of Chess and also serves as a producer for The Queen of Versailles.
Patrick Wallace BFA 2018 performed in the tour of Mrs. Doubtfire: The New Musical Comedy.
Class of 2020s
Armand Akbari BFA 2023 performed in The Angel Next Door last summer at the Long Beach International City Theatre.
Emily Arancio MFA 2023 starred in the film Motherland.
Ava Bunn BA 2023 has been added to the cast of the upcoming Scrubs reboot.
Brandon Borkowsky BFA 2023 closed Sunset Blvd. on Broadway and has been performing in the North American tour of The Outsiders.
Diego Casasnovas-Torres MFA 2025 had his MFA film project The Eulogy screened at the Universe Multicultural Film Festival, where he also took home the prizes for Best New Director and Best Student Film.
Matilda Corey Schulman MFA 2023 was one of the playwrights in the Road Theatre Company’s 16th Summer Playwrights Festival.
Mitchell Dambrowski BFA 2025 appeared in the Long Beach Playhouse’s production of Heathers the Musical.
Quaz Degraft MFA 2025 had his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, In the Black shortlisted for the Popcorn Writing Awards. He was also featured in the film Zora and the Zebra, which was seen at the Micheaux Film Festival.
Adi Eshman MFA 2023 premiered her new play Cabin Pressure at the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research.
Olivia Gill BFA 2020 was cast in Hulu comedy pilot Don’t Get High.
Lexey Glouberman BFA 2025 served as a Stage Management Apprentice for Old Globe Theatre’s production of Comedy of Errors.
Berri Harris BFA 2024 performed in I’ve Been Robbed at Green Room 42.
Ben Hirschhorn BFA 2020 starred in the production of The Reservoir at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Madeline Hope Bennett BA 2025 performed in Vagabond Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Jesus Hurtado BFA 2022 served as an Assistant Projections Designer on the Broadway production of Real Women Have Curves.
Jaina Jallow BFA 2025 was seen in The Public Theater’s production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theatre. The production also featured fellow Trojan Kapil Talwalkar, as well as Lupita Nyong’o, Junior Nyong’o, Peter Dinklage, Sandra Oh, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Daphne Rubin-Vega
Krosby João Roza MFA 2024 starred as Berger in the Arkansas Repertory production of Hair.
Ryan Kacmar BA 2023 played Dorthy Gale in the Rubber City Theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz.
Ariana Lexie Afradi BFA 2021 performed in the off-Broadway company production of Duke & Roya.
Hannah Marie Lloyd BA 2022 released a short film, Return to Work.
Rama Orleans-Lindsay MFA 2025 was seen in the Latino Theatre Company’s production of Mascogos by Miranda Gonzalez.
Sam Pozen BA 2025 wrote and performed Magic Mic in the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre as an installment in the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Adrian Quiñónez BFA 2025 starred in an advertisement for Manscapped, which was directed by two SCA alums.
Derek Rabin BFA 2024 was in the cast of Rats When It’s Night Out at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Abby Rowland BA 2021 directed the Rotation Theatre Company’s production of Romeo & Juliet.
Madhuri Shekar MFA 2023 had Dhaba on Devon Avenue premiere in a co-production by Chicago’s Writers Theatre and TimeLine Theatre.
Christopher StrombeckMFA 2023 published the book 101 Things to Ask Before Becoming an Actor.
Karlie Teruya BFA 2021 served as a Tech Assistant Stage Manager on the Tony Award-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending.
Riley Way BA 2024 was selected by Macy Gray to open for the 25th Anniversary Tour of her debut album and released her own debut EP last summer.
Galen Williams MFA 2021 appeared in Arena Stage’s production of Fremont Avenue.
Any omissions or errors on this list are unintentional. Are you an alum of the USC School of Dramatic Arts? Tell us what you’re up to and we’ll feature it!