tonya cornelisse

Crack Whore Galore LIVE! = SUCCESS!!!

2011-04-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

"First the guys in Spinal Tap and now Danny and Abbey Galore — win our
hearts by violating our standards of decency. They have us at ".... off.”
Margaret Grey, THE LOS ANGELES TIME

"Obscenely funny - the energy electrifies, the music is surprisingly good
and the performances are top-tier."
Steven Leigh Morris, LA WEEKLY

"Clever and witty, the show is outrageous, refreshing and not to be missed
by anyone who loves music."
Mary Broadbent, CAMPUS CIRCLE

"A raucous hour-long romp, it keeps the audience laughing for more."
M.R. Hunter, EYE SPY LA

"...if you’re seeking a little raunchy humor with over-the-top characters
primed to become the next YouTube sensation, Crack Whore Galore may
just be your late-night cuppa tea."
Sarah Taylor Ellis, EDGE LA

Crack Whore Galore LIVE! = SUCCESS!!!

2011-04-03T17:21:00.001-07:00

Crack Whore Galore LIVE! = SUCCESS!!!

2011-04-03T17:19:00.001-07:00

FOUND!!!! & ALIVE!!!!!

2010-10-02T18:40:00.001-07:00

So, um.....blogLESS have I been....but here is some next level beats via the interwebs ::

In short, filmed a great role for Parks & Recreation, a few commercial spots, am about to film a role in Nick Cassavetes' YELLOW (such a tip-top beautiful project and I am so happy to be a part of it!) ~ Also, look for me in bloody fun role in the upcoming feature film CRAVE starring Ron Perlman. In other news :: I am Officially A Sweet-Ax Drummer!!!!!

Love. Luv. Lurve.

TC~

AbbEy GalOre

2009-06-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

Our (DT&G creation) webisode that FOX ATOMIC bought/picked up called "We are the Galores" -formerly Crack Whore Galore(the first seven our in post right now!)

Here is some Abbey Galore!!! (& Danny)

*you can become a fan of Crack Whore Galore on Facebook :}--if you dabble in that sort of fine junk.

New Reel and YouTube

2009-06-01T22:54:00.001-07:00

Check out my new reel, just updated today and my new YouTube page here:
www.youtube.com/tonyacornelisse

Thanks D-Balls!!! (http://www.dannyroew.com/)

T

Tonya's New Blog/News Section

2009-04-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here you go, everyone!!!

Tonya's blog is ready to get out of control on everyone as she now has the power to update at will.

March 2009 Update

2009-03-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

SPRING, SPRANG, SPRUNG!

Hellllloooooo….Absence makes the heat grow fonder?...long break in the update…The website is getting a wee face lift with a brand new reel and news/blog section coming your way soon!

Lots of changes this year is bringing ~ but all for the forward motion of the ocean….

I was in Ireland the month of February with my 82 year old Nana and it was kind-of amazing…Wow! They know how to knock it back over there and ‘tis true the Guinness taste different…it’s just so much better…don’t ask me.

Meanwhile LIMINAL is killin’ taking home mad awards at festivals here and overseas… The film just took home Best Non-European Short in Paris and we are being honored by the BFI (yes, that would be British Film Institute J) in London next week and I will be present!!! So excited for this huge honor. I also won Best Actress at the Chicago Short Film Festival ~ yeah!!

Post-production of ‘Crack Whore Galore’ (now being called ‘We Are the Galores’ I think) continues at FOX ATOMIC and we are getting excited, as well as progress on the feature film FRANK & JULES.

Also, just did a reading of at E.S.T’s WINTERFEST of a new play called The Only Gift and filmed a webisode entitled, ‘Let it Go Already’ with some great friends.

Click here to see past news and updates.

A NEW NEWS SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND IS COMING SOON, YO!

December 2008 Update

2008-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, FRIENDS!!!

Busy times continue & all is good. Stay tuned to watch me in a juicy, nasty role on N.C.I.S… I play Kayla Vacari aka bad-ass chic in the slammer for manufacturing meth… It was so much fun to shoot! The episode is entitled “Caged” and N.C.I.S. is on CBS @ 8pm (check your local listings)…

Also, stop by HEAVY.COM to catch me in a 3 different Foster’s Beer Gift Guide PSA’s _ it’s actually very funny spoofs of two QVC hosts and worth a watch…

The web-series I spoke of previously, CRACK WHORE GALORE, that follows two low rent wannabe British rock-n-rollas’ living in Venice Beach has been picked up by FOX ATOMIC! We shoot at the end of the month...

The feature film I co-wrote FRANK & JULES is starting on it’s way towards pre-production (details will follow but that is all I can say for now:)…

*Quick tip for extra holiday cheer:…VeeV is delicious…VeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeV!

Dog Days

2008-01-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

How Graham Sibley and Tonya Cornelisse got into Sundance with two pets and no budget.
By Sarah Kuhn

Graham Sibley and Tonya Cornelisse aren't exactly what you would call animal lovers. "Graham and I live off cereal and can't take care of plants," notes Cornelisse. "So we're not big dog people." And yet the two actor-writers made a short film called Dog Lovers, which focuses on a pair of canine aficionados who meet in a park and proceed to wax enthusiastic about their pets' private parts. The four-minute film was one of 83 shorts selected from more than 5,000 submissions to play at this month's Sundance Film Festival. It will screen in front of the Stanley Tucci-directed feature Blind Date.

The idea for Dog Lovers began in a New York long-form improv class taught by Alan Arkin. Cornelisse attended the class and participated in an exercise that developed into a bit about two people who are really into their dogs — to a disturbing degree. When Cornelisse moved to L.A., she and Sibley riffed on the idea, turning it into a short script. "Graham and I met in New York City, and when I moved here we remained really good friends," says Cornelisse. "I slept on his couch. We started writing together, and we wrote a ton of shorts, and this is just one of them. We would literally pass the computer back and forth."

Eventually the duo decided to shoot the script as an exercise. They recruited their filmmaker pal Danny Roew, who edited both of their reels, to direct and produce, and set out to find a pair of dogs willing to co-star. Of course, the film's script calls for the pups to be in a few questionable situations. "We called all of our friends with dogs," remembers Sibley. "I said to my friend Justin, 'We're making this movie, and I'm going to have to touch your dog's vagina. Is that okay?'" Chimes in Cornelisse, "He was like, 'I don't want my dog involved in this!' "

Casting the Part

Luckily, they found two dogs who fit the roles of the well-endowed "Mr. Modopoe" and "Mrs. Pippa Peppers" perfectly: sad-faced Pudge and perky pup Misty, both of whom belonged to friends. By all accounts, the canine co-stars were more than a match for their human counterparts. "We cast them off of just taking a glance at their rears, and they did a great job," recalls Cornelisse. "By the fate of the gods, these dogs looked like they were trained."

Roew, who is a dog owner, had an ideal location in mind: a dog-friendly park near the Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills. Sibley and Cornelisse rehearsed at Roew's house the Sunday before shooting, then spent about four hours filming in the park. Roew shot the film on his Canon XL2. Sibley and Cornelisse had originally planned on purchasing paper cups and apple juice to use as props, but they forgot. Thus, the budget came in at a grand total of zero dollars.

As they were shooting on a particularly hot day, they encountered a lot of concerned dog owners who wanted to make sure Pudge and Misty were being well taken care of. "We kept doing these takes, and we would shoot one dog at a time, and the other dog would be tied up to the tree, and people kept [asking us]: 'Is your dog okay?'" Sibley recalls, miming the panic of a dog lover. "People really took care of our dogs."

The film was edited on Final Cut Pro by Aaron Bennett, who also composed the music. Sibley and Cornelisse never planned on passing the finished work on to the programmers at Sundance, but someone at the festival heard about their project and suggested they submit it. "We submitted an unfinished copy," recalls Sibley. "And I guess it was a unanimous decision [among] all the programmers, because it fits perfectly with the film it's screening in front of. We thought, 'This isn't a Sundance film. There's no way.' " "But it is, in every way," counters Cornelisse, pointing out that the duo's nonexistent budget and can-do attitude represent the independent spirit of the festival. "I think it celebrates, in my mind, what [Sundance] is about. It's independent filmmaking. It's the spirit of Sundance at its deepest roots."

Teaming Up

Cornelisse and Sibley are working actors: She's been on ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; he has appeared in Days of Our Lives and the acclaimed documentary Nanking. They met while co-starring in a film called Zombie Honeymoon and felt an immediate creative spark. Both are from middle-class families in the Midwest, and they seem to share a similar sense of humor.

Additionally, they have a passion for creative pursuits beyond acting. Both believe that it's important to create your own work and be proactive in your career. "If you're a full-fledged artist, which I think a lot of actors are, it's [about] taking the reins and using that creative motion and not waiting for something to happen," says Cornelisse. "Being an actor can be a really, really passive thing. As an artist, it can be a little maddening. Writing constantly gave me sanity, especially when I moved here."

Sibley, "When you're in control of your own stuff, you end up losing desperation. When you're auditioning, the stink of desperation is awful. But if you're in control of your own stuff, it's like, 'Look, I'm doing my own stuff, and if you want to hire me, great, I'll see if I can fit it in. If not, I've got nine other things I'm doing right now.'" In that vein, Sibley, Cornelisse, and Roew plan to continue collaborating on projects.

Their dynamic helps fuel their artistry: Sibley notes that they have a unique, warm, and open creative environment when they work with one another. That environment was particularly helpful on Dog Lovers' one-day shoot. "It was so easy with the three of us," says Cornelisse. "Because it was just the three of us, and we have the same sense of humor and are on the same kind of creative page, so there wasn't really a lot of talking. Danny would say something, and Graham and I would just do it and keep going and improv and go off."

Currently, the trio is devising a sci-fi comedy Web series called Big Bearth, which would once again star Sibley and Cornelisse. "My ultimate goal is to produce and just be [my] own shop," says Sibley. "I think with where the medium is, it's a totally feasible thing. It's just a matter of getting the right people on board to help you do it." Indeed, he notes, finding people you want to work with, people who share your creative sensibility, is the key. Sibley, Cornelisse, and Roew seem to have found that sort of artistic community together. "We all are in [the industry] for the right reasons and the same reasons," says Cornelisse.

And what would those reasons be? Quips Sibley, "Doggie porn."

Dog Lovers will screen in front of Blind Date at the Sundance Film Festival, which takes place Jan. 17-27 in Park City, Utah. It will also be part of a selection of Sundance shorts available through Apple's iTunes Store, Xbox Live, and the Netflix member website. For more information, visit www.dognoodles.com.

Grand Rapids natives land Sundance spot

2008-01-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

The Grand Rapids Press

Canine anatomy -- it must have had the Sundance Film Festival selection committee in stitches.

"Dog Lovers," a four-minute short film co-written by East Kentwood High School graduate Tonya Cornelisse and East Grand Rapids High School alum Graham Sibley, has been accepted for the prestigious festival Friday-Jan. 28 in Park City, Utah.

"For a short filmmaker, this is huge," Cornelisse said while visiting her parents, Tom and Kim Cornelisse, of Kentwood, over the holidays.

The short, which will run in front of the Stanley Tucci/Patricia Clarkson comedy "Blind Date," stars Cornelisse and Sibley as dog owners who meet in a park and develop a mutual attraction over their profane discussion of their pets' parts.

The two actors developed the film from a long form improvisation Cornelisse did with Alan Arkin while living in New York City.

"Dog Lovers" is one of 83 shorts selected from more than 5,000 submissions from 17 countries.

Cornelisse, 26, and Sibley, 30, live in Los Angeles, and primarily are actors. They starred together in the 2005 Sundance entry "Zombie Honeymoon," which recently aired on Showtime, and Sibley has a role in Oscar-winning director Bill Guttentag's "Nanking," which opened in limited release in December.

For the second year, short films from the Sundance Film Festival can be downloaded through iTunes and are available through Netflix. Links can be found at the film's web site, www.dognoodles.com.

"That's really great for short filmmakers," Cornelisse said, "because it's hard to get the film out there. It's usually only available to people in the industry or really big cities."

"Dog Lovers" Screening Times

2007-12-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

The following are the screening times for "Dog Lovers" at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. We hope to see you there!

Friday, January 18th, 8:30pm, Holiday II - Park City, UT
Saturday, January 19th, 8:30am, Prospector - Park City, UT
Saturday, January 19th, 10:30pm, Broadway 6 - Salt Lake City, UT
Wednesday, January 23rd, 5:30pm, Library - Park City, UT

For more information, please visit www.dognoodles.com.

"Thunderbird" by A.R. Gurney

2007-01-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

“Victoria (beautifully played by Tonya Cornelisse) shows us what it looks like when lost souls sniff out a chance to belong to something whole.”

-David Cote, TIMEOUT NY

Tallgrass Gothic

2007-01-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

*The Official Humana Festival Awards from the Actors Theatre of Louisville…

*Best Supporting Actress: Tonya Cornelisse, Tallgrass Gothic.

“Cornelisse wears her heart on her sleeve in this beautiful performance. She creates a truly recognizable character, the fun-loving and wanton friend, then adds a twist of originality to make the role truly engaging. Her scenes with lead actress Lia Aprile are effortlessly engaging. A striking performance.”

-Theater critics, Dag Ryen & Rich Copley, Herald Leader

“Scenic designer Paul Owen’s eye-catching set of high grass in an open field, reminiscent of a similar set in London and New York for British playwright Charlotte Jones’s Humble Boy, helped make all the lust in the Great Plains dust tolerable as did the striking performance of Tonya Cornelisse as the heroine’s beer-guzzling friend with a long repressed yen for her.”

-Charles Whaley, Curtain Up

“The one worth her salt is Mary, played by Tonya Cornelisse. Mary provides the play’s zingers, and Cornelisse offers the liveliest performance.”

-Dana Norton, LEO, Arts & Entertainment Weekly

“Keeping me awake was Tonya Cornelisse’s interesting, jangly performance as Mary.”

-Judith Egerton, Courier-Journal

The Eight: Reindeer Monologues

2007-01-01T20:28:00.001-08:00

“There are a number of accomplished and even exceptional performances to be found among the eight…Especially fun is Tonya Cornelisse’s sly Valley Girl portrayal of the idealistic Dancer.”

-J. Cooper Robb, Philadelphia Weekly

Sex Marks The Spot

2007-01-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

“Program notes advise us she is “Madonna-like,” but (Cornelisse) also borrows from the younger Bette Midler and Cyndi Lauper. In playing her, Cornelisse enters wearing a huge blonde wig and doing bumps and grinds. Proving herself a game girl, the slender Cornelisse, whose torso also resembles the late Audrey Hepburn’s, allows to remain truly funny underneath her elaborate costuming.”

-James MacKillop, Syracuse New Times

Worm Day

2007-01-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

“The stage comes alive at the DR2 when Millie Krause (played by the charismatic Cornelisse) enters into the action. We long to become a part her mysterious world…She gives this worm guts.”

-Mario Fratti, Theatrical REVIEWS

Acts of Providence

2007-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

“ACTS OF PROVIDENCE, two one acts by Edward Allan Baker, a strong writer with a good ear, is an intriguing evening of theatre. The first play,"Jane's Exchange," sets up a fascinating mystery about the relationships among four people in the kitchen of a bakery that totally engages, and fully satisfies at the ending revelations. The four actors, Amorika Amoroso, Joe Capozzi, Julie Karlin and the scintillating Tonya Cornelisse fulfill their roles perfectly, and Russell Treyz directs with verve.”

-Richmond Shepard, Performing Arts INSIDER

“In “Jane’s Exchange” nothing is as it seems, after several twists and turns. It suddenly appears… It takes a seemingly airhead’s (Tonya Cornelisse) to solidify roles, explore emotions, and define the course of future events. Cornelisse comes in and cleans up.”

-Laurie Lawson, Talkin’ Broadway

"Zombie Honeymoon" Quotes

2007-01-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

“Zombie Honeymoon scores simultaneously as romantic, grotesque, and screamingly funny…this well-thesped pic has a real shot at becoming a cult classic.”

--Variety

“Not quite the campfest its absurd but undeniably catchy title suggests, Zombie Honeymoon is actually an emotionally driven blend of romance, comedy, and horror…worth soled performances and capable direction by Dave Gebroe, whose script is infused with wickedly funny lines.”

--Laura Kern, New York Times

“Zombie Honeymoon has a winning cast…”

--V.A. Musseto, New York Post

“Zombie Honeymoon gave me nightmares and made me wake-up screaming…Cornelisse’s fierce performance was delicious to watch.”

--Ken Russell, director of “Altered States”