We are Tiny Laughs
When a queer Latina architect meets a struggling Asian comic who’s just come out...as unemployed, their instant spark sends them on a humorous and heartwarming journey through the city of dreams.
Director + Writer + Executive Producer / Laura Rivas
Writer + Producer / Rukshan Thenuwara
Laura Rivas
Who would’ve thought a 1980 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am Bandit would be the reason why my family lives in the U.S. today. My father came to pick up the Firebird and decided to stay in the land of the free, followed shortly by my mom, my sister and I a year after. Our first year in America was in my uncle’s living room in the city of Compton. I remember looking out the second floor living room window Christmas day and seeing a drunk Santa Claus shooting his gun in the air shouting a cheerful “Merry Christmas Motherfuckers.” We settled down in the backhouse of Mexican Santeria worshippers for the next fourteen years. On my tenth birthday my mother bought me a Sony Mini DVD camcorder to capture the two scarlet macaws, five Chihuahuas, four chickens and a cat that roamed freely in our front yard. From that day forward, I was hooked on capturing the good, the bad, and craziness of life through the lens of a camera and I haven’t looked back since.
Rukshan Thenuwara
Rukshan spent his formative years in San Fernando Valley within a very multi-cultural community. As the child of immigrants he learned from the cultures around him. There, he refined his version of “California Cool” by absorbing reruns of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and putting Tapatio on everything.
He attended the University of California, Irvine as a Pre-Med student. Upon graduating he worked in the biopharmaceutical industry while working on his creative projects. The stories he had gathered from his upbringing and the intersection of influences that defined his childhood were waiting to be told. After two years he transitioned into the world of television and has never looked back. He now puts Sriracha on everything.
Katherine Chou - Director of Photography
Katherine grew up exploring her passion for filmmaking in Los Angeles. A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, she has since taken that passion around the world to cities like Paris, Montreal, and Taipei. She was formerly an artist-in-residence with The Neighbourhood Theatre project in Montreal, and is currently a producing associate at Artists at Play LA. Over the years, she has worked on productions at HBO, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox. Her favorite part of being on set is the collaboration and camaraderie in pursuit of creating an image that tells a story.
Briza Covarrubias - Valentina Rojas
Trilingual LA native, Briza covarrubias has always pursued performance and philanthropy. Her first love was dancing at a young age of 10 and her pursuit of comedy, theater and film soon followed. Earning her Bachelors in Communication Studies from CSULB, she travelled the world with various social justice theater groups performing Theater of the Oppressed workshops. You can now catch her producing her own work, continuing her social justice activism with @TeatroLuna, cultivating new media with @Embodied labs, and watch her on several projects now on Youtube!
Erica Martinez - Tara
Erica Martinez is originally from south Texas where she studied theatre at Texas A&M University. She's an actor, writer, producer and is known for How to Make it in Echo Park (2017) and Santa (2018). Her web series, How to Make it in Echo Park centers on two best friends, Erica and Dre, who find themselves in financial straits and must come up with a way to quickly make their ends meet.
James Haley - Jeff Chen
James is a comedian, actor and podcaster from Culver City. He has studied acting with Howard Fine as well as improvisation at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles. His brand of comedy includes pointing out the absurdities in life while saying the things we’re all thinking but not sure how to say. His podcast Bill, James & Tig’s Excellent Adventure is basically him cracking jokes with two actual knowledgeable sports fans. You can check him out @jameshaley55!
Alison Minami - Jenny Chen
Alison Minami is an LA based playwright, actress and educator. She holds a Master's in Education and a Master's in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. She is member of Playground LA, a ten minute play playwrights' collective and of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights. Most recently she had a reading of her play "Face to the Sun" at the Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation and a reading of "The Dreamers" at the East West Players and the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.
Andrew Ge - Tim
Originally hailing from New York, Andrew is an actor and improviser currently based out of Los Angeles, California. Having studied at AMAW as well as finishing the improvisation program at Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, Andrew currently performs with his indie improv teams Dragon Sound and Gravy Boat. His interests include photography, hip hop dance, singing, and traveling. On the side, Andrew works as a freelance photographer and as a volunteer for the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE).
Ashley Baca - Comedienne
Ashley Baca is an actress, comedian, writer from Santa Fe NM. She performs comedy all over LA and spends most of her days writing scripts and soaking up the sun.
Dave Carter - Comedian
Dave Carter is an actor, stand-up comic, and voice over artist who voices Mel and Super Mutants in Fallout 4.
Diana Oliva - Patty
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Diana Oliva has been performing for the last 12 years in theatre and film locally. Originally coming from a musical theatre background, Diana has her acting experience grounded in the theatre arts, and has experience both in front and behind the camera. She enjoys various forms of media and arts, and is currently focusing on her photography. Diana is also fluent in three language: English, Spanish and French languages.
George Nguyen - Drunk Comedian
George is a San Francisco native and has performed in "Merry Wives of Windsor" and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Marin Shakespeare Company, "Meadowland" for Second Wind Productions, "Teahouse of the August Moon and the world premiere musical "Sacagawea" at the Willows Theatre Company, "Myth of Creation and "The Muse" for Golden Thread Productions, "Six Degrees of Separation" at the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, and "A Cabal of Hypocrites" at The American Citizen's Theatre. George's screen credits include independent films "Algorithm", "The Last War Crime, "Citizens United" "Box of Hearts", "Slanted", "Victor Yang", "All About Dad" " Bad Guys" "Opened", and "Circle". George is currently a regular on the podcast and webseries "Jeff's Place". George is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association (AEA), and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artist(SAG-AFTRA).
Ginna Diaz - Camilla
Ginna is a Latinx actor from Los Angeles. After finishing her biology degree, she decided to pursue her true passion: acting. She recently completed a workshop with the Latinx Theatre Alliance Actors' Lab where she had an absolute blast and will continue her training. Ultimately she aims to be a part of and create media projects that fearlessly represent complex Latinx characters. On her downtime she enjoys improv shows, pretending she's good at playing tennis, and quietly stealing your french fries.
Jesse Levy - Boss
Jesse grew up doing theatre in NYC. He toured Europe for a year doing WEST SIDE STORY playing Doc. After moving to L.A. he played two roles in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, the second show produced at the then Falcon Theatre. He's appeared in many films and on TV. He worked behind the scenes as the drama coach and on-set voice of the talking dog on Nickelodeon's 100 DEEDS FOR EDDIE MCDOWD. Most recently he has been writing and directing his own shorts films, all of which can be seen on You Tube.
He appeared as himself on the Comedy Central Kevin Hart special, KEVIN HART: TO PROTECT AND SERVE. His most recent appearance was in the Biffle and Shooster short film, BRIDE OF FINKLESTEIN. He will soon appear in Biffle and Shooster’s first feature film in 2019.
LaCora Stephens - Talent Manager’s Assistant
LaCora Stephens is an up-and-coming actress in Los Angeles, Ca, known for her sense of humor and sassiness. She has been acting since high school, all the way back in Florida. Her training was in theatre, at Florida A & M University. Her move to California was the catalyst of transitioning to film and television. Her experience ranges from in front of (acting and hosting!) and behind the camera. LaCora has worked on many independent films and commercials and has produced, starred in, and written her own content. She loves a great dramatic character, but is equally skilled in comedy. As a matter of fact, her top goal is to be part of a magical sitcom that will thrive throughout decades and create laughter like classics such as: Martin, Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Golden Girls, Girlfriends or A Different World. As a strong comedic actress and love for audience energy, sitcoms is where LaCora wants to park her acting career, and then drive it miles around the world! ...wait, you can't "drive" across the world, but you get the idea.
Marla Simone - Sandy Klein
Los Angeles trained; Marla Simone has played diverse and complex women in film and television. In distinctive performances, her roles have ranged from betrayed women, a murderess, an alcoholic and various positions of women in authority. She is a Star Maker. Ms. Simone studied with Danny Campbell and Dr. Adrianne Harrop in Advanced Scene Study in the Theater and Film Studies Program at Santa Monica College. She studied independently with Judy Kerr and Richard Brander. Marla graduated with a B.A. from California State University, Fullerton. In a solo performance, Haiku a collaborative project was accepted into the College of the Canyons Film Festival out of two hundred submissions. A world leader in a commercial for Legos and an infected mother in My Mommy has AIDS. Playing Paula, in Choices, the Managing Director of Urban Health Clinic was selected into the Pan African Film Festival. The lead in Cream Coffee, Marla portrayed an unforgiving murderess. Sobering up after another binge, she was a convincing alcoholic In Your Shoes, principle. Revealing her comedic side, Marla played a zany and madcap matriarch as a series regular in the comedy Sebado the Clown. Performing the lead role, Marla was the betrayed lover in a bittersweet Film Noir music video for the Indie band There is No Sin.
Matt MacNelly - Oliver [Producer]
Matt MacNelly is a temporarily-homeless actor and musician. He’s a recent graduate of the MFA Acting program at the University of California, San Diego. While there, Matt worked on numerous projects in conjunction with the La Jolla Playhouse including Christopher Ashley’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross, where he received his Equity membership. In the summer of 2010, he appeared Fourteen Flights, which was selected for the New York City Fringe Festivals Encore series, and ran at the SoHo Playhouse.Prior to graduate school, Matt was a member of the lone United States delegation to the UNESCO/ITI World Theater Festival in Peru. Matt also worked extensively in the D.C. area, with the Folger Shakespeare Theater, Arena Stage, the Studio Theater, and Synetic Theater, among others. He was also a founding member of the Wayward Theater company.Matt graduated from Georgetown University in 2008, with degrees in Theater and Performance Studies and Government. He received the Misty Daly award for Outstanding Acting and the St. Genesius award for Best Actor for his portrayal of “Hamlet.”
Meg Grujon - Rebecca Trier
Meg Grujon was born in Portland, Oregon and raised by two South African parents who knew next to nothing about theatre, yet found herself drawn to the arts anyway. Finding that her love for performing came from storytelling, she would pursue a (slightly) more realistic career as an actor and obtain her B.A. in Theatre Performance at Marymount Manhattan College in May 2012. After working on several one-act plays, she directed her first full-length play, FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS with TRG Productions last Spring. In pursuit of finding an artistic home to further develop her craft in acting and directing, she joined the Seeing Place Theater company in the Fall and assistant-directed their last production of TWO ROOMS by Lee Blessing which opened in March with excellent reviews. She will be working as a dramaturg on their next show, THE LARAMIE PROJECT, opening this June. Later in the summer, she will be directing a new post-apocalyptic zombie play titled RAISE ME UP written by Charlie Biscotto for a three-week run in September. She is so thrilled to be involved in this production of DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA and to be working with such dedicated and passionate actors.
Preston Ward - Dean the coworker
Preston Ward is an actor and entrepreneur from San Jose, California. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach, in 2009 with a BA in Interpersonal Communications. He is also a proud Alumni of the renowned CSULB Improv Troupe,InterAct, as well as The Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop in Beverly Hills, California. He is grateful to have found a love for comedic roles, however, he remains open to all aspects of film, theatre and performance.
Sierra Santana - Retro Chick
Sierra Santana has been a plus size model and actress for 5 years. After graduating from the University of California, Irvine and noticing a lack of diversity in magazines and on screen, Santana became passionate about becoming the face she needed to see in the media when she was young. With a personal dedication to see women and girls of all colors and sizes represented in the media, Santana sought out and achieved modeling jobs with some of the top brands in the country including Target, Ford, Torrid, Sunsets Inc, Manhattan Beachwear and most recently, a billboard in Times Square for Curvy Couture Intimates.
Santana, who has built a social media following of 26,000 and growing, makes a concerted effort to use her platform to create a dialogue about the importance of intersectional feminism and adequate representation within the media. Sierra is also a co-producer on the feature film titled COAST, a coming of age story of a young Latina girl in a Central Coast agriculture town. She hopes her growing platform and staunch activism for Women, PoC and the LGBTQ community, will contribute to bridging the gap between access and opportunity for disenfranchised individuals.
Santana has trained at: The Groundlings Theater, UCB, and Stuart Rogers Studio.
Taylor White - Talent Agent
Taylor White is extremely honored to be a part the Tiny Laughs cast. Taylor recently moved to Chicago, IL where she is in her second level improv class at the iO theater and working behind the scenes with Universal Television/Dick Wolf Productions on Chicago Med. Taylor has performed in many past web projects including Parker in The Val & Parker Project and Taylor in *SIGH* by Ibet Inyang. Taylor hopes to one day overcome her fear of stand-up comedy, learn the guitar, and sing in public like no one is watching.
