Frank Ditto
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Rockford Illinois, Frank was introduced to the profession at a young age attending every Broadway play touring the Chicago area. As a teen he got his start at New American Theater under founder and director Jim Sullivan (2011 Drama Desk recipient), cutting his teeth with Joe Mantello and Jodi Benson in local theater before assisting Jim Banta with choreography for the motion picture Grease, and developing timing and technique for Michael Jackson. After learning guitar from Benson, he moved to California to pursue music and art.
Frank's roots are method and improv, using both Strausburg and Alders style, along with Spolin's technique, popularized by Mike Nichols in Virginia Wolf. Ditto has studied at Second City, Groundlings, Stella Adler, and Antonio Artuad and holds an MFA in Motion Picture Production from the Academy of Art University.
Frank debuted as the villain in Prophet Nat, with Ted Lange and Hawthorne James, supported Billy Idol in Oliver Stone's motion picture The Doors, and teamed up with Jerusalem director Shady Srour to produce the award winning feature Sense of Need, co-starring as an exploiting art dealer. Frank founded the dark psychedelic band House of Mirrors with artist wife Julie Ditto, releasing several award winning music video documentaries on homelessness and alternative spending of the war budget, airing weekly on Music Underground Television to 55 million viewers in 30 countries. Dick Ham, director of photography for director George Stevens, was so moved by the dailies of Frame of Mind he contributed footage he shot of a secret ceremony in the Catholic church in WWII Spain. Stevens and Ham were the first to film the Nazi concentration camps in WWII.
Ditto used a Zeiss lens, to document Keith Haring painting his largest indoor mural. This is the only shoot of Haring, outside of Robert Maplethorpe's sessions, using a Zeiss lens. Haring's portrait of Frank and Julie became a Haring icon, entitled The Wedding Portrait. He recently contributed as a nomination judge for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. He and Julie have two daughters Elektra Ditto and Winifred Bird.
Frank's roots are method and improv, using both Strausburg and Alders style, along with Spolin's technique, popularized by Mike Nichols in Virginia Wolf. Ditto has studied at Second City, Groundlings, Stella Adler, and Antonio Artuad and holds an MFA in Motion Picture Production from the Academy of Art University.
Frank debuted as the villain in Prophet Nat, with Ted Lange and Hawthorne James, supported Billy Idol in Oliver Stone's motion picture The Doors, and teamed up with Jerusalem director Shady Srour to produce the award winning feature Sense of Need, co-starring as an exploiting art dealer. Frank founded the dark psychedelic band House of Mirrors with artist wife Julie Ditto, releasing several award winning music video documentaries on homelessness and alternative spending of the war budget, airing weekly on Music Underground Television to 55 million viewers in 30 countries. Dick Ham, director of photography for director George Stevens, was so moved by the dailies of Frame of Mind he contributed footage he shot of a secret ceremony in the Catholic church in WWII Spain. Stevens and Ham were the first to film the Nazi concentration camps in WWII.
Ditto used a Zeiss lens, to document Keith Haring painting his largest indoor mural. This is the only shoot of Haring, outside of Robert Maplethorpe's sessions, using a Zeiss lens. Haring's portrait of Frank and Julie became a Haring icon, entitled The Wedding Portrait. He recently contributed as a nomination judge for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. He and Julie have two daughters Elektra Ditto and Winifred Bird.
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