Paul Karsko

Paul Karsko was born in Houston, Texas, but was raised primarily in Brigantine, New Jersey. After High School Paul joined the Air Force and started College. While going to school in Northern New Jersey Paul decided it was time to go tropical and moved to Puerto Rico. Two years later, while going to school and serving in the military, he was deployed to Iraq for 9 months as a .50 Call Machine Gunner. He was apart of the first Air Force troops on the ground in combat since World War II. Paul participated in one of the largest tactical road marches on record moving class I and III supplies from the Turkish border to Ballad as part of a team providing route security. Paul successfully contributed to the completion of more than 500 missions, and safely conveyed civilians along some of the most dangerous highways in the world. Paul was recognized for Committed Service, awarded a 1ST ID Combat Patch, and an Army Commendation Medal Returning to Puerto Rico Paul completed his degree in Business Management and decided it was time to move back to Jersey. Checking his email late one night he received a message from a fellow veteran. The email stated Matt Damon was doing a movie about Iraq with Universal and wanted real Veterans to attend the casting, which would be the following morning. He was convinced this was spam or some junk mail scam. Paul had never heard of The IAVA, and was thinking they were trying to scam unknowing veterans out of money. Both his Mom and Sister convinced Paul to take the three-hour drive North to New York City for the casting and take his chances. He spent the entire ride thinking it better not be a scam. Arriving at the casting Paul had 2 questions for the first person he saw. Where is the bathroom and is this a scam? The Co-Producer took an instant liking to Paul and exchanged some war stories as they walked to the men's room. Confident this was on the up and up, it was time for Paul to step in front of the camera. Answering questions for the producers and taking his first stab at improve Paul was not quite sure where this was going. A month later his was on a plane to Spain to work as an Advisor on the set of The Green Zone, starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinear, and Amy Ryan. It was not until he was on set that he learned he would be playing Paul Sims, a Sniper. With no previous acting experience Paul took on the role and worked hard to learn this new craft. The direction of Paul Greengrass and the encouragement from Matt Damon went a long way in bringing out a strong performance from Paul. It was easy for him to see why their movies are so successful. As a Patriotic Veteran it was very important to Paul that the accuracy and authenticity of the film stayed trued to his real life experiences in Iraq. It did. Paul has been busy being apart of the media hype for The Green Zone and is looking to pursue his acting career. Keep an eye out for his next role.