John Henry Soto

John grew up in the South Bronx during the 70s and 80s. He understands the importance of community and how a neighborhood can be destroyed if the people do not get involved and work together for real solutions. Music and films were his salvation. He began to write songs and play guitar at the age of 5, and 15 years ago he started a band to raise the awareness level of teens and adults regarding the world around them. The band is called Glass of Know. The group had a few song on local radio and he toured heavily. The band is currently on an extended hiatus. Although music was his first love he always had a fascination with film. He began studying with the successful theater and film coach Ruth Kulerman four years ago. After many lessons and plenty of encouragement from Ruth he decided to start testing the waters. Early in 2007 he went out and started auditioning. The response was overwhelming and he landed 17 roles in 5 months. Not a bad problem to have your first time out of the gate. It wasn't prime time or the big screen, but it gave him enough confidence to continue to work hard and more importantly, He knew he had something special to offer. He's had films in the Asian American Film Festival, New Film Maker Festival, and 2 years ago the film En Route won first place at the Milford Connecticut Film Festival, in which he was the lead. He was nominated for best actor at the Columbia film festival for the short Good Bye. In 2011 he was the lead in the film Down & Across which went to the Cannes film festival. He worked on a TV pilot with the same team. The Coffee List, was his first attempt at the writer, director and actor role. The film has been screened at The Katra Film Series and many other screens. John Henry Soto a film maker born in New York City, recently moved his family to Bayonne. His first impression with the small town was so surreal when he first arrived that he decided to create a show based on Bayonne. The story goes as follows. John was with his good friend driving a U-Haul truck into Bayonne while his family waited at the new home. While entering Bayonne he pulled over to make sure he was headed in the right direction when suddenly his phone rings. He's looked at his phone and it read, City of Bayonne. With a dumbfounded look he glanced over at his friend and said, "Bayonne is calling me!" His friend quickly said, "Just answer it!!" John thought maybe Bayonne had some type of GPS system implanted into all residence and he was the latest victim. This sounded scary so he decided to answer the phone. To his surprise the voice on the other end was the mayor of Bayonne Mark Smith! John thought, am I in trouble? No, he was definitely was not in trouble. The mayor had graciously called John to welcome him to Bayonne and find out if he needed anything. Wow! Again with a dumb & dumber look on his face, John thanked the mayor for the call and explained how he just drove his moving truck into Bayonne when his call came in. They both shared a laugh and talked about some of the opportunities that are available in Bayonne. Turns out a few weeks earlier John wrote an email to the mayor's office to let them know he will be part of the community soon and wanted to offer any assistance. The mayor read the email and responded. John can only say, "It was amazing for me to be called by the mayor of a town you're moving into as you're moving into it! All my years living in New York City and moving the around the different boroughs, Bloomberg didn't call me once!" He laughs. This incident propelled John to create a show based on the town of Bayonne. The show is called Write in Bayonne. It's a story of a writer named Bobby who was born and raised in Bayonne. He's a writer for the local paper but thinks of himself as the head writer for the NY Times. He writes about life, love and hope but mostly about some of the characters that live in his community. Get solves crimes and sticks his nose in everyone's business. This tends to put him in a precarious position in the community and creates some unpredictable situations for Bobby. The show is a sweet comedy with heart. Full of characters you'll love and some characters you'll love to hate.