Jon Ray

Jon began his early film making ventures in the mid-1980s, using an 8mm hand held camera. The only problem was that the camera did not hold any film, but that did not stop him from setting up shots with his model jets on strings and using fireworks for special effects. Later, with the help of his uncle in Austin, Texas, he found a love for video, while acting in a short film called, "Kung-Fu Louie". After graduating from high school, Jon enlisted in the United States Air Force and ended up spending most of his enlisted time at Misawa AB, Japan. For a short time, he immigrated into Japan while working for a Japanese ISP by day and as a bartender at a Japanese pub by night in the city of Hachinohe, Aomori-Prefecture. After living in Japan for 5 years and with the recession hitting hard, Jon decided to move back to the U.S. Eventually, finding his way to Denver, Colorado, Jon bought his first camera, a Sony Digital-8. With his new digital camcorder, he taught himself stop-motion animation and created the claymation series "Toby Bear". He eventually found the local Indie film scene and made friends while working on local independent film productions. After a short time in Denver, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and immediately started contacting local filmmakers. Jon eventually decided to go to film school at the University of Advancing Technology and get a degree for his passion for film making. Jon went on to graduate from film school and started writing feature screenplays in order to direct. While in film school, he decided to specialize in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre films and is working his way towards Hollywood.