Jonathan Coder

Jonathan Coder was born December 22, 1963 in Chico, California, the son of parents Michael and Kay Coder. His Father a school educator. His Mother a music teacher. His acting experience began at the age of two in a church play in the role of Baby Jesus. As he took in the smell of the theatre for the first time, the tech crew began dropping fake snow (made of huge soap flakes) where upon one of them dropped into his eye. The searing pain quickly brought about a very unhappy baby Jesus, which in turn left the rest of the cast competing and shouting over his screams of agony. His family continued to live in California until his Father seeking his Doctorate in education at the University of Alberta, Canada, whisked them away in the late 1960s. Jonathan spent his first year in the Canadian school system where at the time; a majority of Canadians seemed to look down upon The United States involvement in Vietnam. Jonathan being the token American at his school spent a lot of time getting beat up by the local kids for being an, "American" with cheering adults looking on. It was during these times that he learned how to fight to survive. Never telling his parents of the events at school. He finally got his revenge in the hockey rink practicing very hard one summer and then clobbering the hell out of those whom had bullied him. He was then known, not as the "War Monger American Kid", but now as the "Crazy American Kid". His family stayed there for three more years returning to California in 1972. One other notable life altering experience from his childhood came from being placed in a private Christian School after having been caught cheating on a test in six grade. It was at this school (which had full approval of physical punishment) that Jonathan learned one could be a hero for taking the most whippings. Of which he received many. Actually starting on his very first day of school he was sitting in class whilst another student was being reprimanded. The teacher proceeded to beat the defiant girls hands with a ruler until they bleed. Jonathan sensing the injustice and not knowing the unwritten rule of law (which was shut up or your next) spoke out against the unfairness of the punishment. He was then escorted outside and told by the teacher to go and pick a branch from the grounds that he felt equaled the size of his sin. So of course Jonathan brought back a thin wisp of a Cat Tail bush. This angered the teacher even more and so his punishment was then increased three fold. Two years later Jonathan told his parents if they didn't take him out of the school he would run away. They didn't. He did. They finally put him back in public school. It was now in Junior and High School that Jonathan had the opportunity to continue his passion of the arts. His senior year in High School, 1982, he portrayed the role of Winston Smith, in George Orwell's, "Nineteen Eighty-four". He was also in charge of promotion and publicity for the play and as a strategy to counter poor attendance, he talked his Drama teacher and the school administration into taking the entire student body through the experience of living in a totalitarian society. Pitching it as an experiential exercise that would cross several scholastic areas of interest and be great free publicity for the show. So with George Orwell's book as a guide and his extremely brilliant friend Jim Sprunck (Whom later went on to design groundbreaking Aerospace paraphernalia for the JPL Mars Pathfinder mission) they began the process of limiting the language in English class exercises, etc. All of which was to culminate in a huge "Hate Rally" involving the entire student body, in which the students would see a dual slide show that associated Good things with Big Brother and Bad things with Goldstein. Putting the school photography dept. to good use they came up with some truly horrific real life photos for the bad things. They purposely separated all ages and known social groups into different colored areas of the gymnasium, so friends and fellow peers were ill at ease. They started out by having a child brought in with the honor of dropping the hankie at her parents hanging, having turned them in for being thought criminals. Then one actress dressed as a Prole would then run up and smash a huge brightly lit poster of Big Brother. She would then be taken center stage and executed for being a traitor. The guard behind the smoked glass visor who was to pull the trigger of the SW .38 with blanks was Jonathan. Everything worked so well, that it worked too well! By the time Jonathan had shot the actress who'd smashed the picture, there was a full scale riot involving 700 people. Some teachers almost lost their jobs. There were annoyed parents at the PTA meeting that wanted blood, and several kids found their way to therapy. The play was SOLD OUT every performance! Despite that success Jonathan didn't graduate with his senior class until later that summer for having cut to many classes his senior year. He was actually hiding out in the library and writing. He then immersed himself in daily martial arts training for the next three years. While pursuing his training he continued to work in many local community productions and eventually succumbed to getting paid for acting. Somehow thinking that getting paid for it would some how bastardize his love for it. One day in 1986, a Director friend, Nancy Rains became tired of hearing Jonathan being the, "Actor spilling with ideas" She basically forced him into directing by putting him in charge of a branch of their theatre company. She told Jonathan he needed to just shut up and direct. So he did. Jonathan's love of film began at about the age of 6. His family was always making home movies with the old hand wound super 8 cameras. He was well documented as a child, however his father didn't know the first thing about film lighting and would frequently blind everyone that came into contact with his Sunn gun. Today Jonathan continues writing and acting. Tomorrow will be the same. Other hobbies include: Archaeology, Space Sciences, Music, Dance, Golf, Literature, Art, Fencing.