Stephan Szpak-Fleet
Stephan Szpak-Fleet was born on April 25, 1979 in Warsaw, Poland to Alina Szpak and Robert Fleet. As a child he starred in three feature films: "Brothers of the Wilderness", "Legend of the White Horse" (aka "White Dragon") and "The Friends of Harry." Stephan also worked regularly as a commercial actor and in the Los Angeles Theater scene. Stephan left film acting to pursue his formal education.
Graduating from Upland High School in 1996, Stephan then went on to get a BA in Theater from UCLA in 2000. His emphasis was directing and while at UCLA he directed several original plays as well as "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee and "Saved" by Edward Bond. During this time, Stephan also returned to Poland to perform in the Gombrowicz play "The Feast at Countess Kotlubay's" Translated to English by UCLA Professor Michael Hackett.
After college, Stephan found himself interested in multimedia art and graphic design. He worked as an Art Director for Virgin Entertainment for a few years and then went off on his own and developed multimedia backdrops for plays ("Cesar and Ruben" by Ed Begley, Jr.) andvarious award ceremonies. In 2003, Stephan put together and directed his first short film (The First Person) a black and white noir film foreshadowing the look of Miller/Rodriguez's "Sin City."
In 2004, Stephan entered the USC School of Cinematic Arts as an MFA candidate in Production. Now in his third year, Stephan co-directed and co-produced the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Award Finalist Six Degrees of Coca-Cola and has just recently written and directed, my silent sadness the story of how The Holocaust brought two lost strangers together many years later.
Stephan continues to work as a film director, preparing several feature film projects for future production.
His film my silent sadness screened at the 2007 Sedona Film Festival from Feb 28th, 2007 to Mar 5th, 2007.
He was a "Development Executive" at Sander/Moses Productions where he worked in development of new television shows as well as internal marketing, new media, and internet promotions for the CBS show Ghost Whisperer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
He won a TV Guide Online Award for his work on Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side.
He produced Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side II.
In early 2008 Stephan produced the feature film "Player"
He is currently (2008) working on the new Knight Rider television series as a Visual FX artist designing the new windshield H.U.D. for K.I.T.T. He is also the 2D lead for Master Key Visual Effects in Santa Clarita, California.
Most recently, his short film "The Outlaw Emmett Deemus" starring Larry Hankin, Edie McClurg. and Paul Willson. The film opened the 2008 Hollyshorts film festival.
His online portfolio is at raisethesteaks.com