Anthony Meindl

Anthony Paul Meindl (born January 14, 1968) is an American director, screenwriter, stage and film actor, author, and comedian. He is known for the direct to video series “Hard Hat Harry”, and is the artistic director of Anthony Meindl's Actor Workshop located in Los Angeles, California.

In the 1990s, Meindl starred in Hard Hat Harry, a show aimed at introducing children to various vehicles and construction equipment.

He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1997 where he was featured in commercials for products and companies including Diet Coke, Philips Electronics, Bank of America, Nissan, Michelob Lite, Sears, Acura, Del Taco, Mervyns, and Behr Paint. He has also appeared in Off-Broadway stage productions of Titus Andronicus, Merrily We Roll Along, and the LA Weekly Award-nominated Cabaret.

He is openly gay. His feature film credits are almost exclusively LGBT-related, including the 1997 drama David Searching, the 1998 drama Minor Details, and the 2000 comedy/drama Get Your Stuff. In 2005, he was in the 2005 mystery comedy Death of a Saleswoman. He also appeared in a 1998 episode The Truth About Will & Dogs on Will & Grace.

Meindl is the artistic director of the Anthony Meindl's Actor Workshop. Initially established in Los Angeles, it has expanded to locations in Atlanta, Chicago, London, Sydney, New York City,[10] Toronto, Cape Town, Santa Fe, Copenhagen and Vancouver. He has coached and worked with Shailene Woodley, Chace Crawford, Cory Monteith, Olivia Holt, Ian Harding, Larissa Oleynik,[11] Lorenza Izzo, Logan Paul, Camila Cabello, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Lucy Fry, Phoebe Dynevor, Pom Klementeiff, Sara Sampaio, and Ming XI.

Meindl also hostst the "In The Moment" podcast. The podcast primarily discusses acting and art, and features interviews with casting directors, actors, and industry professionals.[12]

Meindl's first feature screenplay, The Wonder Girls, was the Grand Prize Winning Feature Screenplay in the Slamdance Film Festival Screenplay Competition in 2007.[13] He was nominated for Best Director for the LA Weekly Awards two years in a row for Best Comedy (Swimming In The Shallows),[14] and Best Drama (Dogs Barking).[15] The casts for both shows (members of MetaTheatre Company, his acting studio) were also nominated for Best Ensemble in a Comedy and Best Ensemble in a Drama.

His first short, Ready? OK!, played in over a dozen International Film Festivals, winning numerous "Best of" Awards and premiered on MTV's LOGO Network in 2009 as part of their "Click List: Best In Short Film Series." It won the 2008 Planet Out Scion Viewer's Choice Short Film Awards.[16]

The first feature film he directed, Birds of A Feather (2011) won him Best Director awards at the 2012 Downtown LA Film Festival and the 2013 Golden Door Film Festival. It also won the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2012 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival.[17] The film features Academy Award winner, Olympia Dukakis, Bruce Vilanch and Trevor Donovan.

Meindl wrote and directed Where We Go From Here (2019) depicting issues of immigration, gun violence, and love in the modern world. It premiered at Outfest[18] in 2018 and was acquired by Hulu.

In 2019, Meindl directed the short Is This You, Too?, written by and starring Barbara Howlin.[19]

Anthony Meindl is the author of five books: At Left Brain Turn Right,[20] a spiritual self-help book Alphabet Soup For Grown-Ups,[21] Book the F#©king Job!,[22] Book the F#©king Job for Teens[23] and his memoir which was released Fall 2020, You Knew When You Were 2[24].

He is also a regular contributor to The Huffington Post,[25] The Daily Love, and Backstage.

Anthony Meindl at IMDb