Associate Professor

E-mail: ashea@mail.utexas.edu

Office: UA9 2.112D

Phone: 512-471-5303

M.F.A. University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, 1994
M.F.A. California Institute of the Arts, 1985
J.D., Northeastern University School of Law, 1982

Andrew Shea is a versatile, award-winning director and screenwriter who has enjoyed success in film, television and theatre. His films have premiered at several of the most prestigious and selective film festivals in the world: the Cannes Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival and the South by Southwest Film Festival.

Andrew began his career in Santa Fe, where he founded the New Mexico Repertory Theatre, a regional professional company that grew to become the largest theatre in the history of the state. During his years in New Mexico Andrew directed and produced over forty plays, including several world premieres by Mark Medoff, author of Children of a Lesser God.

In the early 90s Andrew moved to Los Angeles, where he opened a new chapter of his career as an independent feature filmmaker. As one critic put it, life teaches the characters in Andrew’s films a whole new set of three R’s: Ruin, Revenge, and Redemption. Santa Fe, starring Gary Cole, Lolita Davidovich and Tina Majorino, explores the destructive allure of cults; The Corndog Man, featuring Noble Willingham (nominated for an Independent Spirit Best Actor award for his performance)as a boat salesman haunted by the past, explores the connection between torment and regret; Forfeit, starring Billy Burke, Sherry Stringfield, Gregory Itzin and Wayne Knight, isat once a heist caper, a psychological thriller and a modern morality tale of reckoning and revelation; Take My Breath Away, the story of a condemned inmate who sells the rights to film his execution in the California gas chamber as a music video, was one of two American shorts that were invited to screen in the International Critics Week of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

During his years in Los Angeles Andrew also worked as a television writer. He co-wrote the television movie, Beat of a Different Drum, for ABC, Fox Television Studios and Edmonds Entertainment. He also co-wrote a drama pilot for ABC and Fox Television, The Crew, set in the world of college rowing.

Andrew is a native of New York City, which is the principal location of his new documentary, Portrait of Wally, the story of a Nazi-looted painting by Egon Schiele that was discovered on the walls of the Museum of Modern Art in 1997, triggering a historic court battle that pitted the Manhattan District Attorney, the United States Government and the heirs of a Viennese gallery owner against a major Austrian museum and MoMA.  Seventh Art Releasing has picked up worldwide distribution rights. 

Andrew has a M.F.A. from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Art, a M.F.A. from California institute of the Arts, a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, and a B.A. from Hampshire College.  He is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Andrew directs Sherry Stringfield in Forfeit