NICOLE MOERLAND
(FOUNDER)
In 2004, at the young age of 20, she was accepted as a student at the prestigious Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles graduated in 2007.
Following graduation, Nicole was fortunate to work with some of the world’s most talented actors including Rutger Hauer, as well as director Peter Yates. She worked and lived in Holland, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States of America, gaining invaluable experience from a range of talented actors and directors all over the globe.
Nicole is also a talented writer and is currently working on a feature film and a short film script to be made in Australia this year.
She will also be seen in the TV Series “Wolf Creek” on ‘Stan’ with John Jarratt and Lucy Fry this year, as Helma.
BEN MORTLEY
(ACTING TEACHER)
Since graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Ben has worked as a professional actor on television, film and stage.
He received further training at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris, has studied Shakespeare with the vocal coach, Cicely Berry, and acting for screen with Sandra Lee Patterson.
As well as working for all the major theatre companies in Sydney, he recently appeared in ‘Cloudstreet’, and has had regular roles in ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ and ‘Home & Away’.
He has also appeared in films such as ‘Lantana’, ‘Drift’, ‘Foreshadow’, and in late 2013 he acted in the feature film ‘Pinch’.
RUSTY GELLER
(FILM MAKING TEACHER)
Rusty Geller discovered his love for movies as a film fan.
In the early ’80’s he was trained as a Steadicam operator and spent 30 years working on major feature films, TV series, commercials and music videos in both Hollywood and Australia.
He has over 400 film credits on IMDB!
Rusty spent 8 years shooting VFX for Universal, Coppola and Disney.
He studied at the University of California (BA Telecommunications) and Columbia College Hollywood (MA Cinema).
MAHESH JADU
(GUEST TEACHER)
Mahesh Jadu just completed shooting on the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Perth Film School is very proud to have him as our guest teacher in between his very busy schedule. Mahesh started off as a composer for an Australian show, “Byte Me”. He auditioned for a small role in an Indian film, “Sorry Bhai!” and was subsequently cast. He was later cast in one of Australia’s longest running soaps, “Neighbours” as Doug Harris. He played poker to cover rent and living expenses until he was called for an audition by the casting director, Lou Mitchell.
In 2011, he was cast in an Australian drama, “Taj” which was presented at the 16th Busan International Film Festival.
He then worked on “The Three Ages of Sasha”. He got his big break when he was cast in Roland Joffé’s period drama, “Singularity”, which was later renamed “The Lovers”. The film got delayed for 2 years. He then auditioned multiple times for “I, Frankenstein” in which he plays the Gargoyle Ophir. He was later cast in Netflixs’, “Marco Polo” as Ahmad.
NADIA DUCA
(MAKEUP)
Nadia Duca is a freelance makeup artist and Educator who is passionate about empowering individuals through her love and passion for all things makeup. Nadia has been in the industry for over 9 years and has completed a Diploma in Specialist Makeup. Nadia has also been trained internationally in Los Angeles with the prestigious, Donna Mee and has recently returned from Hollywood where she spent time working on a James Franco short film.
SIMON AKKERMAN
(FILM MAKING TEACHER)
Simon Akkerman ACS is a highly experienced award winning Cinematographer with a career spanning over 40 years and has worked across a variety of fields in Film and Television.
With an extensive resume that covers nearly every corner of the globe Simon has developed the skills needed to effectively relate on screen a wide and varying depiction of cultures, social backgrounds and art’s genres.
He is a fully accredited member of the Australian Cinematographer’s Society (ACS) where he is also President of the Western Australian Branch. Simon was one of the original instigators of Professional Film Crew WA where he is also still actively involved on the committee.