Elise Robertson is a multi-faceted storyteller with experience directing and appearing in projects in a range of media. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, she graduated from Northwestern University's theatre department where she studied directing, acting and literary adaptation, and minored in fine art. She has gone on to work extensively in all of these disciplines, and brings her varied skills to her work in any media. She directed the feature-length dark thriller Donner Pass, which had a wide digital distribution in 2012 and aired on Showtime. In 2015, Elise was recognized as a notable Woman in Horror by Horror Society. She's also directed extensively in the LA theatre scene. A few especially memorable productions were her Garland Award-nominated 2008 revival of The Women and her world premiere comedy Sister Cities that traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it garnered multiple 5 star reviews. Prior to moving to LA, Elise worked extensively in the Bay Area. She directed and executive produced the PBS series American Storytellers, featuring dramatic adaptations of famous American short stories, for which she earned numerous awards, including a Cine-Golden Eagle for Ralph Ellison's King of the Bingo Game. She also helmed the PBS children's series Adventures With Kanga-Roddy, a multi-camera show featuring actors, puppets and full-sized suited characters, for which she won a Northern California Directing Emmy. Elise began her career in the film industry as a character painter on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, and went on to do scenic work on numerous features. She was Art Department Supervisor on ABC's Bump in the Night and ran her own model and character shop with clients ranging from Will Vinton Studios to Sony and Atari. As a working actor for the past fourteen years, she has appeared in dozens of TV shows, films and commercials; American Sniper, Arrested Development, The Mentalist, Sons of Anarchy, Six Feet Under to name just a few. Transitioning into new media, Elise recently directed a comedy web series Nick Mom entitled The Wisdom of Children in 2014. She's also created a slew of sketch comedy offerings for her youtube channel MomMayhem, including The Sex Negotiators, The PTA Rap, The Literal Police, and the series Mommy Tell Me A Story which won Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Actress at LA Webfest 2014. She is also the mother of two amazing girls, Stella and Sadie, for whom she recently wrote her debut novel The Hatching Stone. A fantasy story for mid-grade readers, The Hatching Stone won the Echo Park Novel Writing Competition in 2014.