Alison Lani Biography
Alison Lani was born in Hyde Park, on Chicago's South Side, the oldest of two, raised by Bronx-born Italian Clinical Psychologist father and Wakegan-born Irish Clinical Psychologist mother. While attending Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Alison competed and placed at state-wide Speech Team and Contest Play tournaments. After earning her BFA at Ithaca College, Alison moved to Chicago to begin her career in their thriving theatre community and had the privilege of studying under Michael Gellman [The Second City] and Steve Scott [Goodman Theatre].
She began producing her own short-form content while performing in both regional and Chicago-based theatres, including Chicago Dramatists, Cleveland Playhouse, First Folio Theatre, Writers Theatre, Sierra Madre Playhouse, and the late, great Redmoon Theatre. But her favorite stage role to date is still Laura in the Cleveland Playhouse's production of "The Glass Menagerie", opposite Linda Purl.
Upon moving to Los Angeles, Alison hit the ground running, tackling any position she could to learn the ins and outs of the industry from various perspectives. To date, she's worked in casting, talent management, development, and production. She landed her first feature film role as the nerdy female protagonist in the cult horror flick, "Hardhat", directed by David Worth ["Kickboxer", "Blood Sport"] and played the cagey Belina Kowaleski on Sony's super-hero drama, "Powers", opposite Shartlo Copely, Susan Heyward, and Teri Wyble.
But it was while studying at the Upright Citizens Brigade that Alison was inspired to write and produce her irreverent web series, "Burning Bridges", starring Natalie Palamides. It made the rounds at over 10 festivals and took home "Best Webseries" at Miami Independent Film Festival. Alison began developing music video content for the Chainsmokers, Tiesto, Galantis, Cash Cash, + Crookers alongside Joe Zohar of Moving Box Studios [us].
Now, she works as a Creative Executive at Insurgent Media [us], in close conjunction with Cathy Konrad's Tree Line Film [us], developing content for TV and film.