Filmmakers

Carolyn Allport is an actor, writer, and filmmaker. She studied at the Sorbonne, graduated from Northwestern University and began an acting career with Paul Sills’ Story Theatre in Chicago. She was introduced to Elijah Pierce and his work while a grad student at Ohio State University, and helped bring Mr. Pierce and his carvings to national and international attention. In 1973 she curated the first major exhibition of Pierce’s work, at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (now the Columbus Museum of Art), and directed a TV special on Pierce which was broadcast during the exhibit. She made two documentary films abut Mr. Pierce, ELIJAH PIERCE, WOODCARVER (1974) and SERMONS IN WOOD (1980). SERMONS received the Sinking Creek Film Celebration Judges Award, a CINE Golden, and a Chicago Film Festival Certificate of Merit.

She has acted in theatre, film (DOWN & OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS) and television (STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION). Her plays and solo shows have won awards and she received a California Arts Council Fellowship in Playwriting. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals. She lives in Los Angeles.