J.T. Tepnapa

J.T. TEPNAPA received a bachelor’s degree in acting at the University of California, Irvine. He has appeared in many award-winning plays, features, shorts, and commercials, and was awarded The Ticketholder Award for Best Supporting Actor in “Spinning Into Butter” in 2001. In 2001 he directed, wrote, and starred in his first short film, Sunflowers, which appeared at that year’s Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and Tuscon’s Outwest 2001.

The creation of Sunflowers also marked the birth of his own production company, now named Blue Seraph Productions. In early 2002, J.T. teamed up with longtime friend Charlie Gage to create Masturbation: Putting the Fun into Self-Loving. Masturbation went on to become a smash hit, screening in countless film festivals in six countries, receiving numerous awards, international distribution, and has even been featured in sex-education classrooms and documentaries.

J.T. then went on to write, direct, and produce two more short films, Drag Queen Heist in 2004 and Begging for Change in 2006. Both films received Best Short Honors at QCinema’s Fort Worth International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Capable and skilled in writing both comedy and drama, J.T. has been described by festival director Barbara Lee as “more than just the director of comedy films. He has become an artist of film; able to reflect to us reality whether it is absurd and laughable or serious and important.”

J.T.’s screenplay, Outing Joey, received top honors in Rhode Island’s Barren Branches GLBT Screenplay Competition. Competition coordinator Adam Short described the film as a “twist on contemporary gay and straight stereotypes bringing perspective to the tension between these two groups and our society’s need to push for greater acceptance of all its diverse segments.”

For seven years, J.T. has appeared on of the longest-running Web series, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, where he plays the openly gay Lieutenant Commander Corey Aster. He most recently was cast as Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu in the Hug0-nominated Web series, Star Trek: Phase II, winner of TV Guide’s Online Video Award for Best Video SciFi Series. Featured in Variety, Frontiers, Fab magazine, the Today Show, MSNBC, and other international news outlets, J.T. is honored to be a part of the phenomenon that brings gay and science fiction together in the same sentence.

J.T. is producing his first feature project, the fantasy-drama Judas Kiss. His second feature screenplay is co-written by longtime friend, screenwriter and journalist, Carlos Pedraza. Although J.T. Tepnapa started his career off as an actor, he has found life to be quite rewarding as a filmmaker. He is honored to not only to have a career in filmmaking, but is also happy to share his journey with his husband, Adam Browne.