Benjamin-Shalom Rodriguez is a filmmaker, comedian and celebrity game night host with Cal’s Game Night. He created and hosts the digital series, STONED BREAKUPS (Best Episodic Short Nominee, LALIFF 2022), and wrote/directed the upcoming Blackmagic Collective-supported feature, AMERICA’S NEXT TOP IMMIGRANT. He’s also an alumnus of Sundance Screenwriters Intensive, Ryan Murphy’s HALF, and a recipient of the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation Development Grant for his feature, BAR MITZVAH BOY.
Ali Sultan is a Yemeni-Ethiopian American comedian seen on Comedy Central, Donttell and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He filmed his Half Hour comedy special in Dubai for Comedy Central Arabia and won the Best in The Midwest competition at Gildas LaughFest. His Drybar special has over a million views on YouTube and he loves his two cats.
Nahreen Tarzi is a Syrian-American writer, director, and comedian based in L.A. She was Head Writer for CBS Diversity Showcase and Frederator Networks, and has written for shows like Rubble & Crew (NICKELODEON), Blippi, Cocomelon, and T-Rex Ranch (Moonbug Entertainment). She was a finalist in the Universal Animation Writers Program and won Best Direction and Best Show at CrazyWokeAsians Solo Festival. She also has a popular 2-woman show (M.E. So Funny) centered on Middle-Eastern culture.
Chike Robinson is a comedian, 3D Animator, writer, and actor hailing from Flint Michigan. He was recently named a ” Comic To Watch ” and ” Content Creator To Watch ” at the 2022 New York Comedy Festival. He’s one third of the sketch comedy trio “ZANG”.
Dominique Nisperos is a multi-racial nonbinary comedian of color with a disability. Their credits include ABC, Blue Man Group, Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, FunnyorDie, ABS-CBN Global, and more. A recovering academic, former Doctoral Candidate in Sociology, and Ford Fellow, Dominique graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley with degrees in Ethnic Studies and Sociology. Their mission is to create comedy that uplifts oppressed people, especially people of color, women, and nonbinary folks.
Ella Gale is a writer, director, and comedian originally from Colorado. She has been a Black List Feature Lab fellow and received the Black List x Hornitos “Take Your Shot” short film grant. The resulting short HELL GIG played at Fantastic Fest, Fantasia, and the Florida Film Festival. Ella has performed at comedy festivals like Moontower and Limestone, and has written for McSweeney’s, Reductress, and the Hard Times.
Esther Chen is a comedian and actor from Taiwan. She is seen on HBO, Max, Hulu, Amazon, FX, NBC, Comedy Central and MTV. She is also the dialect coach for Mr. Robot S2&3 and contributed to the translations. Esther recently recurred on And Just Like That, shot a promo for Seinfeld’s Netflix special, and guest starred on Law and Order: O/C. She has performed at the American Embassy, a bakery in Chinatown, and a Jewish cemetery.
Jill Twiss is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning comedy writer for shows like “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and “The Amber Ruffin Show.” She’s also a #1 New York Times Bestseller, with children’s books including “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo” and “The Someone New.” Jill also writes sentences for the National Spelling Bee and recently completed a comedic play about the Seneca Falls Convention, titled “Sex Convention.”
Molly Ruben-Long is a Brooklyn-born-and-based comedian/writer/actor who has performed at Just for Laughs and The Kennedy Center. She has been on Vice and Fuse and she hosts a monthly stand-up show at Union Hall in Brooklyn called “I’m Actually From Here.”
Moujan Zolfaghari is an Emmy award-nominated writer, actor and performer, who has written on TV shows such as TBS’s The Detour, The Helpsters, Tiny Chef, an upcoming animated DC project and more. As an actor, she can be seen on At Home with Amy Sedaris, Last Week Tonight & voices a mogwai in Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. She’s also the co-creator of Mission to Zyxx, a sci-fi audiocomedy series on MaxFun.
Ricky Sim is a lawyer turned comedian originally from Malaysia. As a stand-up, he has performed in NYC, LA, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur at venues such as Laugh Factory and Carolines on Broadway. He performed at the New York Comedy Festival and the New York Queer Comedy Festival, and was selected as a 2021 PIT/SNL scholarship recipient. His stand-up comedy solo show “Coming Out to Dead People” was featured at the Off-Broadway Soho Playhouse theater.
Tiara Francis is a writer, actor, and comedian from Harlem, NY. Her credits include Totally Biased with W Kamau Bell, MTV News, Bustle, NowThis News, IAF.TV, Refinery29, and UCB Comedy. She’s also performed as a member of BoogieManja Sketch and Comedy People’s Time Improv at the PIT. Her work incorporates her passion for pop culture, politics, music, history, travel, and sci-fi, and you can find her online at tiarafrancis.com.
V Marks is a Brooklyn-born, LA-based writer and performer with a BFA in Screenwriting from USC. Their pilot PUBERTY TOO won the Humanitas College Comedy Award, and their feature NICE JEWISH GIRLS was Top 3% in The Script Lab’s Free Screenplay Competition. Their writing explores the two questions that keep them up at night: “what do we owe each other in this cutthroat world?” and “how much gay sex can I put in one script?”
Zain Shami is one of the first hijab-wearing comedians to perform stand-up in the world. She has been featured on numerous TV shows and films, including the upcoming Netflix film Pomegranate, The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Syrian and many more. She may seem like your everyday Hijabi but she’s a TikTok dancing, foodie loving, Arab-American woman trying to normalize the everyday life of a Muslim Woman!
