Jonathan Coder
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Jonathan Coder was born December 22, 1963 in Chico, California, the son
of parents Michael and Kay Coder. His Father a school educator. His
Mother a music teacher. His acting experience began at the age of two
in a church play in the role of Baby Jesus. As he took in the smell of
the theatre for the first time, the tech crew began dropping fake snow
(made of huge soap flakes) where upon one of them dropped into his eye.
The searing pain quickly brought about a very unhappy baby Jesus, which
in turn left the rest of the cast competing and shouting over his
screams of agony. His family continued to live in California until his
Father seeking his Doctorate in education at the University of Alberta,
Canada, whisked them away in the late 1960s. Jonathan spent his first
year in the Canadian school system where at the time; a majority of
Canadians seemed to look down upon The United States involvement in
Vietnam. Jonathan being the token American at his school spent a lot of
time getting beat up by the local kids for being an, "American" with
cheering adults looking on. It was during these times that he learned
how to fight to survive. Never telling his parents of the events at
school. He finally got his revenge in the hockey rink practicing very
hard one summer and then clobbering the hell out of those whom had
bullied him. He was then known, not as the "War Monger American Kid",
but now as the "Crazy American Kid". His family stayed there for three
more years returning to California in 1972. One other notable life
altering experience from his childhood came from being placed in a
private Christian School after having been caught cheating on a test in
six grade. It was at this school (which had full approval of physical
punishment) that Jonathan learned one could be a hero for taking the
most whippings. Of which he received many. Actually starting on his
very first day of school he was sitting in class whilst another student
was being reprimanded. The teacher proceeded to beat the defiant girls
hands with a ruler until they bleed. Jonathan sensing the injustice and
not knowing the unwritten rule of law (which was shut up or your next)
spoke out against the unfairness of the punishment. He was then
escorted outside and told by the teacher to go and pick a branch from
the grounds that he felt equaled the size of his sin. So of course
Jonathan brought back a thin wisp of a Cat Tail bush. This angered the
teacher even more and so his punishment was then increased three fold.
Two years later Jonathan told his parents if they didn't take him out
of the school he would run away. They didn't. He did. They finally put
him back in public school. It was now in Junior and High School that
Jonathan had the opportunity to continue his passion of the arts. His
senior year in High School, 1982, he portrayed the role of Winston
Smith, in George Orwell's, "Nineteen Eighty-four". He was also in
charge of promotion and publicity for the play and as a strategy to
counter poor attendance, he talked his Drama teacher and the school
administration into taking the entire student body through the
experience of living in a totalitarian society. Pitching it as an
experiential exercise that would cross several scholastic areas of
interest and be great free publicity for the show. So with George
Orwell's book as a guide and his extremely brilliant friend Jim Sprunck
(Whom later went on to design groundbreaking Aerospace paraphernalia
for the JPL Mars Pathfinder mission) they began the process of limiting
the language in English class exercises, etc. All of which was to
culminate in a huge "Hate Rally" involving the entire student body, in
which the students would see a dual slide show that associated Good
things with Big Brother and Bad things with Goldstein. Putting the
school photography dept. to good use they came up with some truly
horrific real life photos for the bad things. They purposely separated
all ages and known social groups into different colored areas of the
gymnasium, so friends and fellow peers were ill at ease. They started
out by having a child brought in with the honor of dropping the hankie
at her parents hanging, having turned them in for being thought
criminals. Then one actress dressed as a Prole would then run up and
smash a huge brightly lit poster of Big Brother. She would then be
taken center stage and executed for being a traitor. The guard behind
the smoked glass visor who was to pull the trigger of the SW .38 with
blanks was Jonathan. Everything worked so well, that it worked too
well! By the time Jonathan had shot the actress who'd smashed the
picture, there was a full scale riot involving 700 people. Some
teachers almost lost their jobs. There were annoyed parents at the
PTA meeting that wanted blood, and several kids found their way to
therapy. The play was SOLD OUT every performance! Despite that success
Jonathan didn't graduate with his senior class until later that summer
for having cut to many classes his senior year. He was actually hiding
out in the library and writing. He then immersed himself in daily
martial arts training for the next three years. While pursuing his
training he continued to work in many local community productions and
eventually succumbed to getting paid for acting. Somehow thinking that
getting paid for it would some how bastardize his love for it. One day
in 1986, a Director friend, Nancy Rains became tired of hearing
Jonathan being the, "Actor spilling with ideas" She basically forced
him into directing by putting him in charge of a branch of their
theatre company. She told Jonathan he needed to just shut up and
direct. So he did.
Jonathan's love of film began at about the age of 6. His family was always making home movies with the old hand wound super 8 cameras. He was well documented as a child, however his father didn't know the first thing about film lighting and would frequently blind everyone that came into contact with his Sunn gun. Today Jonathan continues writing and acting. Tomorrow will be the same. Other hobbies include: Archaeology, Space Sciences, Music, Dance, Golf, Literature, Art, Fencing.
Jonathan's love of film began at about the age of 6. His family was always making home movies with the old hand wound super 8 cameras. He was well documented as a child, however his father didn't know the first thing about film lighting and would frequently blind everyone that came into contact with his Sunn gun. Today Jonathan continues writing and acting. Tomorrow will be the same. Other hobbies include: Archaeology, Space Sciences, Music, Dance, Golf, Literature, Art, Fencing.