From Pirate King to Zombie Mastermind

Kevin Hamedani
Professional Actor, Director, Producer
MCT Alumni

MCT Productions
Rogers & Hammerstein's
Cinderella (1996)
Pirates of Penzance (1997)

"I was first exposed to the arts when I attended Madrona middle school. It's still one of the most educational and eye opening experiences I've ever had and I mark it as an important time in my development as an artist. I continue to do work based on lessons learned and skills developed from those two years. I'll never forget the teachers there and I owe a lot of my success to them."-Kevin Hamedani, MCT Alumni

MCT alumni Kevin Hamedani was born in 1982 in Kent, Washington. After his family moved to Edmonds, Kevin attended middle school at Madrona K-8, where he participated in the 1997 production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and the 1998 production of Pirates of Penzance. His first experiences with theatre at MCT were to spark an interest in acting and film, which he began to explore during his years at Edmonds Woodway High School.

At the young age of 18, Kevin borrowed equipment from EWHS to create his first feature film, Clothes (2001). Kevin used his own high school experiences to write, direct, and produce this film that looked into the sometimes painful process of self-discovery that most high school students find themselves in.

In the same year as his successful film debut at Edmonds Movie Theater, Kevin enrolled in the University of Washington, where he attended the Digital Arts and Experimental Media School. He continued to write and direct films during his college career (including The Love of C.A., 2003; Bookends, 2003; and The Unfinished Novel by the Man Who Ate Himself, 2004), even winning film festival awards for his work.





In the years following his graduation from UW, Kevin has written, directed, and produced a wide range of projects, from commercials, to promotional videos, all over the world. In 2009, ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction was nominated and presented at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. Following this high praise, ZMD also enjoyed a limited release, distributed by Lionsgate Films.

'Filmmaker Kevin Hamedani says the Sept. 11 attacks transformed him from an ordinary American into “the other.” Hamedani, an Iranian-American, recalls the isolation he felt in the weeks and months following the terrorist attacks, even though he considered himself as “Americanized” as his neighbors. “I wanted to talk about that as a filmmaker,” he says.

So he created “Zombies of Mass Destruction,” a horror comedy comprised of equal parts bloodshed and political beefs. The movie, out this week on DVD as part of After Dark HorrorFest 4, tracks a small Washington state town overrun by zombies – and prejudice. He calls the film a “cathartic experience” born from what he saw as the previous administration‘s missteps. “It’s like writing a song. If you’re angry, you hit the notes harder. In this case, I added more blood,” he says.’
– Christian Toto, WWTW, March 26th, 2010