Experience
Rendon Ramsey began acting professionally in 1992 with a very minor role in Anton Checkov’s Three Sisters. That show, at the award-winning fringe theatre, Theatre Schmeater in Seattle, led to many more with that company before he traveled to London in the summer of 1994 to study Shakespeare at the London Academy of Performing Arts. In the fall of that year Rendon moved to Los Angeles to train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he earned an A.A. in Acting. He was awarded two major scholarships for outstanding actor in his class: The Spencer Tracy Scholarship and the Kirk Douglas Scholarship. After earning his A.A., he was invited to join the third-year company at AADA. Rendon accepted, and he played in works ranging from Greek Tragedy toShakespeare to contemporary plays such G.R. Point and Automatic Pilot; he also played more than 20 characters in a single play – an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times.
After his time with the American Academy Company, Rendon worked on both stage and screen.He joined the Interact Theatre Co.founded by Broadway’s John Rubenstein (Ragtime). There Rendon played Jerry Devine, in the Dramalogue Award Winning production of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, alongside Leon Russum (A Quiet Place, True Grit, The Big Lebowski). During this period Rendon continued to work with Interact and other theatres in the Los Angeles area, most notably A Noise Within, where he acted with Apollo Dukakis in Pirandello’s So It Is, If So It Seems To You, and appeared in many other productions including Brecht’s Three Penny Opera and Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. In the summer of ’97, Rendon shared the stage with the legendary Quincy Jones in a show produced by the equally legendary Dick Clark.
Although having a great run, in 1999 Rendon decided to head to graduate school to earn an MFA in Acting so as to prepare himself for his other passion – teaching. Rendon received his degree from the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) in 2002 which was ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the #7 college for Theatre in the U.S. at the time. Rendon studied Shakespeare’s canon with Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Suzan Lori Parks and received incredible training from Fran Bennet, Travis Preston, Mary Lou Risotto, and Marisa Chibas.
Rendon was classmates and frequent collaborator with Nataki Garrett (Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival), also notably, Film and T.V. star Allison Brie was in the Cal Arts theatre program at that time, and alumnae such as Don Cheadle and Paul Reubens were occasionally in the audience and at theatre department events. In his third year, Rendon pitched the administration the idea of creating and teaching his own class, Acting for Non-Actors, a scene study class that would be offered as an elective to all non-theatre majors. It would be a departure for the program, as graduate students did not teach at Cal Arts. However, they gave him the chance, and he created the curriculum. That spring, he taught his very first acting course. It was attended by painters, dancers, photographers, musicians, animators and filmmakers. The class was a huge success, and from that moment on, Rendon knew that teaching would play a role in his career; however, he had no idea how significant a passion it would become.
After receiving his MFA in 2002, Rendon returned to the L.A. theatre scene, his next stop was at the Antaeus Theatre company in North Hollywood. Antaeus was founded by Drama Desk award winning actor Dakin Mathews. Rendon had the honor of working with Dakin on many occasions and counts it among his most significant experiences in the theatre. In addition to Mr. Mathews, Rendon acted with or was directed by Olympia Dukakis, Paul Lazarus (Frazier), Jeanie Hackett (Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire) , Armen Shimmerman (Deep Space Nine), Paul Wilson (Cheers), Jeremy Lawrence, Jane Carr (Dear John), Josh Clark (Broadway's The Man Who Came to Dinner), Henry Lubatti (True Blood), Anne Gee Byrd (Dallas), Angela Goethals (Jerry Maguire). Rendon played Sir Toby Belch in a production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, originated an evening of Poetry Poems in My Pocket, and played multiple roles in Paul Lazarus’ The Dickens Project.
Between 2002 and 2006 Rendon joined SAG, AFTRA, and AEA. SAG and AFTRA had not yet merged to become SAG-AFTRA as it is today. He continued to work in L.A., performing at Little Fish Theatre Co. (The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged., Escanaba In Da Moonlight, LAUSD school tour “Shakin’ It Up with Shakespeare” (writer/director/actor), Kingsmen Shakespeare Co. (Romeo and Juliet tour, Richard III), The Open Fist (Snow White/Rose Red tour), Sierra Madre Playhouse (Incident at Vichy *Best Supporting Actor L.A.) amongst many others. As a freelance actor, Rendon was directed by current Aurora Theatre Co. Artistic Director Josh Costello as Banquo in The Met Theatre’s groundbreaking production of Macbeth; and he played two major roles in an innovative Nataki Garrett directed production of Machinal at the Stella Adler theatre in L.A. In addition, during these years he did some television and commercial work, most enjoyably singing and dancing as a Kia car salesman recreating “So Long, Farewell” from Sound of Music – choreographed by Stacy A. Walker (Michael Jackson’s This Is It) and directed by Jesse Dylan (American Wedding). Rendon’s work as a voice actor also began to flourish during this period. His voice can be heard as “Baby Oopsie” in the horror spoof Puppet Master VS. Demonic Toys opposite Corey Feldman, and he dubbed voices in the Bruce Campbell film Alien Apocalypse. Rendon also worked as a narrator for The History Channel series “Secret Passages.”
In 2006, Rendon was hired to teach Acting for the Camera at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Shortly thereafter, his passion and teaching skill were recognized, and he was asked to expand his course load to include Classical Theatre and to be a frequent guest director. IAA is one of the premier high schools for the arts in the nation, consistently ranking at or near the top year after year. The theatre department graduates virtually every student and sends them to the best colleges and programs in the world. Rendon has played a major part in training thousands of enormously driven and talented emerging artists from around the globe over the course of his sixteen years of service at IAA. Many of his students have given heartfelt testimonials about Rendon’s influence on their lives and their work on this site. As a director, some of his favorite productions are Twelfth Night, The Learned Ladies, Play, Everyone (a modern adaptation of Everyman), Time and the Conways, and As It Is In Heaven Rendon was also very active in the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, developing and teaching “Two-Headed Monster: Writing and Performing for the Stage” with his colleague Abbie Bosworth. At the culmination of Rendon’s work at Idyllwild Arts Academy in 2021, he was honored to deliver the keynote speech at the Theatre Department’s commencement. Rendon emphasized the power of theatre to manifest change within the artist, within an audience, within a community, nationally, and globally. He encouraged his graduating seniors to stay open and to say yes to the path that will unfold before them. Many in the audience that day praised the speech as being among the best they had ever heard. It was a beautiful moment for Rendon and a fitting send off before making his move back to Seattle.
While being fully committed to his work at Idyllwild Arts and continuing to perform in L.A., Rendon also joined Mount Saint Mary’s University as an Adjunct Professor in 2009. He taught Literature and Communication. His BA in Speech Communication combined with his MFA in Acting uniquely qualified him as a Public Speaking coach of the highest caliber. This became his area of focus and, over the course of twelve years, Rendon helped hundreds of college students overcome stage fright and learn to enjoy the opportunity to share their message with an audience. Many of his students have noted that they experienced tremendous personal growth due to studying with Rendon at MSMU.
In 2012, during this intense period of performing and teaching, Rendon became a father. His desire to be with his wife and daughter as a supportive and present parent shifted where he put his energy; placing his career focus primarily on teaching, letting auditioning and performing play a lesser role.
In 2021, Rendon and his family moved from Pasadena, CA to Seattle, WA. It was a homecoming for Rendon and a new adventure for his wife and daughter. After settling in, Rendon got back to work. He was invited to join the Seattle Shakespeare Company as a Teaching Artist, immediately going into the community to teach Romeo and Juliet and to direct student work. He has also taught Acting at Seattle’s Coyote Central. In addition, Rendon joined the Theatre faculty of the longest running performing arts school and camp in the nation, PerryMansfield, in Steamboat Springs Co. directing a tribute to Stephen Sondheim with collaborator Jeffrey Huard (Broadway’s Sweet Smell of Success), teaching his storytelling workshop “Story 2 Stage” and an ongoing scene-study course. Now that the family is settled into their new digs, Rendon is again ready to work as an actor alongside his ongoing passion for being a teaching artist.
With RendonRamsey.com he is incredibly excited to be expanding his online presence as an Actor, Teaching Artist, Director and Public Speaking Coach, and is also available for in-person private lessons and coaching sessions to those in the Seattle area.