Larry Fessenden

American actor and filmmaker

Laurence T. Fessenden (born March 23, 1963) He is the founder of the New York based independent production outfit Glass Eye Pix. His writer/director credits include No Telling (written with Beck Underwood, 1991), Habit (1997), Wendigo (2001), and The Last Winter (written with Robert Leaver, 2006), which is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. He has also directed the television feature Beneath (2013), an episode of the NBC TV series Fear Itself (2008) entitled "Skin and Bones", and a segment of the anthology horror comedy film The ABCs of Death 2 (2014). He is the writer, with Graham Reznick, of the BAFTA Award winning Sony PlayStation video game Until Dawn. He has acted in numerous films including Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Broken Flowers (2005), I Sell the Dead (2009), Jug Face (2012), We Are Still Here (2015), In a Valley of Violence (2016), Like Me (2017), and The Dead Don't Die (2019), Brooklyn 45 (2023), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Fessenden was born in New York City, New York. He is married to Beck Underwood and the couple have one child.

Fessenden has operated the production company Glass Eye Pix since 1985. Fessenden regards the old Universal Monsters as a substantial influence for him. In a review of Fessenden's film Wendigo (2001), Dave Kehr of the New York Times stated, "The independent filmmaker Larry Fessenden has set himself a challenging project: to approach the themes and thrills of the classic American horror movies through a determinedly modern approach, as if John Cassavetes had been working for Universal in the early 30s." As an actor, screenwriter, director and film editor, he has worked, in addition to feature films, on such television projects as the NBC horror anthology Fear Itself (2008), directing the episode "Skin and Bones". He wrote the screenplay of Orphanage (2007) with Guillermo del Toro, an English language remake of El Orfanato. Fessenden has worked as a mentor to young directors, such as Jim Mickle and Ti West. He has been a producer on projects including Ilya Chaiken's Liberty Kid (2007), Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), James McKenney's Satan Hates You (2010), West's The House of the Devil (2009) and The Innkeepers (2011), Joe Maggio's The Last Rites of Joe May (2011), and Rick Alverson's The Comedy (2012). Under his low budget horror banner ScareFlix, Fessenden has produced films including West's The Roost (2005) and Trigger Man (2007), Glenn McQuaid's I Sell the Dead (2008), Maggio's Bitter Feast (2010), and Mickle's Stake Land (2010). More recently he has produced for prolific horror auteur Mickey Keating with Darling (2015) and Psychopaths (2017). As a character actor, Fessenden has appeared in numerous films, including Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Steve Buscemi's Animal Factory (2000), Brad Anderson's Session 9 (2001) and Vanishing on 7th Street (2010), Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005), Neil Jordan's The Brave One (2007), McQuaid's I Sell the Dead (2008) for which he won best actor at the Slamdance Film Festival; Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy (2008), Mickle's Mulberry Street (2006) and Stake Land (2010), Joe Swanberg's All the Light in the Sky (2011), and Ted Geoghegan's We Are Still Here. Fessenden also starred in the Sundance Film Festival picture River of Grass (1994), which was Reichardt's debut feature, and Margarita Happy Hour (2001) directed by Chaiken. He has appeared on television in Louie, The Strain, and as himself in National Geographic's Brain Games. In 2010, Fessenden partnered with Glenn McQuaid to launch Tales from Beyond the Pale, a series of macabre audio dramas In 2012, he executive produced and was interviewed in the documentary Birth of the Living Dead, which examines the legacy of Night of the Living Dead. In 2016, he produced, acted, and served as cinematographer in his son Jack's feature debut, Stray Bullets. The same year also saw Fessenden release a book titled Sudden Storm, A Wendigo Reader. Fessenden has also established a strong presence in the video game world. In 2015, he and Graham Reznick collaborated on writing the video game Until Dawn. Fessenden also played the role of a mysterious stranger armed with a flamethrower in the game itself. The game earned positive reviews and would go on to receive the "Original Property" award in the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards. Fessenden and Reznick also set a Guinness World Record for "Longest script for a graphic adventure videogame," with their script reaching 1,000 pages. The two writers would team up again in 2016 to develop a spin off game known as Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, and later in 2018 for the Until Dawn prequel, The Inpatient. Fessenden has run the company Glass Eye Pix since 1985 with the mission of "supporting individual voices in the arts." Glass Eye Pix continues to nurture young talent, most recently producing the debut features of Robert Mocker (Like Me, starring Addison Timlin and Fessenden), Ana Asensio (Most Beautiful Island), and Jenn Wexler (The Ranger). Fessenden's Frankenstein themed feature, Depraved, which he wrote, directed, edited and produced, was released on Friday the 13th of September, 2019 through IFC Midnight. His werewolf film Blackout premiered at the 27th International Fantasia Film Festival in July 2023.

Year Title Credit Notes 1980 White Trash Man Who Looks Through Trash Short film 1981 Lifeline Man Short film 1981 A Face in the Crowd Narrator Voice only 1982 Habit Sam Video 1991 No Telling Eden Ridge Employee 1994 River of Grass Lee Ray Harold 1997 Habit Sam 1999 Bringing Out the Dead Cokehead 2000 Hamlet Kissing Man 2000 Animal Factory Benny 2001 Third Watch Ruby Granger Episode: "A Hero's Rest" 2001 Session 9 Craig McManus 2002 Bad Day for a Tow Tow Guy Short film 2002 Happy Here and Now Clifton 2004 Imaginary Heroes Store Clerk 2004 The Off Season Phil 2005 The Roost Tow Truck Driver 2005 Broken Flowers Will 2005 The Resurrection Apprentice Willy Grimes Short film 2005 Headspace Father 2006 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Boaz Episode: "Diamond Dogs" 2006 Automatons Enemy Guard 2006 The Last Winter Charles Foster 2006 The Pod Telly Short film 2006 Mulberry St Man Behind Gate 2007 The Hunter Kenny Short film 2007 Trigger Man Henchman 2007 The Brave One Sandy Combs 2008 I Can See You Mickey Hauser 2008 Wendy and Lucy Man in Park 2008 I Sell The Dead Willy Grimes 2009 Blood Red Earth Cowboy Short film 2009 Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever Bill 2010 Hypothermia Fishing Host 2010 Bitter Feast William Coley 2010 Satan Hates You Glumac 2010 Vanishing on 7th Street Bike Messenger 2010 Stake Land Roadhouse Bartender 2011 You're Next Erik Harson 2011 Silver Bullets Sam 2012 Wolf Dog Tales Wolf Dog Video short; Voice only 2012 Hellbenders Detective Elrod 2012 Wolf Dog Wolf Dog 2012 Jug Face Sustin 2013 Ritual Motel Clerk 2013 We Are What We Are Bearded Tenant 2014 Late Phases O'Brien 2014 Louie Upset Man Episode: "Elevator: Part 6" 2014 The Strain Jack Noon Episode: "Runaways" 2014 Worst Friends Jerry 2015 Pod Smith 2015 Body Arthur 2015 We Are Still Here Jacob Lewis 2015 Until Dawn Stranger Video game; Voice & likeness 2015 The Mind's Eye Mike Connors 2015 Southbound The D. J. Voice Only 2015 Darling Officer Maneretti 2016 Carnage Park Travis 2016 In a Valley of Violence Roy 2016 Callback Joe 2016 The Transfiguration Drunk Man 2016 Good Funk Kevin 2016 No Way to Live Jerry 2016 Stray Bullets Charlie 2016 Until Dawn: Rush of Blood Dan T Video game 2016 The Stakelander Biggs 2017 Girlfriend's Day Taft 2017 Like Me Marshall 2017 Small Crimes Earl 2017 Most Beautiful Island Rudy 2017 Psychopaths Henry Earl Starkweather 2017 Hidden Agenda Vernon LeMay Video game 2018 Clara's Ghost Fan Man/Man In Bar 2018 The Ranger Uncle Pete 2018 Sadistic Intentions Father 2019 Depraved Ratso 2019 The Dead Don't Die Danny Perkins 2019 Dementer Larry 2020 Cold Wind Blowing The Wolf 2021 Jakob's Wife Pastor Jakob Fedder 2021 Dashcam Lieberman 2021 The Spine of Night Prophet of Doom 2022 Offseason H. Grierson 2023 Brooklyn 45 Clive "Hock" Hockstatter 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon Radio Actor (William Hale)