Meet The Cast Of Hold My Beer: Lydia Pearl Pentz

This week, I'd like you to meet another cast member of Hold My Beer: Lydia Pearl Pentz!

Lydia is playing Shannon, a twenty-three-year-old commercial banker who knows a thing or two about Vancouver, WA's local brewpub industry and whose clients include a homebrewing supply store that our lead characters Val and Doug visit.

Fun facts: Lydia was referred to the project by Cindy Yamamura, owner of Seize the Bagel, after we had lined up Seize the Bagel as a location and, just on a whim, I asked Cindy if she knew any local actors ("As a matter of fact...") Also, Lydia and Andrew York (who plays Val) acted together in a middle school play, a fact that we discovered during this moment.

Lydia has already compiled an impressive acting resume, as you can see from her bio:

Lydia Pearl Pentz is an actress from Vancouver, Washington. She had her start in Oregon's Children's Theater when she was only five years old. Since then, she's done local theater for over a decade. Her first on-set experience was as a body double on NBC's Grimm (2016), after which she fell in love with on-screen acting. Her first feature film will be Trapped (coming January 2025), in which she plays the lead role, and she'll also appear in numerous other projects, including Hazel (2025), A Simple Machine (2025), The Death of Snow White (2025), Ever After (2025), The Wilde Girls (2025), and, of course, Hold My Beer.

You can check out her IMDB page here.

P.S. If you're in the Vancouver, WA area, there will be a Pre-Release Party-slash-Fundraiser for Autism Empowerment this Saturday, November 16, at Loowit Brewing's downtown location! It'll be from 4pm-9pm, and there will be live music by Flying Whammy, Nowhere Fast, Monty Vega & The Sittin' Shivas, and Second Player Score. There will also be a special "Hold My Beer Vancouver Hazy IPA" for sale in limited-edition cans. Hope to see you there!

Meet The Cast Of Hold My Beer: Ethan Blackwelder

We're back to Hold My Beer cast introductions! This week, we're featuring Ethan Blackwelder.

Ethan is playing Sky, another friend of Val (the lead character). Sky has known Val since high school and has always been there when Val needed someone to lean on. Together with Jess, the three of them make a tight and trusting trio.

Fun fact: Ethan is the son of Aaron, a teacher at Woodland High School who has hosted me in his classroom to talk about the Joel Suzuki series, and Heidi, who was the makeup artist for Hold My Beer (and will be featured in a future post).

Here's his bio:

Ethan Blackwelder is a 22-year-old neurodivergent actor from Vancouver, Washington. He started his performing arts journey in 2012 in a local youth theater group. Over the past decade, he has accumulated extensive stage experience and has worked as an extra on television, gaining valuable industry insight. Hold My Beer represents his debut on the big screen, and he is thrilled to embark on this new chapter.

Thanks for being part of our cast, Ethan!

P.S. We've launched a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for postproduction costs. Just $1 gets your name in the closing credits as a Kickstarter Backer, or $100 gets you a Co-Producer credit. Check it out here!

Hold My Beer Japanese Translation Party

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of co-hosting an amazing experience: a party at which the script for Hold My Beer was translated into Japanese!

That's right, translated into Japanese. Since one of the goals of Hold My Beer is to attract more tourists to beautiful Vancouver, Washington, I thought it would be fun to create Japanese subtitles for the film so that people from Vancouver's sister city of Joyo and elsewhere in Japan can enjoy it and possibly want to visit.

And since my nihongo skills are, um, lacking at best (despite years of self-study, as regular readers of this blog know), I was lucky enough to have the help of Professor Michiyo Okuhara of Vancouver's own Clark College and some of her students, as well as professional bilingual editor Kanako Veley. A huge honto ni arigatou gozaimasu goes out to all of them!

If you want to check out video clips of the party, which include scenes of my clumsy attempts at speaking Japanese, there's a three-minute highlight video here on the Hold My Beer YouTube channel.

Mata ne (see you later)!

Trailers, Websites, YouTube Channels, Oh My!

This week, we're taking a break from introducing the cast of Hold My Beer to bring you some special announcements. First: the official trailer for the film has been released! Check it out below:

Next, the official website for the film is now live! Check it out here. It includes bios for the cast and crew, map locations of the places that appear in the film, and more. It's a living document that will continue to be updated regularly, so keep checking back.

And finally, the film now has its own YouTube channel, where you can not only watch (and rewatch) the trailer, but you can also check out exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, as well as a series of short videos called "Hold My Beer Moments" in which we ask people - mostly members of our cast and crew, but also other people within the Vancouver, Washington community - about something bold or daring that they had the courage and confidence to do, despite what naysayers, or perhaps their own self-doubt, were telling them.

More to come!

Meet The Cast Of Hold My Beer: Ian Engelsman

This week, I'd like you to meet another cast member of Hold My Beer: Ian Engelsman!

Ian is playing Jess, a friend of Val (the lead character). Jess introduces Val to beer on Val's twenty-first birthday by taking him to Loowit Brewing in scenic downtown Vancouver, WA. Jess is the kind of friend you want to have in that he's - as described in the film - "brutally honest." He's not afraid to tell it like it is, but you know that he cares and always has your best interests at heart. Oh, and he also refers to himself in the third person (for reasons not made clear in the film, but will be explored more if - I mean, when - Hold My Beer becomes an ongoing series).

Fun fact: I actually met Ian way back in February 2013, an experience that I documented in this blog post. He was already a very talented drummer - check out this YouTube video where he played with us at the relaunch party for Joel Suzuki, Volume One - and continues to be an accomplished musician to this day. One of his current bands, Atomic Terror, even has a song on Hold My Beer's soundtrack!

Here's his bio:

Ian is a musician and part-time actor based in the Vancouver/Portland area. He is currently the drummer for the thrash metal band Atomic Terror and has played guitar and drums for other acts and groups such as Saint John the Baptist Church, Al Perez, Matthieu Raney, and Metropolitan Performing Arts. His previous acting experience includes roles with American Immersion Theatre, Murder Mystery Company, and Cinema of Horrors from Treadway Events.

Thanks for being part of our cast, Ian!

Much more to come...

Meet The Cast Of Hold My Beer: Rich Ray

Last week, you met the lead actor of Hold My Beer, Andrew York. This week, I'd like to introduce you to Rich Ray!

Rich is playing Doug, the father of Andrew's character, Val. Doug is divorced from Val's mom and he and Val have been estranged for several years. During the events of the film, the two of them reconnect because of Doug's homebrewing experience, but will that be enough to fully mend their relationship? You'll have to wait and see when the film comes out early next year!

Fun fact: Rich and I used to play together in a couple of bands years ago, which is how I first met him. He also sang the national anthem at an Autism Empowerment egg hunt back when we used to do such things.

Here's his bio:

Rich Ray has lived in Portland, OR for 24 years. During that time, he has been steadily active as a performer, having played a lead in a local production of HAIR as well as a leading role in Hold My Beer, along with being a vocalist in several rock tribute bands. By day Rich is an Early Intervention Specialist, serving as a teacher and parent coach for young children with special needs and developmental delays.

Thanks for being a part of our cast, Rich!

Much more to come...

Meet The Cast Of Hold My Beer: Andrew York

In the weeks leading up to the premiere of Hold My Beer, I'm going to be spotlighting members of our awesome cast and crew. This week, I'd like to introduce our lead actor, Andrew York!

Andrew is playing Val, the main character of the story who discovers an interest in craft beer and decides that his life's goal is to open his own brewpub. Andrew has some big-time prior acting experience (see his bio below) and came to my attention via his mom, Karen (who is also part of our crew and will be featured in a future post) and her connection to Autism Empowerment.

Although! Our paths actually crossed years ago, back in 2016, when I did an author visit to Shahala Middle School and Andrew, who was a student there at the time, was in attendance (a visit that is chronicled in this blog post)! Funny how life works.

Here's Andrew's bio:

Andrew is a 21-year-old from Vancouver, Washington with a passion for acting. He began his acting career at a young age and has since worked on such television shows as Portlandia and The Librarians. A recent college graduate in English and Psychology, Andrew hopes to soon attain his master's degree and become a high school English teacher. His hobbies include fencing, reading classic literature, Dungeons and Dragons, Street Fighter, and competitive board games.

And here's his IMDB page.

I and the other producers of Hold My Beer are so happy and grateful to have such a talented and experienced actor as the star of our film. We're sure you're going to love his performance!