Chris Bylsma
Biography
Chris was born and raised in Kansas, working as a professional editor before he discovered acting in the indie film scene. He is best known for his work with Vince Gilligan and Aaron Paul in "El Camino: A Breaking Story"; Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks in "News of the World"; Vincent D'Onofrio, Dane DeHaan, and Ethan Hawke in "The Kid"; and Merritt Wever, Scott Frank, and Steven Soderbergh as PASTOR GARRET MOORE in the series finale of the 3x Emmy-winning NETFLIX Original "Godless".
His father moved from the West Coast to the Midwest and started his own business, which he successfully ran for over fifty years. His mother got her degree in education and raised a family over a thirty year range. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Holland to the United States, while his maternal grandparents made their home in many small towns throughout the Midwest.
Chris discovered the indie film and commercial scene in Kansas City in 2009, and received a part in the first film he auditioned for. When he wasn't acting and learning on set, he was studying the craft and as many details as possible of each crew position.
By the time five years had passed, he had appeared in over one hundred films (features or shorts), TV shows, webisodes, and commercials all over the country; over twenty of which won awards, including Regional Emmys, and four individual Best Acting awards. He'd also worked behind the camera as director, producer, editor, and in casting - winning seven awards for films direct
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ed, and receiving the 2014 Emerging Filmmaker Award from the Kansas City Film Fest.
This culminated in more career moves, and a passion to join the episodic storytelling movement. The following years saw him quickly turn SAG-AFTRA and expand into big-budget features with D'Onofrio's directorial debut "The Kid", joining the Breaking Bad universe in "El Camino" as SEAN LIEBOLD, "News of the World" and more.
He's also did break into the episodic world, with appearances in SHOWTIME'S "Waco: the Aftermath", CW's "Roswell, New Mexico", Little Marvin and Lena Waithe's "Them" (Amazon Prime), CBS's "Interrogation" (with Kyle Gallner), Brad Pitt's PLAN B ENTERTAINMENT-produced TNT pilot "Monsters of God" (with Lauren Ambrose and Brian Geraghty), NBC'S "The Night Shift" (with Ken Leung), Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Til Dawn", EPIX'S "Graves" (with Chris Lowell), and others.
Over his 15 year acting career, Chris has now totaled over two hundred other roles, as well as producing or directing over seventy independent narrative works.
His passion for bringing roles to life with authenticity and empathy is only rivaled by his extreme work ethic, as he continues to refine his art and craft intriguing characters from his home base in LA.
In the role of actor
News of the World (23/01/2021)
A travelling newsreader takes in an orphaned girl in News of the World. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) is a former member of the Confederate Infantry, who now makes a living travelling from town to town and reading the newspaper headlines to the paying public. One day while travelling between towns, Jefferson comes across […]