Sofiya Cheyenne credits the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge for leading to her first recurring role on TV. Now in its third season, she continues her role of Louise on the hit comedy “Loudermilk.”  A long-time participant, it was her 2018 film challenge submission, “You’re Up,” that caught the attention of Oscar-winning Director Peter Farrelly for the role. At the [...]

Shanalya Palmer’s film Jordan’s Cake was a finalist for Best Awareness Campaign in the 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. Shanalya went on to create a web series, Oh Jordan, based on her original film, and won a Bronze award at the 40th Telly Awards alongside big name winners, such as The Daily Show with Trevor [...]

Nicole Lynn Evans won the Best Actor award at the 2019 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. After her win, Nicole booked a recurring role on Freeform’s Good Trouble. Nicole thanks the film challenge, saying, “It has led to so many opportunities to put my work forward both as an actor and writer. I'm very grateful to [...]

Rachel Handler won the Best Actor award in the 2014 film challenge and was nominated again for best film in 2018. She went on to submit her winning short, “Committed” to the AT&T Film Awards, where she won the  2019 Underrepresented Filmmaker Award and a $5,000 cash prize. The film challenge is helping boost Rachel’s continued success. She says, [...]

Santina Muha both wrote and starred in Take It Back, which was nominated for Best Film at the 2019 Easterseals Disability Challenge. Santina credits the film challenge for the creative drive it gave her, and the success that followed. She now has a TV comedy, “Pretty,” in development with CBS. Santina says the film challenge [...]

Dickie Hearts, a deaf filmmaker, won “Best Filmmaker Award” for his 2015 Film Challenge submission, “Passengers.” He went on to win the HBO Project Greenlight Digital Series Competition, as well as the AT&T Entertainment Project held at Warner Bros. Studio where he received a $20,000 prize.

Jamie Brewer was recognized as ‘Best Actor’ in the 2017 Film Challenge. The film she appeared in, “Whitney’s Wedding,” has screened in many film festivals internationally, and Jamie recently attended the South Dakota Film Fest where the film received rave reviews and fans were pleased to get the opportunity to meet and take photos with her. [...]

John Lawson’s “Whitney’s Wedding” earned the 2017 “Best Actress Award,” starring Jamie Brewer. This comedic love story has gone on to win “Best Film Award” at the Focus on Ability Film Festival in Sydney, Australia.

Jenna Kanell won the 2015 Film Challenge’s “Best Film Award” for a film inspired by her brother who lives with Autism. “Bumblebees” has since played at more than 80 film festivals around the world, and was a “Judges’ Choice Winner” at the Focus on Ability Festival in Sydney, Australia. Jenna developed a popular TED talk about [...]

David Harrell won “Best Film Award” for “Lefty and Loosey” at the 2016 Film Challenge. It has since been entered in numerous film festivals, including the New York Reel Abilities Festival and the Focus on Ability Festival in Sydney, Australia, where David won the “Best Actor Award.”