a filmmaker, actor, & storyteller

ALYSSA THORDARSON has worked as a professional actor for over a decade, appearing in commercials, television, theater, and indie film. Half Icelandic, she grew up in Indiana and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and Columbia College Chicago, and has continued her training with The Markland Studio, The Acting Studio, and on set across many diverse projects.

Her debut screenplay, the short AFTER (A LOVE STORY), directed by Clare Cooney, was an official selection at over 20 festivals, including the Academy Award-qualifting LA Shorts and Cleveland International. AFTER won her a Grand Jury Award for Best Short Screenplay and a Filmmaker’s Award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival, as well as garnering a Best Drama Short award for the team at North Hollywood Cinefest, among nearly 20 nominations during the festival run.

PAPER PLANES, her directorial debut alongside legendary Chicago indie filmmaker Michael Glover Smith, based on Alyssa’s screenplay, made an immediate splash on the 2023 festival circuit. The film played Oscar-qualifying festival Out on Film, was nominated for Best Comedy Short at New York & North Hollywood Cinefests, won Best Dramatic Short at Tallahassee Film Festival, Best Short Film at Soo Film Festival, First Place at Saugatuck FF, and Best Cast at Twelve Lions. It continues to connect audiences of all kinds with its touching queer story, which RogerEbert.com calls “sublimely nuanced.”