At just 16 years old, Tanner Beard’s dreams began sparking to life – when he was offered a small role in a movie that was being filmed in his hometown of Snyder, Texas. The film featured A-list celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and George Strait. This was the beginning of a life changing journey for Beard, who was an absolute movie junkie – with huge aspirations.
“It was off to the races after that,”Beard said. The young man had a taste of Hollywood and was craving more. He was achieving what very few people ever do – and by the age of just 17, Beard made his way to Los Angeles, where he landed his first feature in the iconic, world renowned film – Princess Diaries 2.
His career skyrocketed after that – and he found that his “bad guy” roles were similar to his childhood acting inspiration, Val Kilmer.
“You know I’m a big guy from West Texas, and I got this big dumb body that usually allows me to play a lot of blue-collar roles or a lot of overbearing villains, which has always been a lot of fun,” Beard said. “I love the craft of acting, and I love that acting allows you to be anybody and anything you want to be regardless of what everybody else says, and to get the opportunity to change their mind is a lot of fun when it comes to this craft… But yeah, I play a lot of villains.”
Beard is living his childhood dream, he has always had a passion for the art of performance and has always loved crafting and developing timeless stories. Eventually, he took his career far beyond acting, by diving deeper into the production side of film.
Beard has been the executive producer of countless incredible films such as – Slyvio, Voyage, Of Time: Life’s Journey, Knight of Cups – and a recent revival of a cult-classic status ; 6 Bullets to Hell.
“When I’m producing, I just make sure the nuts and bolts are working properly, and I do my job to the best of my ability,” Beard said. “Then, when someone’s creativity succeeds in a big way, you can’t help but feel you were a part of that. I’ve been incredibly lucky to see some amazing projects that also have my name on it.”- Beard quotes.
Tanner has had experience in just about every aspect of the film industry – he is not only an actor and director – but also the founder of Mammoth Film Festival – an incredible world renowned film festival that celebrates a diverse range of filmmakers, actors, directors, writers, producers, and their work. With Mammoth Lakes, CA as its beautiful backdrop.
The self made star completely metamorphosed the five-day west coast festival into a leading destination for inestimable independent features and short films – such as: Damsel, Pretending, I’m Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story, Quentin Tarantino documentary QT8, The First Eight, Netflix’s series, Abducted in Plain Sight, and a number of other absolute masterpieces.
“Running a film festival is like producing ten movies at the same time,” Beard explained. “It is incredibly gratifying work, and I am head over heels for that work, but it is more difficult than just producing a movie. There are so many moving parts, and I want every film that comes here to feel like they are part of a very elite grouping in our competition.”
Tanner has always said that he wants to be remembered as somebody who “was able to produce various great stories, events, and gatherings for the ever-changing entertainment industry. Someone who really loves and respects that industry, and was a pretty decent actor.”
While creating his legacy and facing all the obstacles that come with being a part of the cutthroat film industry, Beard reminds himself of the old Texas saying that is used when handling business and embarking upon new journeys – “cowboy up.”
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