Mini Biography
Born and raised in London, England - the youngest son of playwright and novelist Christopher Wilkins - Toby relocated to Los Angeles in 1996 to pursue a career in the film industry and worked primarily in visual effects and title sequence design for feature films until turning his hand to directing.
Since 1999 his short films have received recognition at some of the world's most prestigious film festivals including multiple acceptances to the Sundance Film Festival where he has found repeated success including co-directing official trailers for the festival in 2003 and 2004.
In 2002 his off-beat short comedy "I Lost 20lbs In Two Months, Ask Me How" premiered at Sundance. The short stars veteran voice actor John Di Maggio (Futurama) and was picked up for distribution at Sundance. It remains in the top ten on "AOL's Comedy Special" comedy showcase.
His short thriller "Staring at the Sun" enjoyed a successful festival run that began with the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and has played at more than 25 other festivals around the world. The film received several awards including Best Horror Short at Stan Winston's ScreamFest LA.
In spring 2006 Toby teamed with writer Ben Acker to create "Kidney Thieves", a short black comedy based on the popular urban legend. The film stars Ethan Embry, Paget Brewster and Paul F. Tompkins and premiered at the Austin Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Short. The film went on to play AFI Fest in Los Angeles and more.
The ScreamFest award for Staring at the Sun brought Toby's work to the attention of director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider Man) and his horror production company Ghost House Pictures. Ghost House commissioned Toby to write, produce and direct a number of short horror films starting with Mousetrap, a shocking cautionary tale about sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.
Raimi then chose Toby to direct and produce "Tales From The Grudge", a series of short horror films to promote the film "The Grudge 2". The shorts premiered on movies.yahoo.com and were featured on more than a dozen other movie related web sites including doyouhaveagrudge.com.
In addition to directing, Toby has served as producer, cinematographer, post-production supervisor, editor and visual effects artist on film projects with directors ranging from indie first-timers to luminaries including Brett Ratner, and James Cameron.
Toby is represented by: David Gardner at Principato Young Entertainment David Boxerbaum at APA Talent Agency.
Mini Biography By:
tobywilkins.com
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