Eric was born in Manhattan, NY and lived in Queens for the majority of his childhood. After moving to North Carolina with his family, he soon acquired a love for film after visiting a childhood friend back in Queens who took Eric on a tour of a local film school in the city.
It was after this fateful trip that Eric has had a single goal in mind, which is of working in and directing films. This determination has taken him to many places of exploration. He gained his acting chops on-stage while attending Vance-Granville Community College. He became increasingly active in the college’s theater arts program leading him to direct two one-act plays, one of which was an original script he had written for Black History Month. He also performed in several productions for the Henderson Rec Players and the Granville Little Theater in both Vance and Granville counties respectively.
After graduating with an Associate in Arts degree from the college, he pursued church drama by writing, directing, and starring in several plays he had written for the ministry he attended. Simultaneously, he became involved with a gospel television show that was airing on a local public-access station. This was his introduction to running camera, as he would shoot local services for the show. This lead to Eric’s becoming his church’s media director. In this role, he became the technical director of his church’s three-camera shoots for each service by operating a digital switcher. He also fulfilled the role of editor having been introduced to non-linear editing. While performing these tasks, he also trained a crew of thirteen volunteers who operated the cameras, ran the sound board for the service, and contributed to the editing process.
He was also introduced to the world of morning news, having worked at NBC-17 in Raleigh as a broadcast technician. His primary function was that of robotics camera operator as well as contributing to writing some of the news stories read on-air.
After this, Eric placed all his focus on filmmaking and understanding the process from beginning to end. He became involved in several local independent films from shorts to feature-length projects. He’s ran camera for three TV pilots shot in HD, worked as a grip on numerous sets, was 2nd camera assistant for a WTVD news promo, edited several projects digitally, was casting director for a BMW spec commercial, acted in several short films, directed an exercise video, a music video, and recently directed the short documentary, “Bi/RACIAL Me.”
The future looks promising for Eric as he pursues his Bachelor of Arts degree at St. Augustine’s College while juggling being a single parent. He certainly has no intention of stopping now.