Biography

Born James Arthur Civis III in the Chicago suburbs, it wasn't until turning 21 that he started going by "TJ" (a nickname given to him while working a summer job at 19). His father was an amateur still photographer and handed him a camera at the age of five. He has been making images ever since. Working as a professional photographer since 1978, he has produced tens of thousands of still images in a broad variety of genres. Some of his favorites being of the large stadium rock shows he photographed in the late seventies of such bands as Genesis, Yes, and Supertramp.

TJ's father, James Civis Jr was also an amateur cinematographer and often let TJ shoot with the family 16mm camera. Setting up the screen and the projector was always an event in the Civis home.

These two influences formed his image making skills at a very early age. These skills were well honed while studying for and receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Visual Design from Oregon State University in 1987. His artistic still photography can be found in several private and museum collections.

On the performance side, his mother, June Civis, was a college professor of music in piano and voice and sang with the Chicago Lyric Opera. She often had TJ and his two sisters singing at weddings. He also spent every summer at summer camps where skits and sketches were always part of the experience. In high school, he worked behind the scenes in theater as a sound and lighting technician. He also "fronted" a band and played guitar. He still gaffs all the projects that he DP's and toured with a fairly successful band as their sound engineer for a year and a half in the mid 90s.

In the late eighties, after graduating from college and moving back to Portland, Oregon, TJ began getting day work on feature films. He has been writing and directing his own work since the late 90s as well as continuing to work on other's films.
- IMDb mini biography by: TJ Civis

Met Phyllis Diller as a kid.

Got in a food fight with Charlize Theron.

If you want to change the character "of" your life, Change the characters "in" your life.