Keri Lurtz

Keri Lurtz was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia. Keri attended college at Florida State University and Georgia State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. She continued her studies obtaining a minor in Biology. In 1993, Keri embarked on a three-week hiking and climbing excursion in the Colorado Rockies. Becoming an avid rock climber, Keri moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1994 to climb, snowboard and explore the outdoors. In 1997, she took a 6 month journey through Patagonia, where she learned Spanish while hiking, hang gliding and snowboarding through Argentina and Chile. This love for the outdoors was established early in Keri's life through horseback riding. She rides English and has successfully competed on her Thoroughbred, Shadow. In 1998, Keri moved to the show jumping capital of the country, Wellington, Florida. It was in Florida that Keri developed a passion for martial arts. After several years of instruction from Grand Master Ki Sop Yoon, Keri earned a first degree Black Belt. She is certified through the World Taekwondo Federation in Korea and has competed and won Gold Medals in both local tournaments and the Florida State Tournament. It was during this time that Keri began a career in advertising at the Forum Publishing Group. Within a year and a half, she was promoted to Sales and Marketing Manager for the Palm Beach Division where she built a successful franchise, launching several new magazines in North Palm Beach. This, however, was not to be her calling. Keri left her marketing managerial role to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actor and going to film school. Her first screen debut was the lead role of Jenny in Both Sides Now, a short film produced in Boston by filmmaker, Christopher Swank and screened throughout the Boston area. In 2006, Keri graduated from the Palm Beach Film School. Her first film as a writer/director/editor, Unconditional, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Subsequently, the Mini Movie Channel offered a five year contract for the right to screen her film internationally. Keri was the lead actor in The Green Glass, a film she co-wrote and edited. In 2008, this short film won the Audience Award at the Delray Beach Film Festival. It was also an official selection of the Sedona International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Tampa Film Festival and the First Take Film Festival. She has had several other short films screen at various film festivals. Under the acting instruction of Bob Carter, founder of the Actor's Workshop and Repertory Company and former student of Lee Strasberg, Keri has performed at the Cuillo Theatre in West Palm Beach on numerous occasions from 2006-2008. She has appeared in over 20 films. In 2008, Keri starred in Wild Sunflowers, a feature production from Straightaway Movies that was cast in Los Angeles and filmed in Miami. She also had a lead role in December, a Four Star Productions feature film. In 2008, Keri was cast as one of the leads in the play Jesus Hopped the A Train which opened at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach under the direction of Robert Carter. In 2009, she starred as Samantha Brookes in the feature film, Lost Angel, on location in Los Angeles. Keri also works in the industry as a writer, filmmaker and editor of independent films and life documentaries. She has two feature films in production for 2010. When not working, Keri's interests include horseback riding, Taekwondo, wake boarding, fly fishing, cycling and boating.