Flannery Lunsford

Flannery Lunsford is the son of novelist Kerry Madden, and teacher Kiffen Lunsford. He is also grandson of a Nashville songwriter, Jimmy Lunsford of the Smoky Mountain Boys, and grandnephew to legendary folk music collector Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Flannery developed a passion for performing at an early age, idolizing artists as varied as Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley and Lon Chaney Senior and Junior. He made his stage debut at ten in Shakespeare's Richard III at A Noise Within as the Young Duke of York. At twelve, he became the youngest member of Theatre Neo, a repertory group co-founded by the Emmy-winning actress, Kathryn Joosten. He found critical success at fourteen playing a young sociopath in Minor Demons, receiving both Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly Theatre Picks. After finding another love in music shortly thereafter, he started a successful indie rock band, Flypaper Cartel, that played Warped Tour and the Greek Theatre. He attended John Marshall high school, and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in film and media studies. While in school, he met mentor and future-collaborator Allison Anders, who introduced him to the American independent film movement. Anders also recommended Lunsford to Sundance-winning director Alexandre Rockwell, with whom he helped make Pete Smalls is Dead. Lunsford subsequently produced Rockwell's latest feature, Panda in the Closet, now in post-production. He also met Anders' collaborator and punk rock director Kurt Voss, which helped build the foundation for his film debut as the lead in Strutter, the third in a trilogy of LA rock & roll films made by Voss and Anders. Lunsford plays a heartsick young musician in Los Angeles, who loses his girl and his band. Strutter opened to stellar reviews at the Munich Film Festival in 2012. He enjoys playing live music around LA and watching obscure dark films of the forties and fifties.