MY BIO

Heidi Philipsen, raised in the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area, has been developing an international career in film, broadcast television and regional theatre that spans over a decade and encompasses writing, directing, acting and producing.

In 1993, she traveled to Germany to study German literature and the arts. Highlights in her seven years abroad include apprenticing at the politically provocative and acclaimed Theatre 89, as well as acting and directing at the Friends of Italian Opera English Theatre in Berlin; weather-presenting, field-producing, translating and on-camera reporting at the Berlin International Film Festival for a worldwide audience (over 28 million viewers a week!) through Deutsche Welle TV; and doing voice-over work at the legendary Grundy Ufa Studios in Babelsberg.

In 2000, Heidi returned Stateside to pursue her M.I.A. in International Media & Communications at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, while comparing notes between U.S. and European television broadcast formats as an intern at ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’s “48 Hours.” Unable to give up the acting bug, Heidi also then filled her spare time with scene study acting at the T. Schreiber Studios, performing Off-Broadway, as well.

In 2004, Heidi moved back to Michigan and, after taking a break to start a family, started the socially motivated local theatre ensemble, “The Personae Ensemble,” understudied at acclaimed actor Jeff Daniel’s regional Equity theatre, The Purple Rose, and went back to film school at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan, where she wrote and directed her thesis short, “A FORK IN THE ROAD” for which she received “Best Screenplay” and was nominate for “Best Director” at the MPI Student Film Festival.

“A Fork in the Road” has recently been accepted into the official program of the Reel Women International Film Festival in Burbank, California to take place in March 2008.

Today, after recently relocating to the Capital District region, Heidi has teamed up with award-winning cinematographer Robert Shenise and is in the process of working together with Bob and his production company, Shenise Productions, LLC, on several HD projects for television and film. She continues to write, act, direct and produce for both theatre and film through her company, Personae Entertainment, Ltd.