Kenneth Oscar Mora (born December 17, 1960) is an American graphic novel publisher, screenplay writer, director, producer, and voice actor. In film, he is best known for creating the computer-animated shorts entitled ''Magnum Farce:'' (2009, 2011) and the mixed-media ''Your Face Global Jam'' (2017). In publishing, Mora is creator/producer of the serialized

Comic Book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

and subsequent

Graphic Novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

biography of Caravaggio ''Caravaggio: A Light Before The Darkness'' (2015,2019). Mora is also executive producer of ''Adventures in Plymptoons'' (2012) the official biographical documentary of animator

Bill Plympton Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946) is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Awards-nominated animated short '' Your Face'' and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting wit ...

, and associate producer of Revengeance (2017) the feature animated film by Plympton and Jim Lujan.

Early life

Mora was born in Hollywood, the youngest of two siblings. His father, Oscar Mora, is a native of Costa Rica, Central America. His mother, Betty Paulina Wood y Meza, was also a native of Costa Rica, and emigrated to the United States in 1957. His parents met in Los Angeles. The couple were married in April 1959 and were divorced in September 1961. An avid comic book fan since childhood, when his father bought him '' How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way,'' Mora began his relationship with art and storytelling.

Education and early career

After graduating from

North High School (Torrance) North Torrance High School is a four-year public high school located at 3620 W. 182nd St. in Torrance, California. Of the four public high schools in the Torrance Unified School District, North High is the second oldest. The school's mascot is ...

in 1979, Mora studied variously at

El Camino College El Camino College (Elco or ECC) is a two-year public community college located in the unincorporated area of Los Angeles County known as Alondra Park.DeVry University DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but ...

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Although initially serving primarily pre-college high sc ...

, and various private non-accredited learning institutions. In 1984, with the release of the

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

personal computer, Mora began his parallel development of computer and artistic skills. After receiving a layoff from Hughes Spacecraft, in El Segundo, CA, he work freelance with his graphic designer with MacTemps (now

Aquent Aquent is a staffing company specializing in placing temporary employees in marketing and creative industries. According to Staffing Industry Analysts, it is among the "largest marketing/creative staffing firms in the United States". Aquent also o ...

) and was ultimately hired away to the post of Art Director at The Verity Group, a management consulting firm in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. In 1995 Mora returned to Santa Monica College to major in Art and Art History, and under the advisement of artist/professor Ronn Davis, transfer to

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC Roski School of Fine Arts) in 1997. At USC he earned his BFA, graduating with distinction with the class of 1999, where he shared speaking honors at the commencement ceremony during the tenure of then dean,

Ruth Weisberg Ruth Weisberg (born 1942) is an American artist and Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Southern California, where she is also former dean of the USC Roski School of Art and Design. Weisberg's work is influenced by her Jewish heritage an ...

Career in entertainment industry

In 2003 Mora's first screenplay ''A Light Before The Darkness,'' based on the volatile Baroque-era artist Caravaggio won several screenwriting competition awards, gained him representation via the Jack Scagnetti literary and talent agency, and an option from Buzzmedia Network for the feature film to be directed by Heinrich Dams. By the time rights to ''A Light Before The Darkness'' reverted to him, he had completed his second and third screenplays, ''Magnum Farce,'' and ''Ms. Valkyrie.'' After several near-misses with production of Magnum Farce, he established his own sole-proprietorship production company Bella Fe Films in 2008, to produce the short film adaptation ''Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park'' which garnered top accolades at film festivals. In 2010, Mora, who had been a long-time fan of

who has been cited variously as "The King" or "Dean" of Indie Animmation" became executive producer of the documentary on Plympton, ''Adventures in Plymptoons'', directed by Alexia Anastasio. In 2013, Mora established the pay-per-download

New media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

venture ''Screenplay Theater''. The venture produces "Audiomovies" which dramatize previously optioned or award-winning Screenplays, that have not been produced as Movies. Like most

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

s these "Audiomovies" employ

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recordi ...

actors, but also feature Foley and musical scores. In 2017, Your Face Global Jam, an international collaborative tribute to

's first

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated short, produced and directed by Mora was released on his Bella Fe Media channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Career in publishing

In 2015, Mora published the first issue of his serialized

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

''A Light Before the Darkness'', a biography of the artist Caravaggio on the

cloud-based Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mult ...

distribution platform

comiXology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), is a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . It offers a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, graphic novels, and ...

with a limited first printing for patrons of his successful Kickstarter campaign. The concluding issue of the series was published in March 2018. In 2020 the premiere

Trade paperback (comics) In comics in the United States, a trade paperback (shortened: TPB or trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually presenting either a complete miniseries, a story arc from a single titl ...

edition won the ''Screencraft Cinematic Book Award (Graphic Novel)'' for 2019. The publication was also a finalist in the Eric Hoffer Award 2020 and finalist in Billy Bob Buttons ''The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards'', 2019. June 2020, Mora published the first internationally available print edition in association with U.K. publisher Markosia .

Screenwriter

* ''Magnum Farce'' (IMDb) (2013 – in development) * ''Magnum Farce: Along Came a Sniper'' (IMDb) (2011) * ''Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park'' (IMDb) (2009) * ''The Cook and the Thief'' (IMDb) (in development) * ''A Light Before The Darkness'' (optioned, not produced)

Director

* ''Your Face Global Jam'' (2018) * ''Magnum Farce: Along Came a Sniper'' (2011) * ''Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park'' (2009)

Producer

* ''Magnum Farce'' (IMDb) (2013 – in production) * ''Magnum Farce: Along Came a Sniper'' (2011, short) * ''Adventures in Plymptoons!'' (2011, documentary) * ''Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park'' (2009, short)

Actor

* ''Magnum Farce: A Shot in the Park'' (2009, short) * ''Revengeance'' (2017, feature film)

Consultant / crew / other

* ''Revengeance'' - Associate Producer, Sound Recordist, Voice Actor (2017, feature film) * ''Wong Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest'' - Production Assistant (2010, drama) * ''Townies'' - Script Consultant (2009, short) * ''A Mass of Wine'' - Special Thanks (2010, short, documentary) * ''The Other Side of Paradise'' - Very Special Thanks (2009, feature film) * board member,

Burbank International Film Festival The Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held since 2009 in Burbank, California, United States. It was founded by Val Tonione, and awards are distributed to filmmakers that have focused on social and environmental i ...

, 2011, 2012, 2015

References

External links

IMDb

KenMora.com

BellaFeMedia.com

Author Page at Amazon.com

Author Page at Goodreads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mora, Ken 1960 births Actors from Torrance, California American animated film directors American animated film producers American animators American male screenwriters American comics writers Computer animation people Film directors from Los Angeles Film producers from California American graphic novelists Living people Screenwriters from California USC Roski School of Fine Arts alumni Writers from Los Angeles