WRITER – ACTOR
Chiara Montalto-Giannini was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and started writing creatively in the fifth grade. She began formally studying acting and writing while a student at Eugene Lang College of The New School, from which she holds a degree in Urban Studies and NYC history.
WRITER – ACTOR
Chiara Montalto-Giannini was born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to a loving, close-knit Italian – American family. While she started writing as an elementary school kid, her formal training for acting and writing began as a student at Eugene Lang College of The New School for Social Research, from which she holds a degree.
For the entirety of her twenties, she lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with her maternal grandfather. That experience was the inspiration for her play, “A Brooklyn Love Story: Emergency Used Candles.” The play was a sell out at Emerging Artists: One Woman Standing and was subsequently produced at the Cherry Lane theatre in New York City and at Theatre 68 in LA, where Ronnie Marmo directed it. The play was a hit on both coasts and has been featured extensively in the press.
She adapted that story into a screenplay and has won several awards, including the Austin Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival, and Art of Brooklyn Film Festival.
As an actress, she trained at Neighborhood Playhouse School of The Theatre, and for many years with David Gideon. She has performed in many Off-Broadway plays and independent films.
Currently, she is the Director of Programming and Communications for the Writers Guild Initiative. She believes deeply in the power of storytelling and writing and owning one’s narrative.
From time to time, she writes about food, cooking, Italian-American culture, and identity.