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		Studying art during his young adult life, film and stage actor Michael Mercurio moved from his hometown of Brooklyn, NY, to Chicago to study acting. After completing an acting conservatory Mercurio was offered a scholarship with the Chicago Actor's Studio, under the tutelage of Ed Fogell. In Chicago, he made his theater debut in Jorge Aviles' 'Nicas', securing the lead role as an outspoken young gay man who returns to Nicaragua to confront his past. Shortly afterwards, he was offered his first film role in the low budget film 'Angel in Chains', portraying an outlaw biker. Upon moving to L.A., he portrayed a compulsive gambler in debt, in the independent movie, “Fixing Rhonda'. Other eclectic roles include a computer programmer who questions his own ethical obligations in Adam Cosco's, 'God Complex', a psychiatric inpatient suffering from schizophrenia in Mark Frumkin's existential short film, 'Psycho Killer Reflections on God', and a man who methodically plans his own suicide in Tad Chamberlain's dark comedy, 'Anti-Samaritan Hotline'. Michael Mercurio website
		W. Morgan Sheppard has worked with acclaimed directors Sir Trevor Nunn, Sir Peter Hall, Peter Brook, Ron Maxwell, Sir Richard Attenborough, Michael Mann, Ridley Scott, Michael Bay, Christopher Nolan and David Lynch in such films as “The Prestige”, “Transformers” “The Duellists”, "Gettysburg", "Star Trek VI", "Wild at Heart", "Needful Things", "The Elephant Man", "The Keep"‚ "Cry Freedom", "Elvira", and other 60 movies. He is also known for his TV work which includes more than a dozen Movies of The Week plus appearances on Star Trek Voyager, Frasier, Quantum Leap, Alias, and the series that brought him to the US from his native Ireland, Max Headroom. Sheppard’s theatre career spans 30 years in England. He is Anglo-Irish. He was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company for more than a decade. On Broadway, he originated the role of Mad Animal in "The Marat-Sade" in the 1960’s, and later appeared in "Sherlock Holmes" in the 70’s. In the U.S., Sheppard won both the LA Drama Critics Circle Award and a Drama Logue Award for his 1995 performance in Pinter's "The Homecoming" at the Matrix Theater. Morgan received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award by ‘Action on Film’ Festival. IMDB page
		Having begun as an actor on Stage in his teens, Braeden has worked most frequently in Television. Some credits include Numb3rs, Las Vegas, Alias, and several appearances throughout the years on General Hospital. In Film, he is particularly proud of his work in the independent, Soldier of God. A very low-budget film, beautifully shot, it garnered numerous festival awards at the Stratford-Upon-Avon International Film Festival and Dallas’ Deep Ellum Film Festival, among others. Working on Arad was a very, very gratifying experience, largely because of the wonderful crew involved. Working for an all-around great guy like Sepehr Dehpour was a plus, as well. However, it must be said that working with the supremely-talented and enduring Morgan Sheppard had to be the highlight. Braeden Marcott's IMDB page
			Brooke Stone played the Queen role in Legend of Arad. She has played in A Numbers Game, The Ugly Truth, When It's Dark, Free Lunch,The Love Guru,"Mad Men" and several other feature and short films. Brooke Stone's IMDB page
	Principals Arad  -  Michael Mercurio King  -  William Morgan Sheppard Priest  -  Braeden Marcott Queen  -  Brooke Stone Young King  -  Gary Hoffman Soldiers Chris P. Daniels Sam Sabbah Alejandro ias Afshin Abadi RayRaymond Cosico William C. Ford Anthony Velazquez Ross Blakeman Ardeshir Aliaskari Citizens Tom Colvin Marina Dee Darrell Robb Robert Ewald Jeraldine Lukianov Iris Hill Nima Azizi Jill Pineda Ala' Diab Ardeshir Aliaskari Michele Large Richard Kray Newsha Taheri

    Thank you for visiting the Arad short film webpage. This movie is in post-production phase and we are actively looking for talented visual effects people to join our team. If you are interested in matte painting, modeling, effects, lighting, compositing  and other aspects of visual effects, please don't hesitate to contact us now!
The goal is to bring something on screen that is not seen before!