Elliot Weiss

Biography

 

      The Bronx’s own, Weiss has been writing, performing original poetry, acting and playing bass guitar for the past 30 plus years. Weiss was discovered by Joe Franklin, pioneer and host of The Joe Franklin Show. Elliot’s first professional break came from Titus Walker, founder and director of the Ujamma Theatre in New York. His MFA thesis at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco is an autobiographical book, and a new one man show. The first poem Weiss wrote, Junky, has been published by Coalesce, an online magazine. 

 

      Influenced by the culture of African–Americans and people of color, Weiss was exposed to their music as an infant. The film A Bronx Tale accurately depicts the melting pot neighborhood of Irish, Italian and Jewish people that Elliot was reared in. As an undergrad student at San Francisco State University he enrolled in ethnic studies classes, and was also a part of an intensive workshop facilitated by Dr. Joy DeGruy about the Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Elliot expresses the ramifications of the slave mentality that has affected the world in his poem There’s a Rebound.  

 

      Weiss is also the star of an Independent film, Lights Out! produced by Arthur Streeter in 2000. Elliot also co-wrote the screen play and plays bass guitar on the soundtrack. Acting workshops with Gene Frankel and original students of the famed Actor’s Studio in New York provide the foundation for the intensity, and depth of the characters that he portrays.

 

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