Kenton Patric

Kenton was born in Richmond, VA and grew up in King William, VA where his mother moved the family after his parents' divorce. His father nurtured a love of performing from a young age by including Kenton and his siblings in church plays and choir performances. Kenton's mother is a hard-working woman who retired from a manufacturing job to become a nurse, an early passion again pursued. Her long work hours to support the family after the divorce instilled a strong work ethic in her children. Knowing what it meant to put passions on hold for stability, she always encouraged Kenton to pursue performing.

Kenton got a taste of performing in his adult life in 2006 performing as "Marcellus Wallace minus that one scene" in ComedySportz's Pop Fiction, It was Kenton's first experience in a multi-performance show since graduating King William High School in 2003. Amazingly, his world was about to change on many levels. Kenton started a corporate job the same week of his performances. The 3rd show that week, while back stage waiting to go on for the Marcellus by the poolside scene in which his scene partner was to lick whip cream from his bald head, he received a call that his paternal grandmother had past. The tragedy of it and bereaving almost cost him the newly acquired job. In search of stability and income, he filed into the cubicle farm to don the headset and use his voice to service customers for a credit card company.

Take a large, made for the stage personality and shove it in a cubicle. Physics dictates that it will either implode or explode. His large personality and resonant voice helped him find his way to leading training classes across varies subjects over the years. Further into the corporate world, he practiced his tonality to moderate meetings across business units.

Fast forward to 2020, a chance opportunity to participate in a career development class places him in front of a counselor. When asked what he wanted to do, all Kenton could say was "I was meant for the stage!" At the time, this was used in the corporate sense to encourage him to pursue leading more classes and addressing larger audiences. Then, the counselor planted another seed: that Kenton could go into to business using his voice to truly let his passion become his provision.

Like bamboo, it took that seed a few years to take root, and in January 2023, God moved when Kenton said he was ready. While talking to a few friends after the morning  work out, Kenton said "you know, I'm going to get serious about acting. I've been toying with it for a while, but now it's time to get serious." As the last few words left his mouth, his watch vibrated with a message notification. It was his childhood friend's mother, "Hey, I'm in a show with a role that is perfect for you. Are you available later this month?"

When God speaks, Kenton listens. He proclaims it to his friends that there it is! Let's go! That text message lead to doing 18 shows with the Voice of Scog Productions performing live original theater shows for dinner guests at Maggiano's. These shows lead to joining the Virginia Production Alliance where he was introduced to the 48 Hour Film Project in Richmond. Want to be in a movie? Go make one!

He formed a team with friends from the show, church and  and other filmmakers he met through the Richmond Film Network. They became Team Holly Cherry, a combination of his two favorite Neil Diamond songs which doubled as a metaphor represented by the cherries on holly bushes: beauty among spikes. Together they made Counterfeit to compete with the Spy Genre. His first on-screen effort made it to the Best of screening where the team won for Best Original Music. Kenton caught the bug, and signed up to compete in the 48 Hour Horror Project with some members from his previous team. 

This next entry placed Kenton front and center in the protagonist role. The whole project walked away with 4 awards including Best Use of Character, Best Use of Line, Best Film 3rd Overall, and Best Actor - Kenton Patric. Kenton was also baptized the morning of the Best of Awards. The next day, he was laid off from his corporate job. When God speaks...