Carl Albert Crew (born August 2, 1961) is an American actor,
screenwriter, author, artist and co-proprietor of the North Hollywood
nightclub California Institute of Abnormalarts.Raised in a repertory
theatre troupe, Crew spent much of his young life acting and traveling
the country in numerous stage productions until the age of 18, when he
became an apprentice embalmer for a Marin County mortuary, an
occupation he held for four years before deciding to further pursue a
career in acting. Crew landed his first major role in the 1987 cult
horror comedy Blood Diner, where Crew played the co-leading role of
homicidal chef and wrestling enthusiast George Tutman, for which he
was allegedly only paid $250. In 1990, Crew wrote and starred in a
low-budget gross out comedy aptly titled Gross Out, a Pink
Flamingos-esque shock film following a group of siblings attempting to
make the most disgusting movie possible to win an inheritance. Despite
its excess of scatological humor, The Los Angeles Times offered a
positive review of Gross Out, describing it as "funny in a scabrous,
admittedly juvenile way" and "thunderingly, gleefully tasteless...a
natural for midnight venues".In 1992, Crew wrote the screenplay and
starred as the title subject in Jeffrey Dahmer: The Secret Life, a
biopic based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Shot a mere year after
Dahmer's arrest, the film received intensely negative press from both
the media and the families of Dahmer's victims, who staged open
protests against the film. Crew and director David Bowen appeared on
several talk shows including The Maury Povich Show and WISN-TV's
Milwaukee's Talking with family members of the victims, defending the
movie against their claims of glorifying and exploiting Dahmer's
actions. Although The Secret Life was dismally received upon release,
it has more recently been positively re-appraised by cult and horror
publications; similarly, the Los Angeles Times, in reviewing 2002's
Dahmer, compared it unfavorably to The Secret Life, praising the
latter's depiction of and Crew's performance of Jeffrey Dahmer, while
CraveOnline called the film "fascinating" and "truly compelling".Crew
wrote, produced and starred in multiple roles in the 1994 horror
anthology film Urban Legends, directed by Bill Osco, which would
ultimately be his last major film contribution. Since then, Crew's
acting work has been sporadic, almost exclusively appearing in films
by prolific underground filmmaker Chris J. Miller including 2008's
Polyphony 2011's Ironhorse 2013's 2035: Forbidden Dimensions and
2016's Mortuary Massacre.
screenwriter, author, artist and co-proprietor of the North Hollywood
nightclub California Institute of Abnormalarts.Raised in a repertory
theatre troupe, Crew spent much of his young life acting and traveling
the country in numerous stage productions until the age of 18, when he
became an apprentice embalmer for a Marin County mortuary, an
occupation he held for four years before deciding to further pursue a
career in acting. Crew landed his first major role in the 1987 cult
horror comedy Blood Diner, where Crew played the co-leading role of
homicidal chef and wrestling enthusiast George Tutman, for which he
was allegedly only paid $250. In 1990, Crew wrote and starred in a
low-budget gross out comedy aptly titled Gross Out, a Pink
Flamingos-esque shock film following a group of siblings attempting to
make the most disgusting movie possible to win an inheritance. Despite
its excess of scatological humor, The Los Angeles Times offered a
positive review of Gross Out, describing it as "funny in a scabrous,
admittedly juvenile way" and "thunderingly, gleefully tasteless...a
natural for midnight venues".In 1992, Crew wrote the screenplay and
starred as the title subject in Jeffrey Dahmer: The Secret Life, a
biopic based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Shot a mere year after
Dahmer's arrest, the film received intensely negative press from both
the media and the families of Dahmer's victims, who staged open
protests against the film. Crew and director David Bowen appeared on
several talk shows including The Maury Povich Show and WISN-TV's
Milwaukee's Talking with family members of the victims, defending the
movie against their claims of glorifying and exploiting Dahmer's
actions. Although The Secret Life was dismally received upon release,
it has more recently been positively re-appraised by cult and horror
publications; similarly, the Los Angeles Times, in reviewing 2002's
Dahmer, compared it unfavorably to The Secret Life, praising the
latter's depiction of and Crew's performance of Jeffrey Dahmer, while
CraveOnline called the film "fascinating" and "truly compelling".Crew
wrote, produced and starred in multiple roles in the 1994 horror
anthology film Urban Legends, directed by Bill Osco, which would
ultimately be his last major film contribution. Since then, Crew's
acting work has been sporadic, almost exclusively appearing in films
by prolific underground filmmaker Chris J. Miller including 2008's
Polyphony 2011's Ironhorse 2013's 2035: Forbidden Dimensions and
2016's Mortuary Massacre.
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