Geoffrey J.D. Payne

Geoffrey JD Payne was born in Warwick New York and later raised in the artistic seaside community of Rockport, Massachusetts. Growing up with a powerful imagination, Payne discovered his passion to become an actor at a very early age after being inspired by the movie 'Back to the Future'. At the age of 16, Payne attended a workshop in upstate NY to begin his training. There, he was scouted by Lanny Mitchell who went on to mentor him for 3 years in musical theater. At age 19, Payne was encouraged to branch out into New York City. After receiving a scholarship, he attended the Weist Barron School for TV & Film where he studied with television producer, director and writer Michael Laibson. In 2006, Payne began his immersive training at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Upon graduation in 2008, Geoffrey appeared in several Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater productions. Some credits include; "Choose Your Grown Adventure", "This is Our Youth," "Books On Tape," and "Humans Anonymous". At that time, Geoffrey co-founded The Altruistic Theater Company. Since 2016, Payne has acted in both TV and film, including CBS "Bull" and a short film written by the Oscar winning writer Nicolas Giacobone and director Miguel J. Soliman entitled "Desde El Principio" ("Birdman or The unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" & "The Revenant"). Other film credits include "The Wolf on Wall Street" and "Across The Universe". Most recently, Geoffrey has been focusing his efforts on his current work entitled "Headway". "Headway" is a psychological horror that encourages the audience to challenge their views of mental illness, explore their own fears, and expand their understanding of mental health stigma. Geoffrey's goal in writing, acting in, and producing this work is to share part of his own journey with the audience while giving back and bringing awareness to the struggle associated with mental health concerns.