Jim O’Rear has been involved in the entertainment industry for over twenty five years, beginning his career on tour as The Youngest Professional Magician with David Copperfield, Harry Blackstone Jr., and The Great Tomsoni and opening for acts like Cheap Trick and John Anderson.

     With his “magical” background and having been trained in New York at The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, it was only natural that Jim move into the realm of film, television, and theatre where he has worked steadily as an actor, stuntman, and special make-up effects artist on such projects as Day Of The Dead, Star Trek 4, The Vampire Wars, Lethal Weapon 3, Creature Feature, Hayride Slaughter, Cop & ½, Psycho Beach Party, Evita, Little Shop Of Horrors, No Retreat No Surrender 3, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, Fall Of The House Of Usher, and many more with actors including Martin Sheen, Burt Reynolds, Mel Gibson, Amanda Plummer, Kevin Sorbo, Maximillian Schell, Robert Englund, Jon Voight, John Billingsley, Chris Sarandon, and others.

     Wanting to get some of his own ideas onto the screen, Jim successfully moved into the area of screenwriting.  Although competition is tough, he has written and sold a number of horror-related screenplays, including The House Of Pain (in development with Robert “Freddy” Englund, Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen, Tom “Friday The 13th” Savini, Bill “ChopTop” Moseley, and Debbie “Scream Queen” Rochon), Hayride Slaughter, Hayride Slaughter 2, The Deadly Obligation, Vampyre Tales, Wolfsbayne, The Deepening, and (currently playing on cable) Scream Farm.  Jim also placed third for Best Screenplay in TSA’s screenwriting competition and was a finalist in the Fade In Screenplay contest and Writer’s Network competition.

     Jim’s horror writing has not stopped there.  He has also contributed many articles to national publications, such as Scary Monsters Magazine, Scars Magazine, Haunted Attraction Magazine, Comics Interview, and Underground Entertainment, and has been recognized in Fangoria Magazine, Alternative Cinema, Fright Times, and Femme Fatale Magazine.  Jim was also “immortalized” as a comic book character opposite Thor in an issue of MARVEL Comic’s “What The…?”  and has appeared as himself (along with Ken Foree, Tom Savini, Debbie Rochon, Brinke Stevens, James Gunn, and more) in the fictional horror novel, BAD MOON RISING… the third installment of Jonathan Mayberry’s GHOST ROAD BLUES trilogy…. and in ZOMBIE: CSU.  In addition, Jim has written a paranormal book about real hauntings in Tennessee for Schiffer Publishing titled TENNESSEE GHOSTS and has recently released his follow-up titled HOLLYWOOD’S PARANORMAL FILMS.

     Currently, Jim continues to work as an actor and stuntman on several films per year, recently cast opposite Andrew “Wishmaster” Divoff (Lost, Airforce One), Tom Savini (Grindhouse, From Dusk Til Dawn), and Jason Carter (Babylon 5, Angel) in The Dead Matter, playing Kane Hodder’s (Hatchet, Friday The 13th) brother in Old Habits Die Hard, acting opposite Linnea Quigley (Return Of The Living Dead) and Monique Dupree in Post Mortem America, appearing with Ari Lehman (Friday The 13th), Daniel Taylor (Return Of The Swamp Thing), John Dugan (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and Playmate Alex Del Monnaco in Hell-ephone, portraying an alien bounty hunter in It Came From Trafalgar, with Reggie Bannister (Phantasm), Butch Patrick (The Munsters), Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Gunnar Hansen (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), appearing with Tiffany Shepis, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal, and John Dugan in Shudder, and is in development deals for three more of his screenplays.  As if that isn’t enough, Jim continues to write for horror publications all over the world, consult for horror-related projects internationally, and is the founder of Celebrity Ghost Hunters.

     More info can be found at:  www.JimORear.com