Thia Schuessler
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Cynthia 'Thia' Lynn Schuessler is an American actor. She was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. She is the daughter of Cynthia 'Cindy' Louise Schuessler (Latina) and Jay Dahnke Schuessler. While neither of her parents come from the entertainment industry, her sister, Sarah Faye Schuessler, holds an MFA in Costume Design from UCLA and has designed for film, television, theatre, and opera.
As a child, Thia enjoyed singing in musical productions in her community and attending drama camp at the local community college. After watching Thia's performance in her eighth grade production of 'Annie', a member of the St. Louis Muny Theatre suggested to her parents that she pursue acting professionally. Instead of heeding his advice, Thia dove into sports, performing occasionally in high school theatre productions. In her sophomore year, however, she gave up her spot on the St. Louis Volleyball Club team to focus on her first dramatic acting role. She was honored two consecutive years by the Illinois High School Association for her dramatic performances, making the coveted All-State Cast. With validation from these awards, her newfound goal was to move out to 'Hollywood' to make a career out of acting.
Thia decided to finish high school a year early and move to Los Angeles in 2005. Thanks to her perfect GPA and her number one rank in a class of over 500 students, she was accepted into the one college to which she applied: the University of Southern California. She spent the next four years working hard in the Thematic Option honors program and training in the theatre school. She also took several classes in film production at the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts (directing, editing, cinematography, etc.). Her love of the French language took her to Paris to study French and Art History for one semester. In May 2009, she graduated magna cum laude from the USC School of Dramatic Arts.
In Summer 2014, she co-starred in the two-person musical comedy 'Rapture', which had its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. After their initial run, it was nominated for the Encore Producers' Award, inviting the show back for additional performances in what is colloquially known as Best of Fringe.
In 2013, Thia ventured into the producing world, co-writing and directing the short film 'Housesitter', which premiered in 2014 at the Academy Award-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival, where she and her filmmaking partner, Rex New, were nominated for the Filmmakers to Watch jury prize. They credited 'Shy Ruby Productions' on this inaugural project, but they made it official in 2015, co-founding Shy Ruby, LLC. Their subsequent films have earned festival awards including Best Film ('The Wedding Song') and Best Performances (Al Rahn and Thia Schuessler, 'Lit') plus nominations for Talented New Filmmakers (Rex New and Thia Schuessler) and Best Lead Actress (Thia Schuessler, 'The Wedding Song'). Thia has been credited on Shy Ruby projects as an actor, writer, director, producer, and editor.
As a child, Thia enjoyed singing in musical productions in her community and attending drama camp at the local community college. After watching Thia's performance in her eighth grade production of 'Annie', a member of the St. Louis Muny Theatre suggested to her parents that she pursue acting professionally. Instead of heeding his advice, Thia dove into sports, performing occasionally in high school theatre productions. In her sophomore year, however, she gave up her spot on the St. Louis Volleyball Club team to focus on her first dramatic acting role. She was honored two consecutive years by the Illinois High School Association for her dramatic performances, making the coveted All-State Cast. With validation from these awards, her newfound goal was to move out to 'Hollywood' to make a career out of acting.
Thia decided to finish high school a year early and move to Los Angeles in 2005. Thanks to her perfect GPA and her number one rank in a class of over 500 students, she was accepted into the one college to which she applied: the University of Southern California. She spent the next four years working hard in the Thematic Option honors program and training in the theatre school. She also took several classes in film production at the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts (directing, editing, cinematography, etc.). Her love of the French language took her to Paris to study French and Art History for one semester. In May 2009, she graduated magna cum laude from the USC School of Dramatic Arts.
In Summer 2014, she co-starred in the two-person musical comedy 'Rapture', which had its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. After their initial run, it was nominated for the Encore Producers' Award, inviting the show back for additional performances in what is colloquially known as Best of Fringe.
In 2013, Thia ventured into the producing world, co-writing and directing the short film 'Housesitter', which premiered in 2014 at the Academy Award-qualifying Atlanta Film Festival, where she and her filmmaking partner, Rex New, were nominated for the Filmmakers to Watch jury prize. They credited 'Shy Ruby Productions' on this inaugural project, but they made it official in 2015, co-founding Shy Ruby, LLC. Their subsequent films have earned festival awards including Best Film ('The Wedding Song') and Best Performances (Al Rahn and Thia Schuessler, 'Lit') plus nominations for Talented New Filmmakers (Rex New and Thia Schuessler) and Best Lead Actress (Thia Schuessler, 'The Wedding Song'). Thia has been credited on Shy Ruby projects as an actor, writer, director, producer, and editor.
