KRISTOFFER TABORI

aka K.T. DONALDSON​

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From his screen debut as an actor when he was six years old to his current work as a director, Kristoffer Tabori has lived a life steeped in the world of television, film and theatre.  As a director he has won an Emmy and has been nominated for a DGA award. He is the recipient of The Theatre World Award, The LA Drama Critics Circle Award, the LA Weekly Award, and ten Drama-logue Awards.

 

The son of the celebrated film and theatre actress, Viveca Lindfors and director Don Siegel and stepson of prominent playwright George Tabori, Kristoffer embraced his calling early on.  By the age of 15, Kristoffer had appeared in seven leading roles, including starring in his Broadway debut, The Penny Wars, for which he was nominated by the New York Drama Critics as one of the most promising new actors on Broadway. That same year he was awarded a Theatre World Award for his performance off-Broadway in How Much, How Much and was signed by 20th Century Fox for a three picture deal.  Despite the fact Kristoffer now had a thriving career on both coasts, he hungered to study the classics. After playing a critically acclaimed Romeo, the young actor realized, “I had the passion but not the technique or skill to be the kind of actor I respected and dreamt of being.” This drive led him to an intense study of Shakespeare, both as an actor and director. His tenacity paid off. His Hamlet at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. was a tour de force. Richard Coe of the Washington Post wrote, “Tabori’s Hamlet is one of the finest I’ve seen, and I’ve seen scores of them.”  As his career as an actor progressed – Kristoffer starred in the NBC series, Chicago Story – his directing career emerged. His first major stage production, Romeo and Juliet for the Grove Shakespeare Festival, won him a Drama-logue award. Los Angeles Times theatre critic Dan Sullivan enthused, “Tabori knows how to tell a story.” A Drama-logue for his direction of The Two Gentlemen of Verona followed. He then directed Julie Harris in William Luce’s Currer Bell, Esq and, at the Matrix Theater in Hollywood, Inadmissible Evidence, starring Ian McShane, for which Kristoffer won both and L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award and a Drama-logue award.

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Kristoffer returned to acting, playing the lead in Simon Gray’s The Common Pursuit, in its New York run. Critic Howard Kissel of the Daily News wrote, “Kristoffer Tabori has an almost heartbreaking dignity…his is a deeply affecting performance.”

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Fulfilling a lifelong dream to work in England, Kristoffer accepted the leading role in the popular Thames TV series London Embassy, which was adapted by Paul Theroux from his book.

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Upon his return to the States, he was offered the opportunity to direct the film The Perfect Date, an ABC After School Special. Once again he garnered rave reviews. Variety wrote, “The Perfect Date, under Kristoffer Tabori’s direction… is so clever and the cast is so adept, it’s too bad that it is relegated to afternoon TV.” He won an Emmy for his direction.  With characteristic passion and the same high standards he had set for himself as an actor and theatre director, Kristoffer was determined to learn the craft and logistics of directing film. He immersed himself in television and in the past ten years has helmed over 53 episodes, including Providence, That’s Life, Judging Amy, Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, and Law and Order. He was also a producer/director on the series Push and was nominated for a Directors Guild Award for direction of Educating Mom for ABC. He made his film directing debut with the vampire thriller Dead Of Night. He directed the film Pursued starring Christian Slater, as well as the heralded A Noise Within production of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare in Los Angeles. Recently, he directed multiple episodes of the series Falcon Beach, Jpod, and The Guard. He directed the films Accidental Witness and Anna’s Storm for Lifetime, Fireball and High Plains Invaders for SyFy , and Goodnight For Justice: The Making Of A Man for Hallmark.  He’s just completed production on the Hallmark/E1 film Tom, Dick, & Harriet, and for GMC & E1 The Carpenter’s Miracle, and Jingle Bell Rock.