Bennie Woodell spent his childhood watching 80's action films like Rambo, Predator, Commando, Young Guns, and Terminator. His love for action cinema led him to Hong Kong cinema when his mom took him to see Rumble in the Bronx at the show. He now has over 1000 Hong Kong films in his collection and enjoys nothing more than to spend his evenings watching them.
Originally intent on becoming an actor, Bennie Woodell studied theater in High School. He first notion the idea of becoming a Director when he watched John Woo's The Killer and Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2006 with a BA Film/ Video Directing. His films are influenced by the works of Directors Wong Kar Wai, John Woo, Johnnie To, Chang Cheh, Robert Rodriguez, Andrew Lau, and Jackie Chan.
Bennie Woodell has Directed 9 Feature Films. His film The Sad Cafe won Best Dramatic Feature at the Action on Film Festival in 2011. He recently won Best Dramatic film for Love Meet Hope featuring Edward Asner (Pixar's Up, Elf, Mary Tyler Moore) . Je T'aime, Au Revoir Premiered at the Action on Film Festival where it won Best Dialogue, which features William McNamara (Copycat, Chasers). The Sad Cafe, Fast Zombies With Guns, and The Long December are available on DVD and Streaming.
His two latest features, the Study of Love and Into the Devils Reach are currently seeking distribution. The Study of Love made a lifelong dream of his come true and brought him to China to direct a portion of the film. He has also directed a 12 episode sitcom, Before Futureboy available now on iTunes, which was a Chinese co-production which brought him to China three times in 2019. He can't wait to go back.
But feeling somewhat unfulfilled in trying to make the films he's truly passionate about, in 2017 he decided to teach himself 3D animation to have full freedom in his art and has never been happier being able to wake up every day and do what he loves most, direct films. He's currently working on his first animated feature.
Bennie Woodell was raised in Antioch, IL and is the only son of Ben and Liz Woodell.
