Jeff Coatney

• Date of Birth:

  16 October 1966 Middlesboro, Kentucky, USA

• Height:

  6' (1.83 m)

Jeff Coatney was born in a meteor crater in Middlesboro, Kentucky on October 16, 1966. A mix of Russian, Ukranian, German and Native American (Cherokee) ancestry, the family name used to be Kotnj, but was changed to Coatney early in the nineteenth century. Showing an interest in, and an aptitude for art, Jeff spent his early years drawing and painting. When he was 9 years old, his parents allowed him to apprentice with a group of elderly painters for a year. Besides Jeff, the youngest person in the group... more

Jeff Coatney was born in a meteor crater in Middlesboro, Kentucky on October 16, 1966. A mix of Russian, Ukranian, German and Native American (Cherokee) ancestry, the family name used to be Kotnj, but was changed to Coatney early in the nineteenth century. Showing an interest in, and an aptitude for art, Jeff spent his early years drawing and painting. When he was 9 years old, his parents allowed him to apprentice with a group of elderly painters for a year. Besides Jeff, the youngest person in the group was fifty. Jeff would continue his art studies, with private lessons and apprenticeships (most notably to acclaimed Equestrian painter Robert Cloyd) learning to paint like the masters. He would go on to study painting and art history in Europe, focusing on Spanish Impressionism, at The Prado in Madrid.While in high school, Jeff fell in love with acting and the theatre, while performing the role of Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. He would go on to act in plays and student films in college, some of which he directed. This led to his first professional breakthrough, winning Male Talent of the Year at the International Modeling and Talent Association competition in New York City (1987). Agents, Screen tests and prize money were all offered, but a desire to finish college won out.After seeing the film, Star Wars in 1978, (the small town cinema did not get first run movies) Jeff decided he really liked movies and would pursue filmmaking as a career. Inspired by Planet of the Apes, 2001 and movies about Bigfoot, the young future auteur ignored the fact that the only film in Appalachian coal country is the kind that forms on one's tongue in the morning and in spite of it, dreamed of the big time.After college, Jeff attempted to enter the Florida film industry by moving to Orlando. He discovered that it was easier to enter the Pentagon, Los Alamos national laboratory, organized crime and the CIA, than it was to penetrate the ranks of the Florida film community. But that's another story. After spending seven years in Orlando, working on many fun and cool projects as a designer in consumer products, defense and theme parks, Jeff finally made the move to Los Angeles.The little boy who used to pretend that the giant Coal trucks that would thunder down the street in front his house were Imperial Star Destroyers, shaking the dishes out of the cabinets in the kitchen, was finally going to be a resident of Hollywood, USA. He's finally in L.A., married, and making his own movies (yes, the ones his Mom can watch) and acting and writing. And someday he'll have the highest Star Ranking of anyone, ever!