Chair, Assistant Professor-Digital Filmmaking
MILES DOLEAC, PhD, is a director, actor, writer, and producer in television, theatre, and film, a singer/songwriter, and a historian. As a filmmaker, Miles has written, produced, and directed seven feature films to date: The Historian (2014), The Hollow (2016), Demons (2017), Hallowed Ground (2019), The Dinner Party (2020), Demigod (2021), and the forthcoming Open (2023). He has also produced and directed short films, music videos, commercials, and appeared in numerous films and television shows as an actor. He’s co-produced feature films, Mindreader (2022) and The Devil’s Workshop (2022). Miles’ feature-length directorial debut, The Historian, won Best First Feature, Best Actor (William Sadler), and Best Supporting Actor (John Cullum) at the 2014 Long Island International Film Expo. Miles’ second feature, The Hollow, a southern noir murder thriller, starred James Callis, Christiane Seidel, William Sadler, David Warshofsky, Jeff Fahey, and William Forsythe. Miles won a Best Actor Award at the 2016 Long Island International Film Expo for his performance in the film. The film won Best Narrative Feature at the Sun and Sand Film Festival. Miles’ third feature, Demons, won Best Narrative Feature awards at both Rails to Reels and Fear Fete Film Festivals. Miles won a Best Director Award at the New York Film Awards for 2020’s The Dinner Party. As an actor, credits include TV: American Horror Story: Freak Show (FX), Astronaut Wives Club (ABC), Banshee (Cinemax), Breakout Kings (A & E), Claws (TNT), Complications (USA), Game of Silence (NBC), Halt and Catch Fire (AMC), Legacies (CW), Lovecraft Country (HBO), Miami Magma (SyFy), Mike (Hulu), Mississippi River Sharks (SyFy), NCIS: New Orleans (CBS), Roots (History Channel), Salem (WGN), Santa Jaws (SyFy), Sleepy Hollow (Fox), Storm War (SyFy), Treme (HBO), Underground (WGN), Valor (CW), Watchmen (HBO). Film: Renfield (with Nicolas Cage), The Family Plan (with Mark Wahlberg), Big George Foreman (with Forest Whitaker), The Magnificent Seven (with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt), Vacation (with Chris Hemsworth, Ed Helms, and Christina Applegate), Vanquish (with Morgan Freeman and Ruby Rose), Off Ramp: Juggalo Road, Don’t Kill It and Shark Lake (both with Dolph Lundgren), Cat Run 2, Bad Ass 3 (with Danny Trejo and Danny Glover), See Girl Run (with Adam Scott and Robin Tunney), Jake’s Road (with Eric Roberts), Mighty Fine (with Chazz Palminteri and Andie McDowell), Sequence, The Livingston Gardener, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Miles appeared in the recurring role of “Captain Lee Scott” on the CW’s (and Julie Plec’s) Containment. He was a guest vocalist on Megadeth’s Grammy-winning Dystopia album (on “Conquer or Die”) and has written a number of original songs (along with composer/collaborator, Clifton Hyde) for his films.
In the world of theatre, Miles co-founded New York’s Southern Playwright’s Theatre Project in New York and starred in their off-off Broadway production of Horton Foote’s 1918 and produced and starred in an acclaimed production of Julius Caesar at Los Angeles’ Lillian Theatre. Miles has directed theatrical productions of Into the Woods, Cabaret, The Wizard of Oz, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Evita, The Rocky Horror Show, and Oliver! As an actor, he has appeared in productions of Les Miserables (as “Valjean”), Jesus Christ Superstar (as “Judas” and “Jesus” on alternating nights), Cabaret (as “The Emcee”), Camelot (as “Arthur”), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (as “Hedwig”), “Macbeth” in Macbeth, “Sheldrake” in White Christmas, “Captain Walker” in Tommy, “Sam” in Mamma Mia, “Bill Sykes” in Oliver! among others. Miles also served as Executive Director of the Hattiesburg, MS-based, FestivalSouth Film Expo from 2015-2019. He is a member of SAG, Equity, DGA and WGA. He holds a BFA in Drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, an MA in History from the University of Southern Mississippi and a PhD in Ancient History from Tulane University. He has studied the history of antiquity all over the world, including at the American Academy in Rome, the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and the Goethe Institute in Munich, Germany. Miles’ book on Alexander the Great, In the Footsteps of Alexander: The King Who Conquered the Ancient World, is currently available at retail outlets such as Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble. His films are available on numerous streaming platforms and in retail outlets such as Amazon, iTunes, Tubi and Wal-Mart on DVD and/or Blu Ray.
