BATS Company member since: 2003
Website: http://www.johnkovacevich.com/
Facebook: John Kovacevich
Agent: JE Talent

John was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, and took his first improv class in Los Angeles in 1984. He moved to the Bay Area in 1997 and discovered BATS in 1999 when a friend took him to a Sunday Player show.

After taking the full series of classes at BATS and performing with the Sunday Players and the Belfry, he was a Company Guest in 2002 and was invited to join the BATS Company in 2003. He served as BATS' executive director from 2002 to 2007.

A member of the Screen Actor's Guild and AFTRA, John appeared with Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, and can be seen in the independent feature films Security and Charlie the Ox. You can also catch him in the occasional TV commercial.

You may also recognize him from your company's safety, sales, or sexual harassment training video, due to his many appearances in industrial films, earning him the unofficial title of "King of the Industrial."

He has performed with renowned improv troupe True Fiction Magazine, including performances at the Amsterdam International Improvisational Theatre Festival and in Helsinki, Finland.

John is a writer and performer with Killing My Lobster, one of San Francisco's favorite sketch comedy troupes. He has appeared in the KML shows Tales of a Lonley Planet, The Bruno's Island New Plays Festival, GOOOAL!!!, and KML Goes to the Polls and performed with KML at Upright Citizens Brigade in both New York and Los Angeles.

In 2006, he appeared in the Lobsters' first full-length play, Hunter Gatherers, which was named one of the top 10 theatre events of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle. It was also named the best new play of the year to premiere outside of New York City by the American Theatre Critics Association.

Other local theatre roles include Tony in Tony n' Tina's Wedding at the Cable Car Theatre (where he met his wife Jennifer), Paul in Moon Over Buffalo at California Conservatory Theatre, 106 Years of Comedy with Eastenders Rep at the Eureka Theatre, and How We First Met at the Velvet Lounge.

In addition to his performing credits, John is also the producer and director of an award-winning documentary short entitled Portrait of an Artist: Victor Hugo Zayas which debuted at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival and screened at festivals around the world. Additionally, he has "behind the scenes" production credits with NBC and Universal Pictures. (Which means he used to get people coffee on movie sets.)

When not on stage, John works as a writer at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a San Francisco advertising agency.

And to answer the most commonly asked question, it's pronounced "co-VACK-uh-vich".