John Kovacevich Joined Company: 2003 First Improv Class: 1984 in Los Angeles First BATS Class: 1999 Summer Session with Regina Saisi, Tim Ereneta and others BATS Coach: Since 2004 Other BATS Service: Managing Director, 2002-2004; Executive Director, 2004-2007 Web Site: www.JohnKovacevich.com Myspace.com: www.myspace.com/johnkovacevich Contact: company@improv.org 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 dragged him to a Sunday Player show.

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

A real live professional actor (with the SAG card to prove it), 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, San Francisco's favorite sketch comedy troupe. 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 lobster's first full length play, Hunter Gatherers, which was named one of the top 10 theatre events of 2006 by the San Francisco Chronicle.

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.)

And to answer the most commonly asked question, it's pronounced CO-VACK-UH-VICH.

Q&A With John Kovacevich

First BATS Show: First BATS show I saw was a Sunday Player show in 1999.

Favorite Formats: Theatresports, Spontaneous Broadway, Make-Your-Own Musical, long-form shows

Best Moment on the BATS Stage: One of my most memorable experiences on the BATS stage was during my performance workshop showcase-the first time performing Theatresports for an audience. Great fun! Best improv moments away from the BATS stage came from playing with True Fiction Magazine.

Improv Advice: Listen and know when to shut up.

Artistic Influences: Steve Martin (must have listened to those comedy albums a million times when I was a kid) Jimmy Stewart, and my teachers at film school at Loyola Marymount University. In improv: Rafe Chase and Diane Rachel.

Favorite Movies: Star Wars (the reason I went to film school), Raising Arizona, Lawrence of Arabia, Hearts of Darkness: A Film Makers Apocalypse, Rear Window, The Player, Shakespeare in Love

Favorite Music: Beatles, XTC, Ani DiFranco, the first Barenaked Ladies album, Frank Sinatra, anything with a little funk in it

Favorite Theatre: As a kid, my grandparents took me to see local productions of musicals and these are still some of my most vivid and exciting theatre memories: Anything Goes, Oklahoma, The Music Man, others. Some of the best musicals I've seen in recent years: Everything's Ducky at TheatreWorks in 2000, Urinetown, Avenue Q, and Putnam County Spelling Bee.