Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/11/2012 -- Celeste Thorson’s new sitcom web series “YOGAPHILES” made it’s worldwide debut August 2012. The first season gets up close and personal with a quirky class of L.A. students that take life, love and yoga a little too seriously. Writer, producer and director, Celeste Thorson created YOGAPHILES to promote yoga and a multi-ethnic ensemble cast, through comedy. YOGAPHILES explores pop culture, health, fitness, LGBT, ethnicity, sex and love.
“I feel like most people who do yoga have a great sense of humor and appreciation for life.” said director Celeste Thorson. “I’m so inspired by the physicality of yoga, it’s fun to showcase it in a sitcom through the eyes of these eccentric characters.”
YOGAPHILES follows a group of regular students that flock to studio in Los Angeles for a weekly beginner class. Their opinions and personalities clash, especially when guest stars are thrown into the mix. Episode one of Yogaphiles can be viewed at http://goo.gl/1kAYH
Mo played by actor Mario Locke (Dirt, The Adventures of Roman and Jorge), is an athletic ladies man who attends class to pick up chicks and hits on everyone except his buddy’s girlfriend Tara played by Katherine Adams (The Kitchen, Shark Pool). Tara is a cute college student who drags her boyfriend Nick to class, performed by Zach Book (The Wire, America’s Most Wanted), to spice up their love lives, Nick doesn’t mind because he has a major foot fetish. John R. Colley performs as Felix, a gay, music loving, vegan activist who has a catty friendship with Priyanka played by Hayden Shinger (Outsourced, Kill Joy), a South East Asian veterinarian who struggles with her career and overbearing family. At first, the class is taught by Zoe (Ripley Rader), but when she goes on tour, the free spirited yogini Shaye (Dashama Gordon) steps in to take over class.
The series culminates in a heart-warming season finale with a guest appearance by Celeste Thorson (How I Met Your Mother, Jimmy Kimmel Live) as hypnotist and Dr. Sophia Grant. The seven episodes of season one also feature guest stars: Andrea Carlise Rodriguez (Minute to Win It, Super Dave’s Spike Tacular), Stephanie Maura Sanchez (Revenge, Curb Your Enthusiasm), Celeste Thorson (How I Met Your Mother, Jimmy Kimmel Live), Jamie Tisdale (House M.D., Heroes), Elizabeth Pan (Numb3rs, All My Children), Stefanie Barboza (Vile, Home Business), Caroline O'Neil (Single Ladies, Harry’s Law), Maliaka Butoyi (The Doctors), Evie Ryland (The Dog Whisperer, GCB), Shali Mals (Potluck, Anatomy Is Destiny), Erik Troyer Skoog (28 Hours Later: The Zombie Movie), Jeanette Schwaba (Murphy Brown, Crime Story), Vernon Courteaux (Got Home Alive, The Last Favor), Ashley Undercuffler (Immigration Tango, The Empty) and Shenelle Micole Eaton.
Thorson focused on casting more than one ethnicity for YOGAPHILES and featured actors from Asian, African American and Hispanic descent.
Season one of YOGAPHILES highlights the talents of world-renowned yoga expert Dashama Gordon, author of Journey to Joyful, founder of the Pranashama Yoga Institute and performer in over 150 yoga video tutorials for millions of viewers worldwide. Yoga teacher and accomplished actress Jamie Tisdale showcases some of her advanced poses as the guest star of episode three by portraying Eve, a flight attendant. After filming YOGAPHILES as Kalea, a teacher in training, actress Malaika Butoyi went on to train professionally in real life and is now an up and coming yoga teacher in Los Angeles.
The season also features wall art by artists Jakob Bukolich, Celeste Thorson, Evie Ryland and sculpture by Lisa Fandey. Handmade jewelry by Ingrid Arriaga is featured along with hand knit accessories by local designer Terra Stuart.
When asked about the filming process Celeste Thorson stated, "The whole cast and crew is so talented and the DP Carlos M. Jimenez and steadicam op Justin Garcia are just awesome. We’re fortunate to be able to collaborate with such a great creative group of artists."
About Yogaphiles:
YOGAPHILES is an independent comedy web series created by Celeste Thorson about a quirky class of L.A. students that take life, love and yoga a little too seriously. YOGAPHILES explores pop culture, health, fitness, gay and lesbian lifestyles, ethnicity, sex and love.
The first season is available online at:
YOGAPHILES.COM
Facebook.com/Yogaphilestv
Twitter.com/Yogaphiles
Youtube.com/Yogaphiles
openfilm.com/channels/Yogaphiles
blip.tv/gammanova/
About Celeste Thorson:
Celeste Thorson is a filmmaker with comedic appearances on How I Met Your Mother, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Exes. As a young female screenwriter Thorson has penned 24 episodes of television, several short films and 7 webisodes of Yogaphiles thus far. As the adventurous host of a travel series that airs in over 65 countries worldwide, she raced sports cars, flew fighter jets and skydived in exotic locations. She’s appeared on billboards and magazines as a cover girl and international award-winning model. Celeste is a fusion of several races, Korean, Scotch-Irish, Spanish, Lebanese and Apache Native American. Thorson is a passionate activist for causes like human rights and environmental conservation. She often connects with fans and shares updates about her career and causes on social networks.
CELESTETHORSON.COM
Facebook.com/officialcelestethorson
Twitter.com/celestethorson
Youtube.com/celestialstorms
Imdb.me/celestethorson
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