Vivian Schilling - Biography

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Kansas, Vivian Schilling attended the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in Los Angeles and also studied under the legendary Stella Adler before embarking upon a dual career as a screenwriter and film actress. Working both in front and behind the cameras in television and motion pictures, she found herself writing and starring in her own films at the age of twenty-three.

With her first feature, the low-budget cult-classic Soultaker, she became known for her original ideas and deft hand with complex supernatural subjects. "A very intriguing premise distinguishes the thriller Soultaker. Young star-scripter Vivian Schilling earns high marks for this effort … her innovation for horror/fantasy fans creating a new myth about potential afterlife," said Larry Cohn of Variety. In spite of its limited budget, the film earned Schilling the Saturn Award alongside that year's Silence of the Lambs and Terminator 2.

Schilling went on to star in seven films, among them, Germans, a World War II drama based on the renowned stage play by Leon Kruzchowski, directed by Academy Award Nominee, Zbigniew Kaminski. Her role as a gunslinger in the western, Savage Land, garnered her the Diamond Dove and the Blockbuster Rising Star Award.

Schilling's love of storytelling led to a five year departure from the film business in which she turned to the literary world. "For the first time ever I could control elements of the story that were impossible on film," she told Mystery Scene Magazine in an interview. "There were no budget limits or worries about dwindling light, no schedules, or screaming assistant directors. I was suddenly in control of what my readers saw and heard and smelt….I became consumed with the possibilities and soon found myself caught up in the life of my story like never before. The film continued in my head but with it came a deeper dimension of sight, sound and sensation." Schilling's first novel, Sacred Prey (St. Martin's Press, 1996), was released to favorable reviews and earned the Golden Scroll for Outstanding Achievement in Literature. "Highly respectable writing," touted the Chicago Sun-Times. "Schilling shows deft storytelling ability," said Publisher's Weekly. Schilling's second effort is the epic novel of suspense, Quietus, which was released in 2002 by Hannover House.

Though diligently at work on her next novel, Schilling once again maintains a presence in Hollywood. Her latest screenplay, Rumpelstiltskin, was recently optioned and is slated for production as a major motion picture.

Schilling divides her time between Los Angeles and Fayetteville, Arkansas.