Bio

Keri Lurtz was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia. She attended college at Florida State University and Georgia State University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. In 1993, Keri embarked on a three-week hiking and climbing excursion in the Colorado Rockies. Becoming an avid rock climber, Keri moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1994 to climb, snowboard and explore the outdoors. In 1997, she took a 6-month journey through Patagonia, where she learned Spanish while hiking, hang gliding and snowboarding through Argentina and Chile. Keri has had a passion for martial arts films her entire life that ultimately led to her devotion and study of Taekwondo under the instruction of Grand Master Ki Sop Yoon. She now holds a first degree Black Belt and is certified through the World Taekwondo Federation in Korea. She has competed and won Gold Medals in both local tournaments and the Florida State Tournament.

Keri's lifelong dream of becoming an actor was realized in her first screen debut as the lead in Both Sides Now, a short film by Christopher Swank that was screened throughout the Boston area. In 2006, Keri graduated from the Palm Beach Film School. Her first film as a writer/director/editor, Unconditional, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. Subsequently, the Mini Movie Channel offered a five-year contract for the right to screen her film internationally. Keri was the lead actor in The Green Glass, a film she co-wrote and edited. In 2008, this film won the Audience Award at the Delray Beach Film Festival. It was also an official selection of the Sedona International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Tampa Film Festival and the First Take Film Festival. She has had several other films screen at various film festivals in the US.

Under the acting instruction of Bob Carter, founder of the Actor's Workshop and Repertory Company and former student of Lee Strasberg, Keri has performed at the Cuillo Theatre in West Palm Beach on numerous occasions from 2006-2008. She has appeared in over 20 films. In 2008, Keri starred in Wild Sunflowers, a feature production from Straightaway Movies that was cast in Los Angeles and filmed in Miami. In 2009 Keri starred as Mary Jane Hanrahan in the play Jesus Hopped the A Train that opened at the Kravis Centre in West Palm Beach under the direction of Bob Carter.

Keri's feature film Lost Angel,premiered in 2010. She wrote, directed, produced and starred in this production that won a BEST FEATURE FILM award at the Delray Beach Film Festival in April 2010. Keri also works in the industry as a writer, videographer and editor of independent films and corporate videos. She is currently working on her next two feature film scripts, a thriller and a heavy drama. Keri is married to extreme sports enthusiast Peter Lurtz. They live in West Palm Beach with their Great Danes, Maggie and Bella. When not working, Keri's interests include horseback riding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, fly-fishing and cycling.