I Win Hoffy's Heart Productions Newest Feature Film
Grieving teen, Jax Donovan, is forced to move away from the only life he’s ever known to attend a new school in the middle of his senior year. After getting into an altercation with Ivan, the school bully, Jax is given the opportunity to do community service hours in lieu of being suspended. During his community service, he meets Charlie, a young man with Down Syndrome. He also befriends Bailey (the teen girl he protected from Ivan) and Juliette, a teen girl with down syndrome. The four of them forge a friendship that teaches them all about life, love and forgiveness. However, their newfound happiness is threatened by Ivan, Bailey’s violent ex-boyfriend.
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The Brand New Trailer for I Win
Actors in I Win
Austin Lampe
Character
Austin plays Jackson “Jax” Donovan a senior in high school who just lost his dad. He played football up until his father passed and no longer wants to play. He is grieving and very angry that he has to leave the only home he has ever known and start all over at a new school. Although his grief is deep, he still cares about people and quickly jumps in when he sees a girl being abused by her boyfriend. Jax learns to appreciate life again through his unexpected friendship with a young man named Charlie.
Bio
Austin has been acting since 2018, studying first under Meisner before branching out and falling in love with different approaches such as Adler, Guskin, Uta Hagen, and more. When not acting you can catch him taking care of his fruit trees or at an Orlando Magic game, in which heis a die hard fan.
Nate Simon
Character
Nate plays Charlie Burke, an extremely kind and fun – loving junior in high school. He meets Jax Donovan and teaches him about friendship, while showing him how to enjoy life again.
Bio
Nate is the proud owner of 21Pineapples. A shirt company that is changing the way others perceive those with Down syndrome one shirt at a time! Nate is a gold medalist in many sports, he’s a brother and amazing friend and preaches love wherever he goes. Nate is an actor, model, radio personality and has been on TV hundreds of times. Nate’s motto is “Be a good human.”
Sarah Malfara
Character
Sarah portrays Gloria Donovan . Gloria Is forced to move to a new suburban house with her son Jax after the death of her husband. She tries to be patient with her son through her own grief, but tires of his anger towards her. Gloria has to go back to work for the first time in over a decade, while having to adjust to her new life without her husband.
Bio
Sarah Malfara is an actor, dog lover and hugging enthusiast. She’s had the opportunity to lend her talents to various films, commercials and theatrical projects and has even been able to perform overseas. When she’s not acting, she’s hiking and geeking out over nature, reading scripts, cramming herself into an airplane to go somewhere cool or sneaking bites of candy. She’s honored to work alongside the incredible talent in this film and can’t wait for the film to be enjoyed and its message to inspire others as much as it has her!
Emi Curia
Character
Emi plays Bailey Jennings. Bailey ia a smart and strong teen, finds herself in an abusive relationship and has no idea how someone like her got there. Ever since childhood she has wanted to attend Columbia University, but was never expecting her life to turn out the way it did. Her new found friendship with Jax helps her see just how well she deserves to be treated.
Bio
Emi Curia is a budding actress based in North Carolina. At an early age, she found a love for storytelling and started in film after doing years of community theatre as a child. You can find her work in Netflix’s limited series Echoes or Aces, an LGBTQ+ short film with over 1 million views on YouTube, and much more. Beyond her on-screen accomplishments, Emi is a full-time college student pursuing a dual degree in Psychology (B.S.) and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (B.A.) with an ASL minor. She is committed to using her platform and career for advocacy and education, which is precisely why she is so passionate and grateful to be part of I Win. When she isn’t acting or studying, she can be found baking, reading, or spending time with her pets.
Kayla Kosmalski
Character
Kayla portrays Juliette Tanner. Juliette loves makeup and fashion. She is best friends with Bailey and develops a close relationship with Charlie. Juliette is strong and confident, knows what she wants out of life and doesn’t let anything stand in her way.
Bio
Kayla Kosmalski is an actor, model, disability advocate and high school senior. She is honored to have worked alongside an incredible cast and crew on the set of I Win in her acting debut. When she’s not acting or modeling she is taking honors classes while maintaining a 3.67 GPA. She is also a member of the National Honor Society, varsity cheerleader, and varsity swimmer. Kayla believes we all have the ability to create positive change and travels often to Washington, D.C. to lobby for disability rights. She has helped pass over ten laws, even having one named after her. Kayla hopes to inspire other young men and women living with a disability to set big goals and work hard to achieve them.
Ryan Paynter
Character
Ryan portrays Ivan Brewer. Ivan is a hot – headed teen who was kicked off the football team for selling and using steroids. He becomes increasingly more aggressive toward his girlfriend, Bailey. He doesn’t like who he is becoming, but cannot seem to stop himself.
Bio
Ryan Paynter has been acting since he was in elementary school when he auditioned for community theatre. He later transitioned into film and can be seen on Netflix in Stranger Things and Echoes as well as Hulu’s Dopesick. Look for his upcoming project Searchlight Picture’s The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat based on a best selling novel. His latest project, I Win, portrays Ryan as a person that is totally different from his actual personality. He loves the challenge of evolving into different characters to align with the vision of the writer/director. Stories like I Win need to be told and Ryan was honored to be a part of the team that brought this story to life.
Bronsonn “Booda” Taylor
Character
Bronsonn plays Principal Hawkins, who is loved and respected by the student body, but feels helpless with aggressive student, Ivan. He tries to help Jax when he gets into an altercation with Ivan and offers him community service hours in lieu of suspension.
Bio
Bronsonn “Booda” Taylor is a retired U.S. military veteran turned actor / stuntman, originally from Louisiana but raised primarily in Texas. Bronsonn is known by his family and close associates as Booda Bear (Boo the Bear), earning this moniker due to his tough exterior but gentle heart. Bronsonn considers himself a method actor due to the way he prepares for a role and how he embodies his character, which has earned Bronsonn high praise. Since beginning his acting career in the fall of 2019, Bronsonn has appeared in more than 60 television, film, theater, and commercial projects that can be seen on Lifetime, BET, Peacock, iON tv, UrbanFlix, Prime, and Tubi. During his military career Bronsonn served six combat tours of duty and is a certified expert on small arms; automatic weapons; weapons safety; close quarters combat (hand-to-hand); stage combat; military tactics and procedures and drama training. Bronsonn decided to attend theatrical stunt and fight training to hone the skills he learned in the military in order to apply them to acting.
Dana Anderwald
Character
Dana plays Cindy Burke, Charlie’s mother. Cindy is a kind and fun woman. She wants Charlie to have all of the opportunities in life, but certainly isn’t perfect. Just like all moms, she is learning and doing her best as she is raising her teenage son.
Bio
Growing up on the steps of Broadway, Dana has always appreciated the performance arts and even began her acting career in community theater. She has been an on-camera actor and lifestyle model for many years and was thrilled to be cast in I Win. When not on set, Dana volunteers with Hibiscus Children’s Center and is the PTA President for her sons’ school. Don’t let that fool you though… she knows how to let her hair down, too!
Marc Lucia
Character
Marc plays Tom Burke, Charlie’s father, Tom is a kind, loving man who really enjoys telling “dad jokes.” He loves his family and is fallible at times, but always wants what is best for everyone around him.
Bio
Marc Lucia is an awesome actor that is amazingly awesome. He’s super talented and was a cute lil baby that was always happy and now he’s grown up to be a happy and handsome man! (Bio submitted by Marc’s mother, not all information is accurate.)
Dina Najjar
Character
Dina portrays Caroline Donovan, a grieving sister and dedicated sister – in – law. She is kind and supportive and finds her sister-in-law, Gloria, a job within the company she works for.
Bio
Dina Najjar is an award-winning actor and filmmaker. She is a first-generation Palestinian American born on 8 Mile to immigrant parents. She speaks fluent Arabic, belly dances, and proudly represents her culture. Some of the roles she’s proudest of include: playing Maya, a Syrian refugee searching for her place in America, in the short film “Maya” which earned her the Best Actress Award at the 2018 University of Miami Canes Film Festival; recurring as alluring assassin Nadja Shah in season 2 of “The Family Business” on BET and Netflix; playing Dr. Dulce, a pediatric dentist who loves talking about teeth in Nickelodeon’s Noggin Knows; and portraying troubled, rideshare passenger, Raven, in the mumblecore film “The Christmas Ride” streaming on Prime Video for which she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2020 Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival. Upcoming roles include leading the feature film, “The Refugee”, hitting the film festival circuit in 2024. Film’s logline: While searching for the US Soldier who saved her life, Eva, a refugee from Iraq, discovers her own American dream. Her mission as an artist is to bring diversity without stereotypes to the screen and stage and to tell important stories that inspire, empower, and include while always leaving the viewer with a sense of hope. She strives to portray and write interesting and multifaceted female characters who overcome adversity and trauma while infusing it with humor. And most importantly, her goal is to give a voice to Palestinian and Arab stories that humanize them instead of capitalize on their trauma. You can follow Dina’s journey @createwithdina and her production company @filmsbytnproductions.
Jacoline Frank
Character
Jacoline plays Mrs. Alcott, an overbearing boss with high expectations of her staff. She watches over Gloria and Caroline and will not tolerate any funny business.
Bio
Jacoline Frank is a bilingual South African, and has been performing since the age of 3. Plays, Choir, Ballet, Piano, and choreographing her own shows. She did Community Theatre all through High School and went to get her tertiary education in Acting, earning her National Diploma in Drama from Technikon Pretoria. She was a professional actor in South Africa for 10 years where she did Educational-, Puppet-, Children’s- and Corporate Theatre. She did a national tour with ‘Grease The Musical’ and did commercials, ‘Liewe Heksie’ at Joburg Promusica, and also appeared in popular daytime soap, Binnelanders. She moved to the Cayman Islands in 2011, where she did a lot of commercials, theatre and films. She moved to the United States (Orlando, FL) in 2016, and has been in multiple Series, Infomercials, Commercials, Plays, Feature Films and Short Films. She also did a voice over for the Emmy Award winning ‘Studio Creative Group’. She taught acting in Hollywood, California in 2018, alongside multiple international actors. She also directed and produced a short film, where she played all 4 parts, and it was an Official Award Winner of the Spring 2019 Season, and won Awards of Merit for Acting, Producing, Directing, Sound Design and Visual FX at the Southern Shorts Festival. Currently, she is enjoying her first love-the stage-and is also busy writing her One Woman Show.
Brayden Noble
Character
Brayden portrays Billy, a teen who buys steroids from Ivan and tries to be his friend.
Bio
Brayden Noble is an American born actor who started his professional film career in late 2021 and is best known for portraying the roles of Tim in “Bellwood” (2022), Bud in “Tribute” (2023), Jacob Sunday in “Pulling Strings”, Jacob Hughs in “The Dark Room” (2023), and Billy in “I Win” (2023). Prior to film, Brayden participated in many stage plays and musicals, most notable for playing Sky Masterson in “Guys and Dolls”, Van Helsing in “Dracula”, Spot Conlon/Seitz in “Newsies” and various ensemble roles in shows like “The Wiz” and “Story Theatre”. Nominations include Best Lead actor in a Film (Jacob Hughs), Best Lead Actor (Sky Masterson) and Outstanding ensemble (Newsies Cast). Apart from acting, Brayden is a trained and professional singer, with his own singles and EP available on all streaming platforms.
