John is an award winning Actor/Director/Producer/Fight Choreographer and Theatre Educator. John is a two time Carbonell Nominee for Best Lead Actor, most recently for the one man tour de force Fully Committed at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA, and has portrayed numerous roles on stage and Screen, including two season in the recurring role of Sol Drucker on TV’s Magic City (STARZ). A complete list of screen credits maybe found at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1544416/ or at https://www.johnmanzelli.com/

Before coming to ASFA, John proudly served as an Associate Professor of Theatre at Barry University-Miami (2008-2018) where he had the honor of directing a production of Still Life with Academy Award winner Alex Dinelaris, Grammy legend Gloria Estefan, and Academy Award Nominee Danny Aeillo. From 2011-2016 John served as Producing Artistic Director for City Theater-Miami, best known for Summer Shorts: America’s Short Play Festival at the state of the art Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Some of his many directing highlights include: Standing On Ceremony: (starring Emmy winners Bryan Batt and Bruce Vilanch), The Birds (Mosaic Theatre), No Exit (The Naked Stage) and the original musical cabaret Dirty Little Secrets, starring Emmy Winner Jai Rodriguez (City Theatre). Prior to joining City, John served as Associate Artistic Director of the award-winning Naked Stage Company (which he co-founded).