PRODUCTION COMPANY

director, producer and partner of M3
e. sylvain@media3films.com

Son of an American professional basketball player and a French flight attendant, Sylvain White was born in the French costal city of Nantes. He spent his formative years in Paris, France. Sylvain first arrived in the United States in 1991 and completed his studies in Los Angeles, California in 1998. A dual citizen of France and the United States, Sylvain’s extraordinary and distinctive vision extends through the diversity of his work ranging from feature films and documentaries to music videos and commercials.

Sylvain scored notoriety for his recent feature film, “Stomp the Yard” which grossed the highest out of its box-office competitors in its January, 2007 opening weekend. His earlier short films, the 2002 HBO produced “Quiet” and 1999 “Urban Short Circuit Mind Scrape” landed him numerous awards at top-ranked film festivals around the world. Leveraging his success with the short film format, Sylvain went on to direct a spectrum of groundbreaking music videos and commercials in the US, Europe and Japan. The now LA-based director thrives off his extensive international experience and the unique perspective that it has shed on his work over the years.

In addition to his work in the entertainment industry, Sylvain is very active in supporting charitable organizations that focus on youth. His belief in the effectiveness of literacy programs has motivated his desire to give back to the community and the less fortunate by contributing his time and energy to programs such as “Read Across America,” and “Readers Make Leaders,” which empower children to aspire to achieving greatness through teaching them about the joys and value of reading.

Sylvain speaks fluent English, French and Spanish and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Pomona College where he double majored in media studies and film production, receiving the highest honors for his work.

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Boris Kodjoe, was born in Vienna, Austria, to Ursula Kodjoe, a psychologist from Germany, and Eric Kodjoe, a physician from Ghana, West Africa. He grew up in Germany with brother Patrick and sister Nadja, where he went to school and where his parents exposed him to athletics and the arts early in his life. He became one of the best Tennis players in the country and was amongst the top ten junior players in the world when a severe back injury cut his professional Tennis career short. In the fall of 1992 he decided to accept a Tennis scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

While studying in Richmond, he was approached by an agent of the Ford Modeling agency in New York, but went on to earn his marketing degree in May of 1996. In June he joined Ford in New York and his career skyrocketed immediately when he booked twelve campaigns such as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Yves Saint Laurent, the GAP, within the first seven months. He worked with photographers like Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts, Mathew Rolston, and Marco Glaviano for all the major publications, such as Vogue, GQ, and Esquire, making him one of the few recognizable faces amongst male Supermodels. Boris' impressive track record was awarded with a Supermodel Award at the Fall '98 fashion shows.

Hollywood soon took notice in Boris. While studying with acting coach Janet Alhanti, he started guest starring on such sitcoms as "Steve Harvey" and "For Your Love", and he was featured in the Spike Lee produced feature film "Love and Basketball", starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan.

Boris then was cast in the hit TV series ‘Soul Food’, a role for which he won three NAACP Award nominations. The series ran for 5 seasons and is to this day the most successful African-American TV drama in history, winning three consecutive NAACP awards.
Soon followed a starring role in FOX Searchlight’s feature ‘Brown Sugar’ alongside Taye Diggs, Sanna Lathan, and Queen Latifah. He then produced and starred, alongside Nicole Parker, in the Paramount/UPN pilot "Second Time Around". A project the couple developed with Paramount and writer/producer Ralph Farquar.
In 2001 Boris was named one of People Magazine’s ’50 most beautiful people’.

Boris continued to star in such films as Sony Screen Gem’s ‘The Gospel’ and Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea’s Family Reunion’. His new film ‘Clarksdale’ hits theatres summer 2007. Boris is currently in preparations to shoot the Lionsgate feature ‘Why did I get married’, and he will produce and star in Our Stories’ romantic comedy ‘Bad in Bed’ in May of 2007. Other projects in development include the features ‘Trunk’, ‘Big Brother’, ‘One of the guys’, and ‘4th and Inches’.
On March 5th of 2005, Boris and Nicole welcomed their 1st child, Sophie Tei-Naaki Lee Kodjoe, to this world. The happy couple went on to get married in Boris’ hometown in Germany, on May 21st 2005. Their son, Nicolas Neruda Kodjoe, was born on October 31st 2007. The Kodjoe family resides in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Boris' main personal interest is to encourage young people to value their education and strive for their own individual goals. He also supports the fight against racism by promoting the beauty of cultural diversity. He feels blessed and fortunate, and believes he has a certain responsibility to share his views and experiences with others, i.e. motivate them to manifest their dreams and reach for their stars.