By Mona Loring
Actor, director and producer, Joey Naber has found success in several award winning films. After appearing in the Oscar winning short, West Bank Story, Naber looks forward to a long and successful career in Hollywood. He has worked very hard to get where he is in his career now, and he is not letting anything stop him. 
It all started when Naber found his calling for acting at random. He was in elementary school and the teacher had the kids select the elective they wanted for 7th grade-the first year of junior high. The only two options were music and drama. He knew he would not be successful playing an instrument, but also unsure if he knew what the elective "drama" really would entail. Acting?! He picked it anyway. Surprisingly, by the end of his first day of drama class, he knew that acting was what he wanted to do forever.
Years later, Naber has successfully advanced to star along sides of Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg, and the legendary Debbie Reynolds. However, you may have guessed that like most actors, his acting roles did not start out as special. In fact, Joey Naber’s first on screen kiss was not with a lovely lady– but with an animal. A camel. The on-screen kiss was in a movie of the week called Knee High PI. It didn’t lead to an MTV movie award but he did move on to do great things.
Since starring in West Bank Story, Naber has directed and produced an infomercial and short film. His recent production is a short film entitled Final Resolve. It was a collaboration; Naber produced and directed but the film was written by a friend. Even though Naber has a background in Sketch Comedy and tends to be attracted to humorous scripts, this story grabbed him. The film is a dramatic story about a father who had lost his family because of his ex-wife.
Naber has directed almost every project that he produced, with an exception that’s one of his favorite projects. It is a short film entitled, Five Wishes. Five Wishes is about a snotty college girl who is cut off financially from her wealthy father. The girl’s luck turns around when she goes to a frat party and finds a genie in a beer keg. Naber played the oddball genie. The hilarious short film secured several awards including esteemed honors from The Family Film Festival in Santa Clarita California and The Cincinnati International Film Festival in Ohio, among others.
He finally struck gold when he decided to take a lead role in Academy Award-winning short film, West Bank Story. Perhaps some would say the movie struck gold when it found him. Naber brilliantly played the hilarious role of lovebird Fatima’s older brother, Ahmed. According to Naber, the short film was one of the most difficult, yet most exciting projects he had ever worked on. West Bank Story is a musical comedy about how Israeli soldier David, falls in love with Fatima the Palestinian fast food clerk. Similar to the story of Romeo and Juliet, they are a couple who fall in love amidst the hatred of their families’ dueling falafel stands in the West Bank.
