What to stream: CCM connections in shows and movies

You’ve finished working or studying for the day and now you're looking for some screen-time entertainment. Instead of watching that show for the 100th time, try turning to something that features the work of UC College-Conservatory of Music alumni.

The list of streaming suggestions below feature the work of CCM alumni from across the college including Acting, Musical Theatre, Electronic Media, Theatre Design and Production, Composition and Wig and Make-Up graduates.

Have another suggestion to add to our list? Submit your tip to us online. Please include the name of the alum and degree program, the name of the TV show or film and the available streaming options.

Musical Theatre alumna Leigh Ann Larkin, née Wielgus (BFA, '02) has a recurring role as medical examiner Megan Carson on the CBS television series Blue Bloods. The police procedural drama stars Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg. Learn more about Larkin’s role on the show.

Available to watch on the CBS website and Hulu.

Distinguished CCM Acting alumna Diana Maria Riva (BFA, ’91; MFA, ’95) plays Detective Ana Perez on Netflix’s Dead to Me, starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. After recently releasing it's second season, the dark comedy was renewed for a third and final season. Learn more about Diana Maria Riva.

Available to watch on Netflix.

CCM Acting alumna Eydie Faye (BFA, ’99) is a writer and editor on Netflix’s Fuller House, which follows the Tanner family as DJ Tanner-Fuller shares a home with her sister Stephanie and friend Kimmy, who help raise her three boys. Learn more about Faye's work. Learn more about Fuller House.

Available to watch on Netflix.

E-Media alumnus Brian Lazarte (BFA, '14) co-directed McMillion$ with James Lee Hernandez, and the documentary series was picked up by Mark Walhberg’s production company Unrealistic Ideas and TV network HBO. McMillion$ centers on the McDonald’s monopoly fraud case, revealing the largely untold story that involves the FBI and the mafia, elaborate undercover stings and a slew of fascinating characters. Learn more about Lazarte's work. Learn more about the docuseries.  

Available to watch on Hulu with a HBO Max subscription and on HBO streaming platforms.

Jack Lazzaro (BFA Acting, '04) is a key make-up artist on Netflix's Ozark and was recently nominated for the "Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic)" Emmy for his work featured in the series. Lazzaro has also worked as a key makeup artist on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier mini-series, Brockmire, The Outsider and more. Learn more about Lazzaro's work.

Ozark is available to watch on Netflix.

Brockmire is available to watch on Hulu. The Outsider is available to watch on Hulu with a HBO Max subscription. 

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will be available to watch on Disney+ in fall 2020.

Spencer House (BFA Acting, '15) has had numerous roles in mulitple series on Netlifx. He plays Luke Creswell in Netflix's Teenage Bounty Hunters, an action-packed comedy series that follows 16-year-old sisters who split their time between high school and their new bounty hunting career. House also plays Duncan Tabner on Netflix's Space Force, a comedy centered on a group of people tasked with establishing the United States Space Force. The series stars Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow and more. Additionally, House plays Clark in Netflix's The Society, a drama that focuses on teenagers who must forge their own society when everyone else mysteriously vanishes from their town. Learn more about House's work.

Teenage Bounty Hunters, Space Force and The Society are available to watch on Netflix.

In the mood for some classic TV? Try these popular creations from alumnus Earl Hamner Jr. (CCM, '48; UC HonDoc, '08). He created The Waltons, wrote episodes of the original The Twilight Zone and was the screenwriter for the original animated film adaptation of Charlotte’s Web. Hamner was a member of UC's first class of broadcasting graduates and worked at local radio station WLW before he began writing for TV and film. Learn more about Hamner’s work.

The Waltons and Charlotte’s Web are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.

The Twilight Zone is available to watch on Hulu.

E-Media alumnus Elliot Greenberg (BFA, ’01) edited this six-part TV mini-series based on the 1992 Waco, Texas, siege. Learn more about the mini-series. Greenburg has also worked on films including Fantastic Four, Clerks II, Quarantine and more. Learn more about Greenberg’s work.

Waco is available to watch on Netflix and the Paramount Network.

E-Media alum Dan Schroer (BFA, ’99) worked as the second assistant “a” camera in the family-friendly coming-of-age tale A Wrinkle in Time, starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. Schroer has worked on multiple blockbuster films including Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight Rises and Dunkirk. Learn more about Schroer’s work.

A Wrinkle in Time is available to watch on Disney+.

Robert Elhai (MM Composition, '84) has contributed orchestrations to over 150 film scores including Crazy Rich Asians, a romantic comedy about a New Yorker who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family. Elhai has also worked on orchestrations for Frida (winner of the Academy Award for best music), The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, and five of the Fast and Furious movies.

Crazy Rish Asians and the Fast and Furious movies are available to rent on Amazon Prime.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3 are available to watch on Disney+.

Frida is available to watch on Netflix.

CCM Theatre Design and Production alumna Dawn Swiderski (BFA, ’89) was the art director and CCM Acting alumnus Cooper Thornton (MFA, ’92) played Dr. Benson in the suspenseful drama, Gone Girl. Starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, the thriller is based on Gillian Flynn’s bestseller about a man suspected of wrongdoing when his wife goes missing. Learn more about the CCM connections in Gone Girl.

Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video and available to watch on Hulu with a Live TV subscription.

Stunt woman Nicole Callender (MFA Drama, '92) has performed daring moves in multiple action-packed blockbusters including Joker, Batman: The Dark Knight, Avengers: Infinity War, Doctor Strange and more. Learn more about Callender's work.

Joker is available to watch on Hulu with a HBO Max subscription. 

Avengers: Infinity War and Doctor Strange are available to watch on Disney+.

Emmy Award-winning CCM Wig and Make-Up alumnus Bradley Look (MFA, ’88) is one of the most sought-after make-up artists in the industry. His most recent work can be seen on HBO's remake of Perry Mason. Look's other work can be seen in The Hunger Games film series, Captain Marvel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor, to name a few. He won an Emmy for his work as a make-up artist on Star Trek: Voyager in 1996 and received Emmy nominations for his work on How I Met Your Mother, Pushing Daisies, Enterprise and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Learn more about Bradley’s work.

The Hunger Games series is available to watch on Hulu with a Live TV subscription.

Captain Marvel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor are available to watch on Disney+.

Perry Mason is available to watch on Hulu with a HBO Max subscription.

Before moving to the Star Wars universe, E-Media alumnus Nicholas Lipari was assistant editor on the live-action remake of The Jungle Book. The Disney favorite is reimagined with help from Hollywood voices including Bill Murray (Baloo), Ben Kinglsey (Bagheera), Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Christopher Walken (King Louie) and more. Learn more about Lipari’s work.

Available to watch on Disney+.

CCM Composition alumnus Tyler Bradley Walker (DMA, ’10) was the music supervisor of Novitiate and enlisted the help of fellow CCM Composition alumnus Christopher Stark (MM, ’07) to score the music-heavy feature film. Novitiate is about a 17-year-old girl who trains to become a nun as the Roman Catholic Church undergoes radical changes in the early 1960s. Maggie Betts directs the film, which stars Melissa Leo, Dennis O’Hare, Dianna Agron and Margaret Qualley. Learn more about Walker and Stark’s work.

Novitiate is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.

The force is strong with CCM E-Media alumnus Nicholas Lipari (BFA, ’12) who served as assistant editor on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The movie follows the daughter of an Imperial scientist who joins the Rebel Alliance in a risky move to steal the Death Star plans. Learn more about Lipari’s work on Rogue One.

Available to watch on Disney+.

Interested in something with a noteworthy score? Film composer and distinguished UC alumnus Randy Edelman (CCM ’69; UC HonDoc, ’04) has more than 100 compositions to his name. His scores for such movies as The Last of the Mohicans, Ghostbusters II, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and While You Were Sleeping all earned him BMI Film Music Awards. His other film score credits include Dragonheart, The Indian in the Cupboard and The Mask, to name a few. Learn more about Edelman’s work.

The Last of the Mohicans, Ghostbusters II, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and While You Were Sleeping are available to rent on Amazon Prime Video. While You Were Sleeping is also available to watch on Hulu with a Showtime subscription.

Dragonheart is available to watch on Netflix.

The Indian in the Cupboard is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video and is available to watch on Hulu.

The Mask is available to watching on Hulu with a Cinemax subscription.

Featured image at the top: Spencer House in Netflix's Teenage Bounty Hunters.