As an actor, producer, director, documentary filmmaker and professor, Major has worked with well-known actors such as Brad Pitt, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Redd Foxx of Sanford and Son fame.

Today he is finishing up a full-length documentary about the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Travyon Martin in Sanford, Florida. An early cut of the film won the Grand Jury Prize, Award at the Orlando Urban Film Festival last year.

But perhaps his most important contribution since arriving at UCF in 1995 has been the impact he 麻豆精品 S檚 had on Hollywood. Some of his students have graduated and now are actors, producers, directors and talent agents in the film and theatre industry. One even has her own popular YouTube show shot in Australia.

The secret to his success?

麻豆精品 S淗elp them learn to think and to network, 麻豆精品 S� Major says from his office in the . 麻豆精品 S淣othing is given in this business. You have to look for opportunities and hustle. It works. We 麻豆精品 S檝e got several UCF graduates living their dream because they are smart and they work hard. 麻豆精品 S�

They include:

It takes talent, passion, hard work and help, Major says. He knows first-hand how important it is to network and have someone mentor you in order to succeed.

Through the years he worked with and met people such as Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Bob Mulligan, Alan J. Pakula and James Earl Jones on a variety of projects from the stage to the big screen. Each individual taught him something and most helped him connect with the right folks for the next step in his career.

To help his students make those connections, he helps arrange invitations to the Director 麻豆精品 S檚 Guild of America Awards for pending graduates and recent alumni.

Earlier this month, Hailey Winslow 麻豆精品 S�08, a radio-television alumna, met Major and several other UCF alumni at the awards.

麻豆精品 S淗ere we were with some of Hollywood 麻豆精品 S檚 top people and there 麻豆精品 S檚 a table of UCF students, 麻豆精品 S� Winslow says. 麻豆精品 S淲e spent a couple of hours after the awards with (director and screenwriter) Peter Farrelly. That 麻豆精品 S檚 just amazing and that 麻豆精品 S檚 because of Professor Major. 麻豆精品 S�

Winslow, now an actress, had one acting class with Major, but he has become a lifelong mentor and friend.

麻豆精品 S淧rofessor Major has taught me life skills that I use every day, 麻豆精品 S� she says. 麻豆精品 S淚 hear his voice in my head all the time. I 麻豆精品 S檓 so grateful to him. He 麻豆精品 S檚 not just a professor. He goes ways beyond that. UCF students are so lucky to be able to learn from him. 麻豆精品 S�

Winslow stars alongside her Goldendoodle, Sadie,聽in Outback & Under, a 12-episode adventure travel show that explores Australia. They wrangle crocodiles, dive with sharks, cuddle venomous snakes and meet a lot of crazy characters along their journey through the land Down Under.

Benjamin Michel 麻豆精品 S�11, a filmmaker and producer based in San Francisco, also calls Major instrumental in his career.

麻豆精品 S淗e gave me real world advice that helped me be a better film director and overall artist, 麻豆精品 S� Michel says. 麻豆精品 S淎nd his wisdom has really been a gift. 麻豆精品 S�

Michel took Major 麻豆精品 S檚 Black Cinema class in 2009 and would often talk about his goals. Since arriving in California he 麻豆精品 S檚 filming or making documentaries about the experiences of African-Americans, Latinos and the homeless. Several of those documentaries have aired on KQED, an award-winning public television station in San Francisco.

UCF theatre grad Lisa Chu 麻豆精品 S�01 also credits Major with much of her success. She 麻豆精品 S檚 an assistant director in Hollywood and has worked on a range of television and feature films including The Big Bang Theory, Westworld and The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise.

麻豆精品 S淗e started me on my career path to become a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Assistant Director, 麻豆精品 S� Chu says. She met him while a freshman in a general education theater class. 聽 麻豆精品 S淚’ve been a DGA AD for over 15 years and counting. I would not be who I am without Anthony Major. My life has been聽blessed with him as a dedicated inspiring educator, a colleague and a truly great friend. He is simply amazing. 麻豆精品 S�

Major 麻豆精品 S檚 personal contributions to the local arts scene have not gone unnoticed either. The Black History Committee of Orange County honored Major with its 2010聽Excellence in Education Award. The high school he attended, The Booker Performing Arts High School in Sarasota, renamed its rehearsal hall in his honor. He also served as the program director for the Zora Neale Hurston Institute for Documentary Studies for several years.

Central Floridians may also recognize him from his work as director of 麻豆精品 S淎 Vote, A Voice, 麻豆精品 S� produced for Florida Sen. Geraldine Thompson. Or perhaps from his teaching, acting and directing in the UCF Conservatory Theatre and his work with Seminole State College Theatre.

His favorite projects are those that tell an American story from an underrepresented community 麻豆精品 S檚 point of view. It gives those communities a voice, he said. And he hopes the students he helps continue to help tell their stories.

麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 good to see them succeed, 麻豆精品 S� he says.

It began with a centuries-old slip of paper. Browsing through a shabby book section in a Florida thrift store, Carol Mundy picked up a 1901 edition of The Complete Life of William McKinley and Story of His Assassination. As she carefully flipped through the tattered pages, she found a yellow letter wrapped in wax paper slipped into its spine. Its date: 1870.

The letter was addressed to the 10th Calvary Regiment or 麻豆精品 S淏uffalo Soldiers, 麻豆精品 S� one of the few segregated units in the U.S. Army at the time. Mundy, whose mother was an antique collector, immediately saw the value in the historic piece. The find would start a 25-year occupation.

Thanks to her job with Delta airlines that required frequent travel around the U.S., Mundy, with her daughter in tow, would rent聽a car in between her 10-hour shifts and search for Salvation Army stores and yard sales. Eventually, the hunt would extend to her personal time and vacations, too, much to her friends 麻豆精品 S� dismay. 麻豆精品 S淔or years my friends didn 麻豆精品 S檛 want to travel with me, 麻豆精品 S� she says.

For every piece found, Mundy would research the history behind it and record it carefully. And she has gone to great lengths to document her collection. 麻豆精品 S淚 have called Portugal about the Middle Passage, I have called Temple University, I have called Canada to learn how to archive, 麻豆精品 S� she says. 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S� Pay is not necessary, I just want the history to be told correctly. 麻豆精品 S�

But no matter how much time or space it took up in her home, Mundy never saw her collection as a burden, but instead as her purpose in life. 麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 a legacy for my children and grandchildren that I was given to do on this earth, 麻豆精品 S� she says.

Today, Mundy has entire storage units filled African-American artifacts, but many of her best pieces can be found at the UCF Library. Now part of the university 麻豆精品 S檚 special collections and archives, Mundy 麻豆精品 S檚 featured relics include film reels of Billie Holiday performing with Quincy Jones and Miles Davis, poll tax receipts, plantation inventories with slaves listed below the livestock and newspapers headlining speeches from Abraham Lincoln.

UCF Library archivist Barack (Suphi) Ogreten said the collection came to UCF in 2009 and the university special collections department is still working on processing all of Mundy’s finds. He anticipates that the finding aid 麻豆精品 S� an electronic guide that will chronicle all of the items and their history, in addition to a short biography of Mundy 麻豆精品 S� will be available in late 2014 or sometime in 2015.

Once the collection is processed, Ogreten said all documents will be available for the UCF community to 聽be used for academic research in the special collection’s reading room in the library.

“Her collection means a lot to the university, because it has a lot of local Central Florida and statewide historical artifacts and information,”聽said Africana Studies Program Director Anthony Major.

With both local and national ties, Mundy’s civil rights collection is the one she admires most. Many pieces highlight Florida 麻豆精品 S檚 struggle to integrate. 麻豆精品 S淥ne of the [pieces] in the civil rights collection is about St. Augustine and how they were trying to integrate the beaches, 麻豆精品 S� Mundy said. 麻豆精品 S淭hat was one of the hardest battles. 麻豆精品 S�

While some of her collection is now part of the university, she continues to show her pieces of history to schools, Boys and Girls Clubs and is in contact with the Smithsonian Museum to have her collection shown there.

麻豆精品 S淢y ultimate goal was to share it, 麻豆精品 S� Mundy said. 麻豆精品 S淵ou get addicted to history. 麻豆精品 S�