Artist Biography

 

 

 

 

 

Kory was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to a father involved in local politics turned pastor and a late mother who was an architectural engineer.  His first camera was a Fisher Price Polaroid camera he got as a child for Christmas. The camera fascinated him but with 3 other siblings in the household it was financially impossible to acquire photography equipment during his young developmental years to feed his disposition. 

The artist in Kory was still apparent in his younger years and he turned to acting and stand-up comedy for creative release.  Performing in Iowa without a solid direction he was torn between pharmacy school and following his talents as an artist.  On the first day of pharmacy school Kory’s mother died of cancer and in those moments Kory realized how short and precious life truly can be and he decided to give up pharmacy school and moved to Los Angles to pursue an acting career.

Living in L.A. he found himself going through the typical starving artist lifestyle, living in his car for months at a time, but training as an actor with James Dean's and Marlon Brando's acting coach Zina Provendie. He was studying sketch/improv at the L.A. Connection Improv Theater as well. The week of graduation from improv school he got a call from MTV per the request of his childhood friend Ashton Kutcher.  Kory was to report to a random garage for a project to shoot a commercial for what turned into MTV's Punk'D. His performance on the commercial went well and he was cast for several episodes of MTV’s Punk’d. This work laid the ground work for him as an actor and he moved to New York shortly after and booked a role on Law and Order: Criminal Intent along with a handful of other films and radio commercials.

In 2008 following the not-so-successful American release of international film “Loins of Punjab” Kory returned to his hometown and started his own web content production company focused on photography and video.  Since then Kory has been developing his skills behind the camera and investing in professional equipment.

As a photographer one of his highlights was a 2015 trek to the Eastern Himalayas via Malaysia, Thailand and Burma that produced some of his greatest images of remote regions to date.

Currently Kory and his wife live in Chicago where he is a freelance photographer and runs his web content production company.  He also continues to pursue his acting career and is represented by NV Talent in Chicago.

“Living in the culture driven and photogenic city of Chicago has regenerated the drive I once had as a young actor. Being here helps me perpetually develop my skills as a photographer and actor while being immersed in a pool of diverse community artistry and marketing capacities.”

                                                                                            ~ Kory Bassett