Andre Paras

Andre Jon Paras (born February 7th, 2006) is an award-winning film director, actor, and cinematographer, best known for his film "You Don't Know What It Takes to Come Home," in which he led his FPAC Video Production classmates with the roles of producer/director with the film being a finalist/nomination in the 2023 All-American High School Film Festival Invitational (AAHSFFI) Complete Experience category. He has previously won the award for Best Comedy at the NJHS Film Challenge for his film "Morgan and the Waves," both being film challenges constraining Andre and crew to a production with a time limit to write, shoot, and edit. He's always continuing to better his craft anywhere he can creatively, whether that involves making, or exploring the history of film.

Paras was born in Freehold, New Jersey and grew up / continues to live in Howell, New Jersey today. He attended Catholic school for his education from pre-school through 8th grade, until his acceptance into his local high school, Howell High School, and their magnet program for Fine and Performing Arts (FPAC) Music, Video, and Production (MVP) in 2020. Since then, he's created mashups of popular songs which have been released on the internet, but more importantly, he had his humble beginnings in film as an underclassmen, and later surrounded himself with award-winning filmmakers alike choosing the video route of the program his junior year. Shortly after, Andre was given his biggest opportunity yet nominated by his school teacher to take on the role of assistant director as only a junior in the 2022 All-American High School Film Festival Invitational, something not done before in Howell High School's program history. As the festival concluded, Andre and team had received a finalist title, making one of three Andre has received from different AAHSFFI competitions.