The Board Members of the Montana Institute for the Arts
Michael Polish
Founder, President
Michael Polish was born on October 30, 1970 in El Centro, California, USA. He is known for directing and writing, The Astronaut Farmer (2006), Twin Falls Idaho (1999) and Northfork (2003). He has been married to Kate Bosworth since August 31, 2013. In 2015, he wrote and directed 90 Minutes in Heaven based on the personal experience of Don Piper. He continues to write and direct some of the most beautiful films to this day. He and Kate have just finished their latest feature called Nona (2017), a story of sex trafficking with the purpose of educating viewers of this horrible underworld.
Kate Bosworth
Founder, Director
Kate Bosworth was born in Los Angeles, California, to Patricia (Potter), a homemaker, and Harold Bosworth, who was an executive for Talbots. Unlike the characters Bosworth has portrayed in television and in film, which are known as “townies”, Kate spent most of her childhood in different cities and states.
Although Kate attended the open audition in New York for the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer (1998) simply in hopes of getting the experience of what it was like to audition for a movie role, she won the role of the female lead’s best friend and the chance to work with director/star Robert Redford. Her previous acting experience had consisted of singing at county fairs in California and acting in a community theater production of “Annie”. However, since landing the movie role, Kate seemed to be in more sound stages than ranches. Fearful that an early career would rob her of her childhood, she took 18 months off to live a normal life before opting to plunge into acting again. In 2000, she landed the role of the bratty sister in the feature film The Newcomers (2000) and the part of a football co-captain’s girlfriend in the Denzel Washington movie Remember the Titans (2000).
Throughout high school, Kate maintained academic excellence and was an honor roll student and a member of National Honor Society. In her spare time, she volunteers with various non-profit organizations, including a Los Angeles program for physically challenged children who learn to ride horses with assistance. As an actress, activist and producer she was distinguished with the Pioneer’s Award for her most recent film work NONA, a film on sex trafficking. The award honors artists on the front lines of creating necessary artful thought and dialogue in their work.
Travis Bruyer
Founder, Executive Director
Travis W. Bruyer was raised in Kalispell, Montana and grew up using and experimenting with 8 and 16 mm film equipment. He attended Montana State University studying film and television however duty called and he enlisted in the US Coast Guard. After being on security details for movie sets like Down Periscope, and Baywatch he saw a need for accuracy portrayal in military and law enforcement productions for realism on the screen.
While on active duty he was engaged in Search and Rescue, Immigration, Drug Interdiction, Vessel Recovery, Boating Inspections and Law Enforcement. Over the past 16 years he’s been assigned to Patrol, SWAT, Detectives, Special Assignments, and Hostage/Crisis Negotiations, and instructs on Tasers, Baton, Pepper Spray, Use of Force, Domestic Violence Cases, Defensive Tactics and Armed Intruder.
Travis enjoys his off time with his family and works as a military and law enforcement adviser to those seeking tactical, investigative, armed or weaponless defense training, wardrobe, and safety advice on the set. He enjoys producing and acting and is a great resource for filming across the State of Montana. In addition to his entrepreneur endeavors, he’s the author of “The Legal Survival Guide for Students” and has published investigative guides for the State of Montana as well as other training articles.