Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Charissa Gracyk (University of Toledo ’96) moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking with her cousin Gillian Perdeau, a two-time Emmy-Winning Producer for an entertainment news show, with whom she has been writing with for over 15 years. They wrote and produced the feature film “Suicide Dolls” which won an African Academy Award (Best Diaspora Feature) and the New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award at St. Louis International Film Festival.      Charissa recently wrote and directed “Toledo: The Prohibition Chronicles,” a documentary about their hometown in the early 1930s which played on WGTE/PBS.  Her short, “The Prohibition Chronicles: Echoes of Point Place,” is a regional Emmy-Nominated film.  She also wrote and directed the short film “Holy Toledo.”    The girls have had scripts optioned, done various freelance work, including a rewrite for Mike Cerrone (Dumb & Dumber To; Three Stooges; Me, Myself & Irene) and placed as finalists in several competitions including the Nicholl Fellowship, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Scriptapalooza, Bankable Script, Radmin Agency/FilmMaker Magazine and ProduceMe2000.