Andrew is a graduate of California Institute of the Arts and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.

He founded the New Mexico Repertory Theatre, a regional professional theatre based in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. During his tenure as artistic director, the New Mexico Rep became the largest and most successful theatre in the history of the state.

While in New Mexico, Andrew directed Children of a Lesser God, Cloud 9, Talley’s Folly, The Rainmaker, Twelfth Night, Man and Superman, The Rocky Horror Show, A Flea In Her Ear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Road to Mecca, A Christmas Carol, Holiday, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Master Harold…and the Boys, The Great Divide, and the world premiere of Mark Medoff’s Stumps. In Los Angeles he has directed the world premiere of Mark Medoff’s Gila at the Odyssey and Equus at Deaf West, for which he won a Drama-Logue award.

He co-wrote (with Mark Medoff) the television movie, Beat of a Different Drum, which is in development at ABC. He also wrote a drama pilot for ABC and Fox Television, The Crew, set in the world of college rowing.

Andrew shot his first short film, Take My Breath Away, in 1993. He made it while he was a USC film student. It was one of two American shorts invited to screen in the International Critics Week of the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. It also received a special screening in the 1999 Critics Week at Cannes.

Andrew’s first feature, Santa Fe, screened at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, the Taos Talking Picture Festival, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and the Munich Film Festival, among others. It can be seen, from time to time, on HBO and Cinemax.

Andrew Shea's second feature film, The Corndog Man, premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. It has also screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival (Emerging Filmmaker Award), the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival (IFP’s American Independents at the Market), the New Haven Film Festival, the USA Film Festival, the Florida Film Festival, Method Fest, the Santa Fe International Film Festival, the Philadelphia International Film Festival (Leigh Whipper Gold Award for Best Feature), the Denver Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the Communication Arts Society of San Antonio Film Showcase, the Northampton Film Festival (best feature film), the Virginia Film Festival, the Raindance Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, and the Hamburg Film Festival.

Andrew is now currently directing The Mother Courage Project workshop at the Mark Taper Forum, with Phyllis Frelich playing Courage.

Upcoming projects include Breaking the Silence, an independent feature; and a feature adaptation of Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:

"The themes and structure of The Corndog Man evolved over a period of several years in the mid 90s. My co-writers and I wanted to write a classic revenge tale about a bitter, old racist in a small town in the Deep South. But we wanted it to be funny. We were inspired, by the Jerky Boys and our own juvenile natures, to arm our nameless avenger not with a gun or a lethal talent in the martial arts, but with a push-button telephone.

The unconventional structure of the picture sprung from my desire to dispense with traditional dialogue. One of my biggest challenges (as the editor as well as the director) was keeping the action dynamic when the dialogue consisted entirely of phone conversations between the same two people. The goal was to accomplish that without making the audience aware of the conceit."