Meet Our Team
What started as one person has grown into a multifaceted team of coaches, teachers, and industry experts to guide your path to success. Learn more about the Mornell Studios below.
Sara Mornell
FOUNDER, AUTHOR, COACH & CREATOR
A classically trained actor, Sara Mornell started booking work shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. At 28 Mornell booked the lead in a pilot for NBC but felt ill equipped for the reality of Hollywood and the pressures of the Industry. Working steadily for several more years Mornell was one of the first actors to recur simultaneously on both a half hour and hour show for the same network but was finding her passion for acting and the reality of the business were clashing. Over the years her close relationships with casting, producers, directors, managers and agents gave her a dose of truthful feedback and the reality of what actors are not being taught in school.
After walking away from her agents and taking a break from the business, Mornell was asked to coach a client for an audition. After he got his first callback since being signed the agent and his manager sent more clients. The success was unparalleled. Mornell wasn’t teaching from theater technique she was coaching what she had been very successful at and knew inside and out from recent experience. The audition.
Quickly and through referral only Mornell became a secret weapon for Industry insiders. She discovered that the methods being taught didn’t translate when it came to the reality of the audition. Theater training had made her a phenomenal actor, but Hollywood hired the person who was the role not an actor playing a character. In order to book artists had to be fearless in who they are versus acting like someone they’re not. While working with Barry Zito, Cy Young Award-winning former pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, on his baseball game Mornell realized that there were many correlations between artists and athletes.
The voices that get in the way of performance are not our own but ones we have been conditioned to take on and that most people are “acting”. True power comes from standing in your own voice and authenticity. Mornell adapted the process created for Zito into her work with actors and began crafting a method that cleared away the voices and taught people how to stop “acting”.
The Mornell Method is about wading through tough messaging that has been ingrained in us all both physically and mentally, working through shame that is held in the corners of our minds, and finding who you are outside of what you have been conditioned to believe. Training like an Olympian to prepare for the arena of life, while nurturing the artistic soul. The work has transcended to many other areas and since 2016, Mornell has worked with top hosts for Apple Music. Most recent clients include OWN, ABC, Paramount, Apple TV, Freeform, and many more.
Marissa Hampton
MANAGING DIRECTOR & COACH
Marissa Chanel Hampton is an actress, comedian, and writer based in both Atlanta and Los Angeles. Marissa received her B.A. in theater from the University of California, Irvine, and graduated from the Second City Hollywood’s Conservatory Program. She has gone on to perform at UCB, iO West, and the Second City.
As a sketch comedian, she has been featured in content for Funny or Die, WhoHAHA, AOL, and the Huffington Post including the viral video, Pink Sourcing with Kristen Bell. On television you can catch her in shows such as: the Emmy Award winning Watchmen, Outer Banks, Scandal, NCIS: New Orleans, Creepshow, and more. She can be seen next recurring on I’m a Virgo, and in commercials for companies such as: Hulu, American Express, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.
Nicole Johnson
COACH & TEACHER
Nicole Marie Johnson is an actor, writer, and producer based in Atlanta, GA. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts with a B.S. in Psychology and a Minor in Theater she moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and began studying with Sara. It was through the Mornell Method that she realized she had found her calling at Mornell Studios.
Nicole’s recent credits in The Summer I Turned Pretty (Amazon Original), Dynasty (CW), and the feature film Little (Universal). Currently, you can catch her in multiple Lifetime films, including her leading performance as twin sisters in Lies My Sister Told Me.
Nicole clinched the Best Actress award at both the First Glance Film Festival and The Indie Horror Film Fest for her role in Quarries, a feature film she co-wrote and co-produced.
Continuing to expand her repertoire, Nicole is set to feature in upcoming projects such as Open Wounds, a Ron Krauss film; Dream Big, directed by Obi Ndefo; and Calculated Obsession, produced by Everbright Pictures, among others.
Anna Borchert
TEACHER & COACH
Anna Borchert is a former ballet dancer, who grew up in Vermont but left to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre’s conservatory program in NYC. After graduating, she moved to LA and started working with Sara and studying the Mornell Method.
A few of Anna’s acting credits include: Doom Patrol (HBO Max), Johnson (Bounce TV), West of Hell (Amazon Prime), and Shadows & Lies (Tribeca Film Fest premiere). Anna also created and starred in Daughters of Pop, the first micro-series on Instagram with over 80 episodes. She can next be seen in Hunther (Mbakop Films) and They Got Out (Scarytime Productions).
Marissa Cuevas
TEACHER & COACH
In 2014, Marissa began working with Sara as her acting coach. Under Sara’s guidance, Marissa not only secured more mature and noteworthy roles, she learned the intricacies of camera technique and the art of making a role uniquely her own. Marissa has graced screens across every major network and various projects on streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+. Some of her favorite credits include appearances on iconic shows like “The Big Bang Theory” and “Modern Family” and portraying the character of “Nadia” for three seasons on the CW series “Kung Fu”.
Iona Leighton
CLASS LIAISON | TEACHER | PRODUCER
Iona is a director, producer, teacher, coach, and an actor with a Master’s degree in Special Education from Metropolitan State University of Denver, and a BFA in Acting from the State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase. They are currently a coordinator for the Queer Film Alliance (with Out on Film) in Atlanta, on the SAG-AFTRA EEO & Diversity Committee, and have worked with Mornell Studios for over 4 years.
You can find them most recently as Ellen on The Big Door Prize (Apple TV+) as well as on various other series on Netflix, Amazon Prime, PassionFlix, and YouTube.
As a coach, Iona is passionate about working with LGBTQ+ actors (especially those who identify as gender queer / nonbinary / trans). They provide a safe environment to help actors make strong, honest and authentic choices with their roles. Iona offers reduced coaching rates and sliding scale for all queer identifying actors.
Anisha Adusumilli
COACH
Anisha Adusumilli is an Actress-Filmmaker and Breathwork Facilitator based in LA who has most recently appeared on NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy and Magnum P.I. She wrote, directed, produced and starred in First Date, her short film that screened at multiple festivals around the world. While in LA, Anisha stumbled upon breathwork and has been practicing it for many years. After moving through her own healing journey and embodied training, she is now a certified Breathwork Facilitator and loves sharing this practice with others. Anisha also believes in inclusive community building having co-founded South Asian Happy Hour and South Asians In Entertainment. And she loves vegan pizza!
Ethan Embry
COACH & GUEST TEACHER
Ethan started acting at the age of 12. After making his debut in Defending Your Life, he starred in several films, including Dutch, Empire Records, That Thing You Do!, National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, Can’t Hardly Wait, and Sweet Home Alabama. More recently, he is known for his role as Pete Murphy in Sneaky Pete has played Coyote in Grace and Frankie on Netflix, and guest starred as Carter in an episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Ethan started working with Sara in LA after his wife Sunny Mabrey had coached and booked Mad Men using the Mornell Method. Ethan’s approach to auditioning is based on more traditional methodology and involves deeper character development and play.
