Tonya Hurley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tonya Hurley
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| Born | September 20, 1970 Uniontown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Occupation | Writer, director |
| Spouse(s) | Michael Pagnotta |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Vince Clarke (brother-in-law) |
Tonya Hurley is an American writer and director. She creates stories for movies, TV shows, live performances, and online experiences. She is well-known for co-creating the TV series So Little Time in 2001. This show starred the famous Olsen twins.
Tonya Hurley also worked with the Olsen twins on their animated show, Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!. She helped produce several video games connected to their brand. Besides her work in TV and film, Tonya Hurley is a successful author. She writes young adult books, including the The New York Times bestselling series ghostgirl.
Her books are very popular around the world. They have been published in almost 30 countries. They are also available in more than 20 different languages.
Contents
Tonya Hurley's Early Career
Tonya Hurley started her career in the music industry. She worked as a publicist for many famous musicians. Some of these included Prince, George Michael, and Depeche Mode. She also worked with The Cure and Morrissey.
Tonya and her twin sister, Tracy, first moved to New York City. They hoped to become musicians themselves. Instead, they found jobs at a publicity company. This company was started by Michael Pagnotta, who later became Tonya's husband.
Books and Creative Works
Tonya Hurley has written many different kinds of stories. Her early works include Kiss My Brain from 1997. She also wrote The Biblical Real World in 1998. Her work Solo-Me-O was shown on PBS in 1999.
Another notable work is Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles from 2000. This piece was chosen for the Tribeca Festival. It was also shown on the Independent Film Channel. It even received a nomination for a Rockefeller Foundation Award.
Her short film Best Friend premiered in 2002. It was shown at the Tribeca Festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Tonya also wrote a movie script called Good Mourning. This script made it to the semi-finals of the Sundance Institute's Writer's Lab. She has also directed music videos for the band Erasure.
The Blessed Trilogy
Tonya Hurley is also known for The Blessed trilogy. The first book, Precious Blood, came out in 2012. The second book, Passionaries, was released in early 2013. The final book, Hallowed, followed in 2015. The audiobook version of The Blessed is read by Kara Hayward, an actress from the movie Moonrise Kingdom.
TV Shows and Other Projects
Tonya Hurley was a co-creator and co-producer for the TV show So Little Time. This sitcom aired on ABC Family. She also co-created the animated series Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! for ABC. Both shows starred Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
She was a main writer for the mary-kateandashley website. Tonya also created and helped produce video games for the mary-kateandashley brand. These games were made for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy. She also wrote and directed commercials for Warner Home Video and Mattel. She even helped develop Mary-Kate and Ashley dolls and board games.
Tonya Hurley and her sister ran their own company, Hurley Sisters Productions.
The ghostgirl Book Series
Tonya Hurley's popular ghostgirl series started online in 2002. It was then published as a Young Adult book series by Little, Brown, and Co. in 2008. The first book in the series received excellent reviews from many publications. These included Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.
The ghostgirl book became a New York Times best-seller in September 2008. The books have also been chosen to be made into a movie. Director Matthew Vaughan is involved in the film project. Tonya Hurley is expected to be an executive producer for the movie.
Awards and Groups
Tonya Hurley is a member of important groups for writers. She belongs to the Writers Guild of America, East. She is also a member of the Horror Writers Association. She writes articles for The Huffington Post.
Tonya helps sponsor and judge a Teen Writing Essay Contest. This contest is for Gilda's Club NYC, an organization that supports people affected by cancer. She also edited an ebook called Living With Cancer: A Teen Perspective. The actress Emma Stone wrote the introduction for this book. Tonya Hurley is also a founding board member of the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, New York.
Personal Life
Tonya Hurley is married to Michael Pagnotta. He works as a publicist and manages artists.
Tonya Hurley's Film and TV Projects
Here are some of the projects Tonya Hurley has worked on:
- Solo-Me-O (1999): A short film she directed.
- Baptism of Solitude: A Tribute to Paul Bowles (2001): A short animated film she directed.
- So Little Time (2001-2002): A TV sitcom she co-created and co-produced. She also wrote one episode.
- Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! (2001-2002): A TV series where she wrote four episodes.
- Best FriEND (2002): A short documentary she directed and was an executive producer for.
- Erasure: "Gaudete" (2013): A music video she directed.
- Erasure: "Make It Wonderful" (2013): Another music video she directed.
See also
In Spanish: Tonya Hurley para niños
