Aaref Rodriguez is an award winning American filmmaker and alumnus of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and School of Dramatic Arts. His passion for exploring entertaining, thought provoking, and impactful tales fuels every fiber of his creative ambitions.

Born and raised in South Sacramento, California, Aaref was brought up in a vibrant, mixed cultural, home—his mother a fiery Venezuelan immigrant and his stepfather an enterprising Afghan refugee. His mother worked as a seasonal farm worker and a hotel maid, and his stepfather worked at a local swap meet by day and a restaurant janitor by night. Driven by their ambitions to have their piece of the American Dream, they scrounged and sacrificed to open up their first business in the Fall of 1986—a tiny movie memorabilia gift shop in the lobby of a small, four screen, movie theater.

From the age of four to fourteen, Aaref spent all his weekends, holidays, and summers watching countless films on the big screen—from Tim Burton classics, the Sci-Fi world of James Cameron, and even classic re-releases such as Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, and Rebel Without A Cause—that's where his passion for film and storytelling began.

While in high school, Aaref began performing in the Sacramento regional theatre scene. Concurrently, he also started experimenting with film and video production courses at Cosumnes River College, where he collaborated with friends to make music videos, short films, experimental films, and commercials. After graduating from high school, Aaref was awarded a scholarship to the USC School of Dramatic Arts where he earned a BA in Theatre and Minored in Communication and the Entertainment Industry.

While still in undergrad, Aaref banded together a team of Northern and Southern California filmmakers to produce the independent action feature film, Fugitive Hunter. Knowing little about the business side of the industry, Aaref and his team brought their film to the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California and subsequently became the toast of the market—selling territories all across the globe along with a prized North American distribution deal from Lions Gate Films.

After graduating from USC, Aaref went on to work in development for Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia Pictures, where he got to experience the inner-workings of a major motion picture studio. While at Sony, Aaref worked on properties such as the 007 franchise, the Spiderman franchise, Superbad, and Vantage Point.

Looking to keep ties to this theatre roots, Aaref obtained his MA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Los Angeles while working full-time at Sony Pictures. During his time at Cal State LA, he specialized in playwriting and dramaturgy and also became a part-time lecturer where he taught several sections of undergraduate Theatre Criticism and History.

After a few years of working on busy desks, sitting in on story pitches, reading and analyzing scripts, collaborating with executives on their projects, and seeing what it took to get films off the ground, Aaref performed some self discovery and evaluated what he wanted to do creatively in his career—ultimately concluding that he wanted to pursue his dream of becoming a film director.

Soon after, Aaref left Sony Pictures and enrolled at the USC School of Cinematic Arts where he earned his MFA in Film Production under a highly selective, fully funded, Annenberg Fellowship Award. While in film school, he was also awarded the National Association of Theater Owner's Award for Excellence in Directing, the Broccoli Foundation Award for Excellence in Producing, and a Rodolfo Montes Scholarship for outstanding service to the Latino community.

Aaref's unofficial USC thesis feature film, Avenues—a deeply personal exploration of fatherhood and the isolation felt by former convicts—was award the HBO U.S. Latino Cinema Showcase Award for Best Narrative Feature at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, Best Narrative Feature at the Indie Spirit Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival, Best Narrative Feature at the inaugural Highland Park Film Festival, selected as an HBO Spotlight Feature at the Urbanworld Film Festival in Manhattan, and was the final film award the highly coveted NUVOtv showcase—selected by judges Gregory Nava, Frida Torresblanco, and Michael Olmos. Avenues was also one of a handful of independent films released through Redbox and is widely available on DVD, On-Demand, and Digtial.

Currently, Aaref is developing a rock n' roll and punk inspired feature film in collaboration with the world famous Wild Records.