Actor • Director • Music Producer • Vocalist • Cinematographer 34 Festival Wins | 28 Nominations | 10 Albums | 4 Feature Films | 25 Music Videos
Some filmmakers spend a decade trying to get one movie made. Austin Galante has written and directed four — and he’s not slowing down.
The multi-hyphenate creative has quietly built one of the more prolific independent filmographies working outside the Hollywood system today, moving from scrappy arthouse crime comedy to absurdist vampire road-trip horror-comedy to a pair of back-to-back genre features, all while keeping one foot planted in the music world that shaped him. Genre fans who haven’t caught up with his work yet are about to have a lot to watch.
Four Features Deep
Galante’s directorial debut, Suite Killing Machines, announced him as a filmmaker with a genuinely singular vision — a super-low-budget arthouse crime comedy that set the tone for everything that followed: scrappy, strange, and unmistakably his own.
He followed it with Sanguine Teeth on a Driftless Road, a dark, offbeat vampire road-trip comedy that blends absurdist humor with sharp social commentary — and the film that’s turned Galante into something of a cult favorite. It picked up six festival awards, including Best Comedy and Best Director, and built a devoted following on the strength of word of mouth alone; audiences have reported having to rewatch it just to catch everything they missed while laughing too hard the first time through. The film is coming soon to Tubi, and stars Kill Tony winner Charlie Mac, horror director Jason Horton, international comedian Jason Rouse, Charlotte Deleste, Violator DJ Fusion, Austin Galante, Matthew Kenner, Douglas Montoya, and more — backed by a soundtrack featuring Snoop Dogg and KRS-One.
Not one to slow down, Galante shot his third and fourth features back to back in 2025: What Have We Won and its follow-up, What Have We Won: Deuces — a pair of crime comedies both starring celebrated character actor Robert LaSardo alongside Matthew Kenner and Galante himself. Both films are headed to streaming later this year.
And he’s already looking ahead. Galante is currently in pre-production on his next feature, set to shoot next summer with a cast that includes numerous nationally known actors — his most ambitious production yet.
Beyond the director’s chair, Galante has kept busy as an actor too, delivering a standout turn as the antagonist in All About a Check 3 opposite Tubi star Crystal the Doll, and locking in starring roles in three additional features shooting in 2026–27, with a half-dozen more projects currently in production. His acting résumé also includes the 2011 film Fathoms Deep, numerous commercials, and a dozen short films.
From the Road to the Studio
Long before he was behind a camera, Galante was behind a microphone. From 2002 to 2012, he toured nationally as a member of Bad Fathers, including 28 days on the Warped Tour alongside acts like Billy Idol, My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, The Transplants, and The Offspring. That decade on the road — grinding through van tours, late-night sets, and everything in between — forged the work ethic and storytelling instincts that still define his filmmaking today.
Galante’s music career has since grown into its own force: 10 albums, 25 music videos, and production credits alongside some of the biggest names in hip-hop and rock, including Snoop Dogg, KRS-One, Rick Ross, Cee Lo Green, Cappadonna, #0 of Slipknot, and Slim Kid Tre of The Pharcyde. He’s shared stages with Ja Rule, Naughty by Nature, Atmosphere, Michael Franti’s Spearhead, Rakim, Slum Village, 8Ball & MJG, Cee Lo Green, The Pharcyde, Def Comedy Jam, and many more — and his music has found its way into several films, including his own.
With four features under his belt, a fifth already in motion, and a music catalog that keeps growing alongside it, Austin Galante isn’t just building a filmography — he’s building a whole creative world, one uncompromising, low-budget swing at a time.
