Justin Marshall Elias is an actor and composer based in Hollywood, California. As an actor, Elias has performed in feature and short films, commercials, webisodes, and has received critical acclaim for his work on stage. An award-winning composer, Elias has created music and provided sound design for feature and short films, documentaries, television commercials, and corporate multimedia projects as well as releasing several ambient music albums under the artist name "Dendroid."
Elias was born in Palo Alto, California, and resided in nearby Fremont. At age eight, he relocated with his parents and older sister Jessica to Eagle, Idaho. An actor from the earliest age he can recall, Elias loved films, particularly the sci-fi genre, and loved to act out and improvise scenes as well as develop characters. This led to making experimental films in middle and high school, in which he also acted.
Elias began exploring his interest in music while in middle school. He joined the marching band in high school playing the alto saxophone. Toward the end of high school, Elias began working with a digital audio workstation called FL Studio (formerly known as FruityLoops) that featured a graphical user interface based on a pattern-based music sequencer. By the time he was a senior in high school, Elias had technically mastered professional broadcasting and film making software and hardware. He was hired as a technical director by an audio visual and presentation technology services and solutions company. Elias considers Electronica his gateway into the world of music creation. After graduating high school, Elias began his undergraduate study at Boise State University. His ongoing fascination of movies led him to transfer his sophomore year to Montana State University, ranked in the top five film schools in the nation to pursue filmmaking. Elias scored many student films, and garnered several awards and nominations for film composition and sound design. During his senior year Elias scored four short and feature films, including composing the original score for the short film "Water's Handle Music" which won the Medallion Award at the 2009 Washougal International Film Festival. After graduating MSU, he briefly returned to Idaho and was cast as "Garry Lejeune" in the play "Noises Off" at the StageCoach Theatre for which he won the 2011 Masque Award for Best Actor. During the play's run he was cast for two television commercials. Upon arriving in LA in 2010, Elias continued to pursue his dual-track goals of composing and acting and also began working on the production side of the industry for production companies including the Syfy Channel, Jim Henson and the Food Network.
Having become established at creating emotionally engaging film scores, Elias has garnered the attention of producers and directors and become a sought-after composer exhibiting a wide stylistic range and command of electronic composition. Adding to his appeal is Elias' ability to work in creative partnership with a film's director when composing to picture.
