Chris Norden Creative Services: About Chris

Chris studied screenwriting, photography and design in the Filmic Writing Program of the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television in Los Angeles and went on to become Director of Photography for Carriage House Publishing's Beaufort, Explorer, Lowcountry Quarterly, and Select magazines; for Southeast Marketing Services; and for AirCam, an aerial photography company. He was art director for Promise Publishing's Growing in Christ—a magazine for new believers— and spent seven years creating award-winning promotional campaigns and marketing materials (and writing and photographing travel articles) for Charleston, South Carolina's major daily newspaper, The Post and Courier. From October 2005 through August 2008, Chris designed and art directed Carolina Homes and Interiors, Coastal Condo Living, East Cooper Newcomers Guide, Summerville Newcomers Guide and Coastal Million Dollar Homes magazines for South Carolina publisher Media Services, Inc..

Details on Chris' art direction and marketing work can be explored by clicking here, while an online gallery of fine art prints of Chris' panoramic landscape photography from around the world can be viewed here, featuring his breathtaking large-format panoramic landscape prints of the stunning Swiss Alps and Scottish Highlands.

A lifelong singer, songwriter, and keyboard and piano player, Chris served in the worship arts ministry of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina's Seacoast Church from the time he arrived in the Charleston area from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1996, until his move to San Luis Obispo, California, in 2006. He led worship for Seacoast's singles ministry from 1996-1998; played keys for Seacoast's Columbia campus for its first year (1998-1999); and from 1999 through 2005 served alternatively as a background vocalist on the Main Campus worship team; a guest special song vocalist for the Main, West and Family Life campuses and for the Kidstuf ministry; co-leader of "Unplugged," Seacoast's songwriter's small group (along with songwriter/keyboardist Chris Karpus); fill-in keyboard player at the Family Life, Main and West campuses; and guest lead worshipper for the Cleansing Streams retreats.

From his acting debut in 1969 at age 7, Chris went professional in 1976 in the role of "Charlie" in the internationally-broadcast PBS-produced series Parent Effectiveness. Since then, he has worked in San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and in North and South Carolina, appearing in 47 films, pilots, TV commercials and training films; 33 plays and musicals; and as a print model for ad campaigns appearing in national magazines. A character voiceover artist, Chris created the original voices for over a hundred characters back in the 1980s for San Diego-based International Educational Recordings (a children's record company). He was heard for years as the voices of "Paul, the MUSC Amoco Polar Bear," "Prioleau, the Lowcountry's Richest Golfer" and the ADDY award-winning "Bernice the Administrative Assistant" in spots for the Kirkman Broadcasting family of stations in Charleston (ESPN Radio 910 & 950, CNN Radio 1450, and Real 1340), a company for whom he voiced well over a hundred spots. His acting résumé may be viewed HERE.

Chris portrayed his Lord Jesus Christ in both 2000's Face to Face and 2001's Hope of Glory —two out of a total of six Seacoast Easter Productions in which he served over the years in front of audiences of over 10,000 each, with videos of the productions reaching all over the world. In 1997's This One's With Me, he played the Apostle John. He played the male lead, Dan Smith, in the contemporary story of 1998's original musical, The Great Divide. In 2002's The Hero, Chris played an Interviewer and served as one of the production's singers. And in 2003's The Touch, he served in the lead role of the old Apostle Thomas, the narrator of that production. His portrayals of the Crocodile Hunter in numerous videos and guest appearances for the Seacoast Children's Ministry over the years entertained thousands of children and parents.

In 2005, Chris shifted his primary ministry focus from worship arts to missions. He spent two weeks documenting in photographs and video the work being done at Christ's Gift Academy, a school for orphans in Mbita, Kenya, for whom he had designed their logo a few years before. Out of that body of work, Chris produced a fundraising music video for the school (click here to view), a fundraising panoramic poster, a PowerPoint presentation, business cards and postcards, and a complete DVD with an hour-long movie and slideshow. He also spent two months creating marketing materials and developing U.S. contacts for Banana of Hope—a widows' self-help group in Mbita—in order to help them sell their beautiful basketry in the U.S. and raise the economic prospects for themselves and the children under their care. Banana of Hope's 2008 Catalog (6.8 MB PDF) can be downloaded here.

Chris enjoys serving God, traveling, hiking, and being there for the friends and family God has placed in his life. He is single and moved from South Carolina to Avila Beach, California at the end of January 2006 to care for his parents and to have the pleasure of being the primary caretaker to his dad, psychologist Tom Norden, during the last year and a half of his life here on earth and to love on, honor and lead his dad to Jesus before his time was up. Tom's answer of "Yeah" to Chris' final question of whether he wanted to accept God's offer of forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ was the last word his dad spoke this side of eternity. His dad immediately went into a coma and six days later, on April 26, 2007, passed into the arms of Jesus, surrounded by Chris, his mom, his brother Nick and cat Cabo. Chris served during this one and a half year period on the intercessory Prayer Team at First Baptist Church of San Luis Obispo.

In November 2007, Chris helped his newly-widowed mother, award-winning artist and author Marilu Norden, sell her house and get relocated to Tucson, Arizona, in order to help her get set up for success in the next stage of her life. By May 2008, Chris had successfully completed that goal and was getting ready to move into an apartment of his own to begin rebuilding his own life again. During this period, Chris served as fill-in worship leader and special music singer at his mother's new church, Saguaro Buttes Community Church.

But on May 22, 2008, a few weeks before he was scheduled to move into the new apartment, all that changed in a split second when Chris almost died. He was hiking on Tucson's Mt. Lemmon on a beautiful day with five other members of a hiking club when a freak gust of wind came out of the clear blue sky and blew Chris off-balance and he fell backwards off of a 63-foot cliff. At the top of the precipice, as he sensed himself passing the point of being able to regain his balance, Chris closed his eyes and, as he started falling backwards, started praying over and over, "Jesus, save me. Jesus, save me," just reminding the Lord that he wanted to be with Him more than anything, no matter what happened. He immediately felt "held" in God's hand as he plunged down backwards, and was in perfect peace, even as he felt and heard all his bones breaking apart against the rocks at the bottom.

Miraculously, Chris was not maimed, brain damaged, paralyzed or killed. His injuries included eleven broken ribs (many broken in multiple places, resulting in many more than eleven actual breaks), a shattered left scapula (shoulder blade), seven broken transverse processes sheared off of the left side of his thoracic spine, a compression fracture of his L1 vertebrae that put him in a back brace for three months, two pierced and collapsed lungs, a head gash and numerous cuts and bruises. Chris' two-hour near-death rescue hanging beneath a helicopter in 40+ mph winds was the top story on that evening's Tucson newscasts.

"Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' Your love, O Lord, supported me." —Psalm 94:17-18

A PDF of an eyewitness account of the rescue told from the standpoint of Steven Gibb, one of Chris' fellow hikers that day, can be downloaded here. A YouTube video of Chris' initial revisit to the site of the fall just eight weeks after his accident (wearing his back brace and accompanied by Steven Gibb and another adventurous friend of his, Tim Peterson) can be viewed here while a 6-minute May 7, 2009 video interview with Chris about the accident produced by former Family Life Radio News Director Mike Shaw can be viewed here. This interview was also broadcast across the country in a radio version on Family Life Radio's nationwide radio network on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.

By October 2009, Chris had fully recovered from his injuries. He had worked hard to rehabilitate his body through exercise and good nutrition and he was once again healthy and strong. Chris was laid off from his last big job as art director for the magazines in South Carolina in September 2008--just eight weeks after his accident--due to staff cuts that had to be made because of declining ad revenues brought on by the collapse of the housing market.

Starting in November 2009, Chris launched and ran a successful new business shooting freelance architectural and real estate photography in Tucson while also working part-time as a tour guide at Colossal Cave Mountain Park. During this period, Chris continued writing and ministering with new music at Saguaro Buttes Community Church, where he also served each Sunday as a vocalist and keyboard player on the worship team.

In October 2010, Chris wrapped up his Tucson real estate photography business in preparation for his November 2010 move to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He served in Summer 2011 as a keyboard player, vocalist and guest lead worshipper on the worship team at Calvary Santa Fe.

Chris currently works as the magazine art director of Mount Pleasant Magazine (the new city magazine of South Carolina's fourth-largest municipality); as an author publicist and video producer; and once again as a professional actor in television and film projects currently being filmed in New Mexico, including NBC's 1866-era Civil War pilot Reconstruction, directed by Peter Horton; the new upcoming A&E series Longmire with Lou Diamond Phillips; As Cool As I Am with Claire Danes and Alanis Morissette; HBO Films' Game Change with Ed Harris, Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson; the $200+ million Joss Whedon/Marvel Studios epic, The Avengers, starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Ruffalo, set for a Summer 2012 debut; USA Network's In Plain Sight; Blaze You Out with Elizabeth Peña; the lead role of George the ex-cop in the Rainer Moore short, The Bend, and as infamous New Mexico rancher Oliver Milton Lee in the upcoming 1896 Sean Pilcher Western, Among the Dust of Thieves.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." —Proverbs 3:5-6

Chris Norden
Chris Norden Creative Services
3265 Casa Rinconada
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507-2542 USA
Cell: (505) 920-4220
Landline: (505) 428-0040

E-mail: cn@chrisnorden.com

Chris Norden's LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/chris-norden/5/277/505