Born in the barbaric land of New Jersey on January 25, 1972, Youssef always felt a sense of cinematic destiny.He fell in love with the cinema at the tender age of 3 and a half, when his unsuspecting parents (Abdellatif & Isabel) took him to see Jaws in a crowded 42nd Street theater in the summer of 1975.The next time the planets aligned themselves (cinematically-speaking) was in May, 1977 when said father, Abdellatif, took his 5.5 years old son to a Wednesday afternoon screening of a little-known science-fiction film called Star Wars.The rest is (almost) history...After graduating from Jersey City State College with a degree in Media Arts, the aspiring Oscar-winner honed his skills creating short films and videos, while paying the bills with a decade-long stint as a film critic/programmer at Home Box Office. In those 10 years, he estimates that he had screened over 2000 movies (just for work)!!Further training at New York University's esteemed film program has enabled Youssef to expand his filmmaking skills into the digital realm.Currently, when not watching several movies per day for sheer pleasure (either in a theater or at home on DVD), he writes, directs, lenses & edits various projects under the auspices of his own production company, The MoonStar Film Odyssey.His goals for the future include the following: an awesome career in motion pictures, marriage, many many years of health, happiness, movies, football, burgers and to die at the ripe old age of 120.
