The son of immigrants and heir to a line of Spanish farmer-poets, Reza Manuel Mirzaiee was born in the northwest coast of Spain to an Iranian father and a Spaniard mother. He grew up travelling back and forth between Spain and Virginia for the first twelve years of his life, inheriting his mother’s tactful wit and his father’s relentless determination; from a young age he fell in love with people and the stories they brought along with them. A multidisciplinary artist, Reza began drawing as long as he can remember. He won a regional Scholastic Art award in 2017 for a portrait of his military-bound brother, and works part-time as an animator and graphic design specialist for New Point Strategies, an HR consulting firm. He’s also currently performing as a guitarist and singer in his band Live Wire on weekends, and has been cast in a number of theatre productions, including  First Year Player’s fall 2018 production of Into the Woods, and more recently the UVA Drama Department’s Spring 2020 production of Once Upon A Mattress. He’s currently the UVA Student Game Developers Club’s Internal Relations officer, where he directed the indie top-down shooter Flint Westwood, and is planning on writing and directing an original role-playing Game in 2020. Reza hopes to double major in Computer Science and the Area Program for Literary Prose under the English Department. He’s looking forward to forming part of the Miller Arts Scholars program, and excited about where the arts will take him next!