Hank Desjardins

An accidental actor, at best. Hank had always been drawn to film making, guess being a kid in Los Angeles helped, movie making folks were part of the landscape, they were just always "around". In middle-school he made his first short film, followed by some "American Graffiti" inspired documentaries about Northern California hot rod culture and cruising produced during his high school years. Unsure that he possessed even a modicum of acting ability, Hank never became involved in drama or acting classes. Instead, after graduating college with an MBA, Desjardins embarked on a successful career in powersports as one of the driving partners at Cycle Gear, a national multi-channel retailer of motorcycle apparel and gear. More recently he found himself building brands with Tucker Rocky/Biker's Choice. But the love for the cinema never left him. Being an avid collector of all things Marvel and Spider-Man, when the opportunity to participate as an unpaid extra in the first Spider-Man movie in 2002 came around, he jumped on a plane and flew to Culver City. Just a single day on a sound stage, but it was magic. And if you look closely you can see the back of his jacket as the camera pulls away at the end of the wrestling scene. Fast forward to August 2012 and the Phoenix set of Dead in 5 Heartbeats. As part of a product placement deal Desjardins' company was supplying motorcycle apparel to the production company. On this particular day, an extra failed to show and Z Barger (Sonny's wife and producer) literally tapped Hank on the shoulder and asked if he would mind filling in. As Hank said later, "....you just don't say "no" to Z." In the end, a full day of shooting resulted in two lines of dialog, that thanks to Jeff Santo remained in the finished film.