Celebrity's Film Studio To Temporarily Operate Out Of Fairfield

NEW HAVEN, CT — Michael Jai White is opening a film studio, with operations starting in Fairfield before making the move to New Haven, the New Haven Register reported.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Bridgeport, White attended Southern Connecticut State University.

A director, writer and martial artist, White posted Friday that he will be launching Jaigantic Studios, described as Connecticut’s first "mini-major" studio.

Slated to open this summer, while the New Haven production facility is being created, the studio will initially operate out of Fairfield's Studio One, according to the New Haven Register.

Variety reported that White has "long wanted to return to his home state to expand the industry with a studio that will provide jobs, professional training and apprenticeships for the local community."

The planned film studio in New Haven will be used for Jaigantic Studio’s slate of productions that span film, television and other commercial projects, Variety reported.

Jaigantic Studios will serve as an "accessible industry hub for students of Yale University’s drama school," it's reported, and the New Haven facility will house "several soundstages, production offices, post-production and support facilities and motion capture stages, which will feature 360-degree virtual production volumes."

Variety reported that White’s plan is to "solidify New Haven as a primary entertainment market by combining Connecticut’s favorable film and TV tax incentives with the tri-state area’s talent pool, innovative technology and turnkey production facilities."

White is the first African American to play a comic book superhero in a major motion picture; he played Al Simmons in the 1997 blockbuster "Spawn." And he played Jax Briggs in "Mortal Kombat: Legacy" and portrayed boxer Mike Tyson in HBO's 1995 film "Tyson." His film and TV credits are voluminous.

White, 53, has seven martial arts black belts and dozens of martial arts titles.