Adam seth Nelson

Growing up in New York City, Adam Nelson’s career began with an actor’s grant for gifted and talented children after an appearance on Jerry Lewis’s annual Telethon. A consumate artist, he moved to Houston, Texas to attend the elite High School of Performing Arts on scholarship where he studied Theatre. After attending the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he received his BFA (1991), he attended certificate programs through both Yale University (1989) and Oxford University’s British American Drama Academy (1990). Nelson returned to Manhattan to become a founding member of Workhouse Theater Company whose original membership included Adrienne Shelly, Gil Bellows, Calista Flockhart, Dean Winters, James Mcaffrey and Tom Seizmore. Performing under the name Adam Seth Nelson his artistic talents gained broad recognition through appearances in feature films A Tiger’s Tale (1988) with Ann Margaret, Lesser Prophets with John Turturro (1997), Dead Broke with Justin Theroux (1999), Home Sweet Hoboken with Ben Gazzara (2001) and Shooting Vegetarians with Elodie Bouchez (2005). Best known for his work in theater, Nelson was associated with some of New York’s grittiest theater groups including Naked Angels, Cucaracha Theater Company, Manhattan Class Company, Circle Rep, Arden Party and the Adobe Theater Company.

Called him a “film star!” Toronto’s Now Magazine for his role as the suicidal gambler in Sundance Channel’s cult classic Dogs: The Rise & Fall of An All-Girl Bookie Joint (1996), Nelson was given exclusive permission from the Lenny Bruce Estate and the late producer Marvin Worth to produce and perform a one-person show entitled How to Talk Dirty and Influence People: The Story of Lenny Bruce which ran for a year at Workhouse Theatre before moving to the Off-Broadway house Mother located in New York’s Meatpacking District (1999). The sold-out show which benefited the charity God’s Love We Deliver received critical mentions from the Village Voice which praised his rendition as “restless, brilliant and hilarious” and TimeOut New York’s chief theatre critic, Sam Whitehead, branding him “an impresario, a notorious theatrical madman”.

Between performances and during his time with Ethan Hawke’s Malaparte Theater Company, Nelson was charged with assisting company public relation initiatives and found that he enjoyed the work. He soon took a part-time position with PR pioneer Peggy Siegal’s company overseeing the Warner Brothers account and film premieres including Run Lola Run, Flawless, Batman, Rob Roy and House of Spirits. He was wooed by Sak’s Fifth Avenue to handle corporate celebrity wrangling before accepting a full time position at Andew Rasiej’s Irving Plaza Concert Hall as the Director of Public Relations handling promotions for performers Yoko Ono, Eric Bogosian, BB King and more. Moving to Jason Weinberg & Associates as Senior Executive of Public Relations, Nelson served as the chief representative for a stable of celebrity clients including Tim Burton, Debbie Harry, David LaChapelle, Lennox Lewis and Sean "Puffy" Combs. Weinberg soon closed his PR practice to focus on management and moved to Los Angeles to open Untitled Entertainment. Nelson instituted his own firm entitled Workhouse Publicity, in honor of the now defunct Workhouse Theater Company, within a rented kitchen within Gill Holland's CineBlast! Productions in SoHo. His roster included brands and artists including Interview Magazine, David LaChapelle and Francis Ford Coppola.

After the tragedy of September 11th, Workhouse Publicity relocated to Chelsea where the agency produced the first production of production of the 24 Hour Plays to aid The NY State WTC Relief Fund with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosie Perez, Benjamin Bratt, Billy Crudup, Mary-Louise Parker, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Adam Nelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Lili Taylor, Natasha Lyonne, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Robert Sean Leonard, Drena DeNiro, Catherine Kellner, Brendan Sexton, Jared Harris, Sam Rockwell, Fisher Stevens and Adam Nelson who appeared in six short plays, each written less than a day before the curtain raised. Under the direction of Gregory Mosher, Anna Strasberg, Pippin Parker, six plays written by Frank Pugliese, Warren Leight, Richard LaGravenese, Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Burdette and Chris Shinn debuted and closed in New York on Monday, September 24th, 2001 at the Minetta Lane Theater.

Adam Nelson was selected by the International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs in 2002 and the International Who’s Who of Executives in 2003, Who's Who is a network of recognized purveyors whose credentials are well established and has been documenting biographies on successful professionals since 1928. Nelson has received the National Congressional Committee’s 2003 National Leadership Award and was elected to serve an Honorary Chairman of the Business Advisory Council. He married the stage manager of his show How to Talk Dirty, Alison Nelson in 2002. Alison Nelson is the founding owner of Chocolate Bar whose locations include New York's East Village, Henri Bendel, Long Beach Island and 30 locations in Dubai, India and the Middle East. The couple reside in New York and have two children a daughter, Lulu Scout Nelson and a son, Sailor August Nelson.

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