Russell is an actor and writer originally from Boulder, Colorado, and currently lives in New York City. His background specializes in Theatre of the Oppressed as he spent three years touring the world on U.S. military bases using theater to teach sexual assault prevention. He co-founded a production company called Youngest Brother Productions that has produced multimedia productions in Los Angeles and is currently developing projects for the screen. He holds his MFA  from NYU's Graduate Acting Program and his BA in Theater from UC San Diego.