Lorraine Devon Wilke
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Writer, actor, photographer, rock & roll vet, Lorraine Devon Wilke, seemed destined to be a hyphenate. Born in Chicago, growing up in small-town Illinois, she launched early into the eclectic career she's maintained since.
A theater major at the University of Illinois (where her first collaborative piece landed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. after winning the National College Theater Festival), and later a lead singer in a road band that led west, she launched her acting career in Los Angeles; stage plays and small film and TV roles followed, but she was ultimately led back to music, where she spent most of the vivid '80s singing and songwriting with her band, DEVON, an original New Wave/Soul project that exploded onto the LA rock scene in tandem with MTV.
During that time she worked with top producers and songwriters (including Brian Cadd, Craig Krampf, Bob DeStocki and jazz/blues notable Bob Shad), and later became part of THIRD PERSON, an original rock project with Rod Stewart vets, Kevin Savigar and Jim Cregan. But even while immersed in big hair and rock clubs, she found a love for telling stories in screenplay form.
When she and filmmaker, Patricia Royce, came up with a clever screenplay based on their tumultuous lives as single women trying to find "someone who'll mute the TV when we're talking to them," the result was To Cross the Rubicon, a $1.7M feature directed by Barry Caillier and produced by the Lensman Company (Seattle, WA). A festival favorite, the indie film starred acclaimed singer/songwriter, JD Souther and the emerging Billy Burke, and also featured Jeffrey Dean Morgan and, one of her favorite performers, David Crosby. Co-starring as a prodigal rock singer, Devon Wilke also co-wrote and recorded several of the songs on the soundtrack, one of which, "I Surrender," she performs onscreen.
The 90s was also about marriage and family, but she got back onstage during that era in the long-running Los Angeles musical, "Is It Just Me, Or Is It Hot In Here?", produced and directed by the renowned Michael Arabian, as well as the original project, "Country, the Musical!", a country musical written and produced by her husband, Pete Wilke, and directed by Broadway veteran, Kay Cole.
By the mid-2000s, Devon Wilke was once again back to rock & roll with ROAD TO BLUE, a top-notch blues/rock band that culminated in the recording of her first full-length CD, SOMEWHERE ON THE WAY a well-reviewed collection of roots/rock originals written, arranged, and produced by Devon Wilke and Rick M. Hirsch.
Continuing her singing, songwriting, and screenwriting (her screenplay The Theory of Almost Everything was a Finalist in the 2012 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest; a second, A Minor Rebellion was honored in 2014 and 2018), she's also built a fine art photography business, has three award-winning novels, AFTER THE SUCKER PUNCH, HYSTERICAL LOVE, with her third, THE ALCHEMY OF NOISE published by She Writes Press in 2019. For the last decade+ she has been a regular contributor to a wide variety of newspapers and journalistic websites, as well as her own blog, Rock+Paper+Music, and column at Medium.
2017 brought her out of theatrical retirement with a lead role in the world premiere of THE GEEZE AND ME, a new musical written by Hedges Capers (music/book) and Nancy Locke Capers (book/director), which ran at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center in San Diego. Back on the boards as an actor, Devon Wilke continues to perform as a singer/songwriter in the Los Angeles area.
With one son, Dillon, and a stepdaughter, Jennie, she is married to Los Angeles entertainment/business attorney and writer/producer, Pete Wilke.
A theater major at the University of Illinois (where her first collaborative piece landed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. after winning the National College Theater Festival), and later a lead singer in a road band that led west, she launched her acting career in Los Angeles; stage plays and small film and TV roles followed, but she was ultimately led back to music, where she spent most of the vivid '80s singing and songwriting with her band, DEVON, an original New Wave/Soul project that exploded onto the LA rock scene in tandem with MTV.
During that time she worked with top producers and songwriters (including Brian Cadd, Craig Krampf, Bob DeStocki and jazz/blues notable Bob Shad), and later became part of THIRD PERSON, an original rock project with Rod Stewart vets, Kevin Savigar and Jim Cregan. But even while immersed in big hair and rock clubs, she found a love for telling stories in screenplay form.
When she and filmmaker, Patricia Royce, came up with a clever screenplay based on their tumultuous lives as single women trying to find "someone who'll mute the TV when we're talking to them," the result was To Cross the Rubicon, a $1.7M feature directed by Barry Caillier and produced by the Lensman Company (Seattle, WA). A festival favorite, the indie film starred acclaimed singer/songwriter, JD Souther and the emerging Billy Burke, and also featured Jeffrey Dean Morgan and, one of her favorite performers, David Crosby. Co-starring as a prodigal rock singer, Devon Wilke also co-wrote and recorded several of the songs on the soundtrack, one of which, "I Surrender," she performs onscreen.
The 90s was also about marriage and family, but she got back onstage during that era in the long-running Los Angeles musical, "Is It Just Me, Or Is It Hot In Here?", produced and directed by the renowned Michael Arabian, as well as the original project, "Country, the Musical!", a country musical written and produced by her husband, Pete Wilke, and directed by Broadway veteran, Kay Cole.
By the mid-2000s, Devon Wilke was once again back to rock & roll with ROAD TO BLUE, a top-notch blues/rock band that culminated in the recording of her first full-length CD, SOMEWHERE ON THE WAY a well-reviewed collection of roots/rock originals written, arranged, and produced by Devon Wilke and Rick M. Hirsch.
Continuing her singing, songwriting, and screenwriting (her screenplay The Theory of Almost Everything was a Finalist in the 2012 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest; a second, A Minor Rebellion was honored in 2014 and 2018), she's also built a fine art photography business, has three award-winning novels, AFTER THE SUCKER PUNCH, HYSTERICAL LOVE, with her third, THE ALCHEMY OF NOISE published by She Writes Press in 2019. For the last decade+ she has been a regular contributor to a wide variety of newspapers and journalistic websites, as well as her own blog, Rock+Paper+Music, and column at Medium.
2017 brought her out of theatrical retirement with a lead role in the world premiere of THE GEEZE AND ME, a new musical written by Hedges Capers (music/book) and Nancy Locke Capers (book/director), which ran at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center in San Diego. Back on the boards as an actor, Devon Wilke continues to perform as a singer/songwriter in the Los Angeles area.
With one son, Dillon, and a stepdaughter, Jennie, she is married to Los Angeles entertainment/business attorney and writer/producer, Pete Wilke.
