Biography

A product of America's hard-working middle class, Shawn-Caulin Young is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. They were born on March 22 in the small town of Lamar, Colorado, to their father, jockey/racehorse trainer Jim, and their mother, Julie. Shawn (youngest of four) was raised in the desert outskirts of the Navajo Nation, in the reservation border town of Farmington, New Mexico. Their heritage includes those of Irish, English, Norwegian and Swedish descent.

Upon discovering their love for storytelling in high school, Shawn-Caulin pursued a BFA in Acting from the prestigious performing arts conservatory, The Hartt School (UHA). After classically training in England and graduating with top honors from Hartt, Shawn moved to NYC, where they began their career in film and television.

"Discovered" by Burrows/Boland Casting and director Robert Zemeckis during the casting process of what would have been a live-action version of the beloved Beatles' cartoon, The Yellow Submarine. Zemeckis selected them (second only to Cary Elwes) from an international talent pool to play famed Beatles guitarist George Harrison. Since then, Shawn has worked on numerous film, television, and theater productions worldwide. An experienced horseman, stuntman, and athlete, Young is an actor who is known and widely respected for their ability to "disappear" and physically transform into other people.

Now a celebrated writer, Shawn-Caulin was hand-picked out of 3600 applicants for the 2022 Screencraft Fellowship for their screenwriting abilities. Inspired by their childhood of growing up with cowboys and the Indigenous, Young writes through the lens of the working poor experience to blend genres with magical realism to tell the untold stories of the Southwest and beyond.