Chris Cloyd was born into a multiracial family on an Army base in Kansas and grew up in Ft. Collins, Colorado. He later moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to study acting and directing at Creighton University where he earned a BFA and Certificate of Business Administration. He later obtained his MFA from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. While at USC, he was awarded the Jeffery Jones Scholarship for Writing for his work on the screenplay Yasin, which screened at the Berlinale International Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival. His graduate thesis film coons won several awards and screened in over 25 festivals around the world including the Montréal World Film Festival, Bilbao International Film Festival, and the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival. Cloyd was awarded an Honorable Mention from the Director’s Guild of America for his work on coons.