Gabe Valdez and Ryder Tam
Yosemite Diversity Team
Gabriel Valdez is an LGBTQ+, Hispanic, actor, improviser, and writer. He is an Upright Citizens Brigade alumnus and has trained with The Groundlings ( Los Angeles) and Bird City Improv (Baltimore). He is currently an instructor at The Ledge Theater in Los Angeles. Gabe currently performs with the teams TVunscripted and Downtown Menagerie throughout the LA area. He is also a playwright with work featured at the Denver Fringe Festival and has over 50,000 views on his sketch comedy work. Gabe has performed and taught internationally at the Improv Fest Ireland, Auckland Improv Marathon (New Zealand), and regionally at Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade, and Westside Comedy (Santa Monica), among others within the Performing Arts
In addition, Gabe is a professionally trained environmental analyst and geologist, He would love to talk with you about rocks and protecting the environment.
Ryder Tam is a Chinese-American improviser, actor, comedian and occasional aerospace engineer from Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a former improv instructor for Rise Comedy Denver, currently teaches for Ledge Theater in Los Angeles, and has taught workshops for Cornerstone Improv (San Diego), Bird City Improv (Baltimore), Neighborhood Comedy Theater (Phoenix), The Idiot Box (Greensboro, NC), and 3E's Comedy Club (Colorado Springs). Ryder trained at Upright Citizens Brigade, iO Chicago, Second City, Pack Theater, and Groundlings, where he is also a Saturday Night Live scholarship award winner. He performed as a headliner at the Detroit Improv Festival and Trill Comedy Festival (Houston), and has taught and performed for numerous other comedy festivals. International appearances include Ireland Improv Festival and Improfest Sweden.
Currently, Ryder performs with the Pack Theater house teams Wiggle Room (Sketch Comedy), Mind Reader (Improv), and with genre improv teams TVunscripted (Film Noir and D&D), Downtown Menagerie (Tennessee Williams), Kind Strangers (Tennessee Williams), A Very Special Episode (Sitcom), and Science Night Live (Producer; variety show). Fun fact: there is a polaroid picture of him in space! www.RyderTam.com
