Candidate for
United States Representative; District 26; Democratic Party

HOYT HILSMAN grew up in Washington, D.C., where his father worked on Capitol Hill and was Assistant Secretary of State under John F. Kennedy. In college at Columbia University and later at Columbia Law School, Hoyt was active in politics, working with Bill Clinton, Joe Lieberman and others who later became national leaders. During and after law school, Hoyt worked in the Federal Legal Services program, helping the poor, unemployed and disabled, at a state prison advising representing indigent inmates and then as an Executive at the Screen Actors Guild.

Pursuing his dream of becoming a writer, Hoyt left the legal field to become a journalist, playwright and screenwriter. Since then, Hoyt has had a very successful career, winning numerous awards for his writing. He has been a contributor to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, the New York Times, Variety and a number of other national publications. His plays have been produced in the United States and abroad, and he has written screenplays for movie studios and television networks, including New Line, Disney, Sony, CBS, ABC and others. Hoyt has also been a consultant on entertainment and media to a wide variety of companies and organizations, including Idealab!, Disney, Unocal, Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and the Kennedy Space Center, and is author of several books on media and communications. A gifted teacher, he has taught at UCLA, Pepperdine and Pasadena City College.

Hoyt has continued his active involvement in politics. He has worked as an advisor to a number of congressional campaigns and was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He is a Director at the Hope Street Group, a bipartisan organization of young professionals in business and academia dedicated to equality of opportunity and economic growth. In his work with this group, Hoyt has participated in several national task forces focusing on education, health, housing. tort reform, corporate welfare and other issues. The policy papers developed by the Hope Street Group were used extensively by several candidates during the 2004 presidential campaign, and the organization continues to advise national candidates in the 2008 presidential race.

Hoyt is also active as a community volunteer. He has taught creative writing to students in the public schools in East Los Angeles through a volunteer program at PEN West. He has also volunteered at Union Station (a homeless shelter in Pasadena), and been active in the Writers Guild and other community organizations. He is married to Nancy Kay Turner, who is an artist, teacher and critic. They have one son, Michael, who is a senior at the University of California, Santa Cruz.