Toby Marquez

Toby Marquez is a filmmaker-photographer who has documented people and events in 32 countries in the Americas, Australia, Europe and Asia. In two deployments to Vietnam, Marquez covered aircraft strike operations from carriers off Vietnam and the Navy “Brown Water” swift boats in the Delta.

 

Marquez documented President John F. Kennedy’s experimental 18-month cruise of USS Claude V. Ricketts manned by sailors from seven NATO countries. Another film, “A Gathering of Men and Ships” with Charlton Heston, was Marquez’s 1976 Bi-Centennial documentation of the Tall Ships in New York City. He then visited the participating sailors in their home countries to record their personal stories.

 

Toby served in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted photojournalist and rose to the rank of Commander. He completed studies in the Navy Photojournalism Program at Syracuse University and earned 2 Masters degrees in film and mass communications from the University of Southern California. His thesis film on the Chemehuevi Indians won the Directors Guild Award as the Best Student documentary. Marquez was appointed by Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, as a participant in the Navy Affirmative Action Study Group in the Pentagon.

 

He would serve as Director of the worldwide “Navy Video News” program and produced the film “The Navy in West Africa” with Alex Haley which won the Cine Golden Eagle award. He now heads STUDIO M INC, a company specializing in corporate and institutional communications. Clients include General Dynamics IT, Leidos, Huntington Ingalls Industries, IMP Agency, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Carfax and Alion Science and Technology.

 

He is also an independent contractor for Visual Media One LLC and Larry Levin Associates. He has filmed Jane Goodall, Drew Barrymore, Stevie Wonder, President Ronald Reagan, Lil Wayne, Melvin Taylor, Kelly McGillis and Medal of Honor recipient Marine Col. “Barney” Barnum.

 

Toby is active in fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Kids R First and foundations supporting wounded veterans such as SEGS4VETS. Toby lives in Reston, VA, with his business partner Carol Ann Marquez and their cat, Poof.