Alumni-Founded Studio Collaborates on David Henrie’s “Seeking Beauty”
On Friday, students and alumni celebrated the premiere of the new documentary series in Los Angeles.
January 19, 2026
Produced by EWTN Studios, Digital Continent, Novo Inspire Studios, and Sacred Art House, Seeking Beauty is a first-of-its-kind adventure documentary series bringing together audiences from all walks of life in a fun-loving exploration of the culture, architecture, food, art and music that point us to the beautiful and lead us to the divine. The show is hosted by David Henrie, an actor, director, and producer known for projects including Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, Reagan, and his directorial debut Monster Summer, starring Mel Gibson.
The first season had its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles on Friday, January 16th, with many JPCatholic students, alumni, and staff in attendance at the red carpet event. The event was planned by Black//Brown (Augusta D’Ambrosio as Event Director), with event planning execution and onsite support by Event Manager and alumna Olivia Byer (née Nelson, ‘15).
The Akimbo Studio team
Akimbo Studio, founded by Nate Sjogren (‘11), had a key role in bringing the series to life. Since 2021, Sjogren’s company has worked on Catholic animation projects with Digital Continent, founded by Edmundo Reyes. For Seeking Beauty Season 1, Akimbo was responsible for designing and animating the lower thirds, location graphics, main title sequence, and credits.
In addition to Sjogren as Creative Director, alumni credits from his team include Andrew Inoue (‘22) and Phillip Storniolo (‘22) as Animators, and James Jacobus (‘19) as Producer. Sjogren teaches at JPCatholic as an adjunct professor, as does Nic Liberatore, the Lead Audio Producer for Akimbo Sound Lab. Liberatore was responsible for the audio mixing, mastering, and sound design on Seeking Beauty.
Season 1 was filmed entirely on location throughout Italy, highlighting the sacred in culture, architecture, art, food, and music. The pilot was released today on EWTN+, where anyone can view it for free worldwide.
“We wanted an experience for viewers, so we flipped the format on its head,” Henrie shares. “We have someone who's not an expert—which is me—inviting the audience to go on a journey. We go all over Italy, and we meet with locals, artists, experts, and I'm sitting down asking questions that maybe you at home would want to ask... I was blown away, hopefully, you'll be blown away, too, because we had some beautiful experiences.”
Many JPCatholic students and alumni helped as volunteers at the premiere in Los Angeles
Season 2, filmed last year in Spain, is already in post-production with an anticipated release later this year. Akimbo will continue producing graphics and sound design for the second season.
Learn more at www.seekingbeauty.show
President Derry Connolly and Lidy Connolly
Archbishop José H. Gómez
Photo Credits: Grant Whitty, Augusta D’Ambrosio