Hi everyone, it’s Rich Tola.

I’m an author, actor and founder of The Boulevard Zen Foundation, a charity teaching yoga to women and children survivors of domestic violence.

My colorful memoir, Simply Between Millions: From Wall Street to Hollywood, takes you on a wild, witty and sexy ride – from the heights of Wall Street excess to Hollywood’s unforgiving ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams.’ It’s a true story of perseverance, spiritual awakening, and defying conventional wisdom to follow my dreams.

I grew-up in Trenton, New Jersey, in a traditional working-class Sicilian family. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) and received my MBA from Northwestern University (Kellogg). I sold stocks for Goldman Sachs and junk bonds for Drexel Burnham Lambert on Wall Street in the 80s, I sold Manhattan real estate and traveled the globe as an International Finance Consultant in the 90s, and I founded the first-of-its-kind real estate Internet company that took me to a net worth of $10,000,000 in 2000.

Within a year, I had lost everything.

After my dot-com crash and burn, I spent several years in real estate before finding the courage – through  Yoga – to pursue my lifelong dream of acting. In February 2007, I gambled my entire life savings and moved to the “nobody makes it here” world of Hollywood.

I worked in feature films, commercials, primetime television and theater before producing my first film, Boulevard Zen, in 2009. Upon completion, I started The Boulevard Zen Foundation to help women and children living in domestic violence shelters. I knew firsthand that Yoga changes lives –  it changed mine. Today, 10% of all my book and DVD sales benefit the charity.

I have been passionate about fitness for more than 30 years, spending the past seven years incorporating Yoga into my everyday life. I’ve spent over 12,000 hours training in gyms and health clubs around the world, and have taught more than 15,000 yoga students since becoming a 200-hour certified teacher in 2006.

In addition to my film, I have produced more than 15 hours of instructional yoga videos, including my video encyclopedia of Yoga poses, Yoga Survival Guide, my 15 Minute Fat Burning Workouts, and my 100 Days of 5 Minute Fat Burning Workouts currently available on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting & have an awesome day! – R

Actor’s Reel (2011)