Green Wish Board and Staff

Raphael Sbarge, Executive Director

Raphael Sbarge has been a working actor for more than five decades. Growing up in New York City’s lower East Side, he began working at age 4 on Sesame Street. He has appeared in dozens of movies, including Risky Business, My Science Project, Independence Day, Pearl Harbor and Vision Quest.

Raphael’s resume includes more than 100 guest appearances and series regular roles on network television shows including the long-running ABC hit Once Upon a Time, the TNT series Murder in the First, and The Guardian for CBS. He has recurred on series including Star Trek Voyager, Dexter and Prison Break. Raphael has also performed on stage in theaters around the country and appeared in five Broadway productions.

In 2020, Raphael earned his first Emmy nomination for LA FOODWAYS, a one-hour feature documentary and a six-part series that he directed and produced. It debuted on KCET-PBS, which his production company, Wishing Well Entertainment, co-produced with the network. He has directed and produced several other films for KCET that have aired. His feature film, called ONLY IN THEATERS, was a critical success with a theatrical run, playing over 100 dates around the US. The film follows The Laemmle Theaters, a fourth-generation family business and beloved art house cinema chain with ties to the origins of Hollywood. The New York Times called the film,“Undeniably compelling.” The LA Times called it “Beautiful and Complicated.” Variety said it was “(The year’s) most emotional theatrical experience.” The Forward said it’s a “Funny, heartbreaking and moving story about the power of movies.” It has a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Raphael earned his first Emmy for a PBS series he directed and produced called 10 DAYS IN WATTS , set in Watts, CA. The series follows another legacy story of a third-generation family working to “improve the lives of the citizens of Watts” for over 57 years. Through the series, viewers meet many of the long resident of Watts, as they prepare for the opening of a 2 ½ acre farm at the foot of one of the most notorious housing projects, Jordan Downs. The series was also nominated five times by the LA Press Club and won a journalism award for excellence.