hunter lee canning
Hunter Lee Canning

about

The bio

I'm a New York actor, founder, and speaker (he/they). I grew up in the Santa Monica Mountains, trained at SUNY Purchase, and have spent two decades on screen, on stage, and behind a camera.

Most recent screen role is a recurring on Peacock's Dr. Death opposite Mandy Moore. Earlier: Jack in The Outs (Vimeo's cult web series, co-cast with Adam Goldman, Bowen Yang, and Alan Cumming), the foal Joey in Lincoln Center Theater's War Horse, voice work on Audible's Hot White Heist (Alan Cumming directing) and Welcome to Night Vale, plus guest credits on Billions, Quantico, Shades of Blue, New Amsterdam, Blue Bloods, Ray Donovan, and The Baker and the Beauty.

I run two AI companies. Plumwheel (co-founder, CCO) turns one founder conversation into weeks of marketing in the founder's voice. RAGnos Labs (founder) builds AI-native products end to end for founders and early-stage teams. Through PowerToFly I host an ongoing speaker series with eight hundred recorded interviews with executives, founders, and creators on what AI is doing to work. The neurodiversity arm of the series is SHRM-eligible and runs as a student resource at Buffalo, Pomona, and Richmond.

Before the AI work there were twenty years of pictures. My theater photography ran in The New York Times, Time Out New York, Backstage, and Playbill. I was photographer in residence at The Flea Theater, the New Light Theater Project, the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, Fordham, and Barnard. The archive lives at huntercanningphoto.com. It is not the current job; it is the throughline that runs underneath the founder work.

How I got here

The first role I ever had was the Changeling Child in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was six. I didn't read the script. I learned the part by listening to rehearsals until it was just in me. That's how it worked for a while: I could hold a Shakespeare role at six years old, but I couldn't get through a chapter book.

Reading and writing were genuinely hard for a long time. It took until I was an adult to get the full picture: dyslexia, ADHD. By then I'd already figured out the workarounds. Performance was native. So was photography. Voice work, hosting, interviewing. Mediums where you could think out loud, hold an audience, build something in real time without having to file it first through the page.

Twenty years of that shapes how you see things. When I started working with AI tools seriously, what struck me wasn't the hype. It was how many of the tools leveled a playing field I'd been navigating sideways for years. Drafting, structuring, transcription, synthesis. Things that take neurodiverse practitioners two or three times the energy to do on their own. I'm not an evangelist. I was on the SAG and WGA picket lines and using ChatGPT the same week. The discomfort is the curriculum. So is what the tools actually do for people who think differently.

Most of the speaking topics (AI and neurodiversity, the picket line and the prompt, building people-first AI products) start at the same place. A kid who could memorize Shakespeare before he could finish a chapter book.

Personal

Raised in the Santa Monica Mountains. BFA, SUNY Purchase. Lives in NYC with his chihuahua, Francis.

Elsewhere

Often asked

  • What does Hunter Lee Canning do?

    Three jobs. New York actor (recurring on Peacock's Dr. Death, lead in Vimeo's The Outs, Lincoln Center War Horse, voice work for Audible and Welcome to Night Vale). Founder of Plumwheel (AI agency, CCO and co-founder) and RAGnos Labs (AI build lab, founder). AI keynote speaker and conference interviewer; eight hundred recorded interviews on tape through PowerToFly.

  • What is Hunter Lee Canning known for as an actor?

    Recurring role as a regional medical examiner in Peacock's Dr. Death opposite Mandy Moore. Lead role as Jack in Vimeo's cult web series The Outs (co-cast with Adam Goldman, Bowen Yang, and Alan Cumming). Lincoln Center Theater's War Horse at the Vivian Beaumont, performing Joey the foal in Bunraku-style three-person puppetry. Voice work on Welcome to Night Vale and the Audible Original Hot White Heist (directed by Alan Cumming). Guest credits on Billions, Quantico, Shades of Blue, New Amsterdam, Blue Bloods, Ray Donovan, and The Baker and the Beauty.

  • What companies has Hunter Lee Canning founded?

    Two AI companies. Plumwheel (co-founder, CCO) turns one founder conversation into weeks of marketing in the founder's voice. RAGnos Labs (founder, technical lead) builds AI-native products end to end for founders and early-stage teams.

  • What does Hunter Lee Canning speak about?

    AI and the future of work. AI and neurodiversity (SHRM-eligible webinar series adopted by university career programs at Buffalo, Pomona, and Richmond). Founder-led storytelling and content systems. Creative-industry AI adoption. The thesis across all topics: AI gets useful when it amplifies a real human voice.

  • Where can I see Hunter Lee Canning’s photography archive?

    The archive lives at huntercanningphoto.com. Two decades of New York theater photography. Photographer-in-residence appointments at The Flea Theater, the New Light Theater Project, the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, Fordham, and Barnard. Work ran in The New York Times, Time Out New York, Playbill, and Backstage. It's the creative throughline behind the current founder and speaker work, not a current service.

  • How do I book Hunter for a keynote, interview, or panel?

    Through the contact form on this site (pick 'Speaking' as the topic). Honoraria and travel negotiated per engagement. In-person and virtual both work.

  • How can press request a bio, headshot, or quote?

    Everything is on /press: downloadable bios at three lengths, headshots in color and B&W, and the full coverage archive. Interview requests or deadline quotes go through the contact form.

  • Where is Hunter based?

    New York City for the past two decades. Trained at SUNY Purchase.