photo credit: Art Mellor


"Ron Faiola has become Wisconsin's legacy filmmaker." - Shepherd Express, Milwaukee

"Ron Faiola you're a genius filmmaker." - Rick Kogan, WGN Radio/Chicago Tribune


Ron Faiola Biography

Ron Faiola was raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, Wisconsin where he started making films on his father's 8mm film camera, imitating Monty Python skits. He got his start in the food service industry as a teenager, cooking fried chicken at KFC. Later, he became a short order cook at a greasy spoon, and then paid his way through film school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by making sub sandwiches at Suburpia and pizzas at Rocky Rococo. His 1987 student film Wieners represented UWM in the International Student Film Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel. It would be the first of his food oriented films.

Faiola was a video specialist for the Milwaukee law office of Foley & Lardner before starting his own production company, Push Button Gadget Inc. He was also a cartoonist, a DJ at WMSE 91.7 FM and musician, most notably the drummer and co-founding member of Couch Flambeau. He also runs MilwaukeeRockPosters.com, with a monthly music podcast featuring Wisconsin bands from all eras.

In 2009, he produced and directed Fish Fry Night Milwaukee, a documentary about the popular Wisconsin tradition of the Friday night fish fry. His next documentary, Wisconsin Supper Clubs - An Old Fashioned Experience (2011), showcased the unique locations, food and atmosphere of 14 supper clubs around the state. The Wisconsin Supper Clubs movie has appeared on PBS stations nationwide and earned mentions in such newspapers as the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as well as other print and web-based media around the United States.

In 2015, he released a documentary on Milwaukee church festivals titled, Tilt-A-Whirls, Cowbells and Beer which was also broadcast on Public Television and has screened at various film festivals.

In 2013, Faiola's first book, Wisconsin Supper Clubs: An Old Fashioned Experience was released by Agate Publishing's Midway imprint. Now in its 12th printing, the book has garnered enthusiastic interest from the media and supper club fans around the US.

A second book on Wisconsin Supper Clubs, titled Wisconsin Supper Clubs: Another Round was released in May of 2016.

Faiola's third book, The Wisconsin Supper Clubs Story: An Illustrated History With Relish was released in 2021 to great critical acclaim. It was awarded a gold medal by the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MiPA) in the Non-Fiction/History category.

Wisconsin Supper Clubs Second Edition was released in November of 2023, featuring an expanded and updated look at the clubs in the first edition as well as 15 new hidden gems and worthy destinations.

After living on the fashionable east side of Milwaukee for two decades, Faiola now resides in the historic Village of Greendale. For more information, visit RonFaiola.com.