Arthur Bjorn Egeli was born in Valley Lee, Maryland to a prominent family of noted artists. He is the grandson of portrait painters Lois Baldwin Egeli and Bjorn Egeli, who painted the official portraits of Richard Nixon and Dwight D. Eisenhower. His parents, Joanette and Cedric Egeli are among the most sought after portrait painters in the United States. He is the Grand Nephew of cartoonist Robert Baldwin, Nephew of Artists Peter Egeli and Carolyn Egeli and Mary Lois Ekros. Arthur studied color with Impressionist Henry Hensche and the figure with his father and grandfather. In 1989 he moved to Pasadena, California to follow his interest in art and filmmaking. He successfully developed his own identity as an artist by fusing Hensche's color theories and his parents' academic realism with a plein air style. In 2001 he received the Award of Merit by the Portrait Society of America and the William Schultz Award for Oil Painting by the American Impressionsts' Society. In 2002 the Portrait Society of America awarded him with a Certificate of Recognition. In his filmmaking career, he received the Jury Prize at the Hampton's International Film Festival and a Gold Medal at the Houston Film Festival for Unconditional Love, a feature film about the coming-of-age of a young painter. Arthur Egeli is an Artist Member of the California Art Club, American Impressionist Society, and the American Society of Portrait Painters.