Before getting to the subject of this post, I actually just came back from helping some friends move to the city. I’ve talked about this couple before.. Paul and Shalan Crivellari! They intend to continue and expand their photography work here in Toronto. So if you’re in the area and need the services of a great pair of photographers, be sure to get in touch with them: www.cprophoto.com.

In the month of May, I had jobs involving FaceSeal Technologies (more specifically their Fitseal product) and George Brown College. Both were lots of fun and I had the chance to meet and work with great people! On top of that, I continue having regular auditions and castings.

Also, I’m finishing up my improvisation foundation classes at Bad Dog Theater. I’ve completed three levels, each having a weekly 3 hour class, lasting 7 to 8 weeks. Right now, I’m about half way through the 4th and final level of the foundation classes. If you’re an actor looking for more training or just want to have fun and meet people, I definitely recommend it! Most of my classes were taught by an awesome teacher, Alastair Forbes.

Finally, I continue to get small jobs, and doing occasional “live” modeling. This usually happens during meetings where certain companies have clients that want to see clothes being worn. Speaking of, I’ll be doing quite a few hours of it this week!

Yesterday I wrapped up my role of George Patisso on Season 5, Episode 12 of F2: Forensic Factor directed by Laurie Lynd.

Let me start by going back to the audition. First of all, I knew the casting director Crystal Kramer, and I tend to do well at her castings.. although I hadn’t booked a role through her yet. I always seem to “come in second” for the roles I was going for. Anyway, I got to the building and found the person who I was auditioning with. He seemed familiar, but only later did I realize why. It was Anwar Knight from CTV News. He and I ran through our scene until it was our turn to go. This really helped me get ready for the audition, and when we were called in, we both did great and that one take was all they needed. A few days later, I got the news that I was offered the role of George Patisso!

I was needed on set for two days. The first one was on Tuesday, and consisted of a full 12 hour day. This is where most of the scenes involving my character were shot. My second day consisted of an evening call time, with only one scene to shoot.

It was a great experience and I met some awesome people. Despite the gruesome content of the show, the other actors and the crew filled my day with laughs and good times. Check out the picture, taken as we’re hanging out, getting ready to shoot a morgue scene. I’ll let you guess my role in the scene, based on the fact that I was waiting around in a bathrobe.

However, it wasn’t all laughs. We also had some more serious and reflective moments. This show is a docudrama, with reenactments of real events where people were killed. We all felt sympathy for the the friends and family of the people who’s murders are covered by this episode of the show… My heart goes out to them.

Yesterday, I got a call from my talent agent Teri, about this booking concerning a video production for SMART Technologies. It came as a bit of a surprise as I didn’t audition for them. Well, Teri explained that they booked me from my headshot. Then when I noticed Infinite Media was working on this project.. it rang a bell. They were the ones who worked on the LG Fusic website about two years ago!

So when I got to set today, some of the people from Infinite said they remembered me from the previous work we’ve done together. It’s always nice to work with people from previous jobs, as it doesn’t happen too often in this industry. You constantly work with and meet new people, which.. don’t get me wrong.. is amazing and something I’m very grateful for! However, it’s also nice to see familiar faces.

The shoot went great! I was one of the characters in the video showcasing SMART Tech’s innovative products. I sat down and a nice comfortable chair, pretended to sip some coffee and answer a video phone call. Most of the work was having to mimic conversation.. which I actually got praise for.. being told it was very natural and convincing. As usual, I was appreciative of their feedback, and glad that they were happy with my performance! We were able to finish off with my role in the video on time, and to the satisfaction of everyone. I had a great time, and was glad to have worked with these people again. Not to mention the other talent involved who were all pleasant to be around. I drove off to another Sears catalogue gig with a smile on my face and in a awesome mood!

Just a week ago, I hosted the Great Canadian Mash Up which happened at Myth on the Danforth in Toronto. This event was put together by Centennial College students and was in support of a youth program in Toronto called The Remix Project. They help young people who aspire to start careers in the urban arts sector.

It was a pleasure to host this event, and witness the performances by an amazing musical line up including Liya and Promise, The Styrofoam Ones, Carmela Antonio and a Remix Project graduate; Obie.

It was actually the first time I hosted an event, and had a great time doing it. The students were really happy with me and even gave me a thank you card and a few gifts! On top of that, Carmela gave me a copy of her first LP, which I insisted she sign. Her, along with all the other artists, gave such great performances. Make sure you check out the links provided for each artist, although the music on their website does not do justice to their live acts! Once again, I had a great time hosting this event and am thankful that I was able to be a part of it!

As for the modeling end, I attended a casting at Pi Media. It went really well, and I was told that they’d want to use regarding catalogue work for Sears, one of their biggest clients. Well, the following week, they had booked me for two days in a row, with more work to come! The people there are really friendly, easy going and a pleasure to work with!

First off, Yesterday’s post was in fact an April Fools. I’m still holding on to my acting career!

Actually, on Monday, photographer Robert Gagnon shot me for the cover of an upcoming Harlequin book. I forget the name of it, but know it should be released in October 2009. We shot two main looks for the character. First his handyman side (complete with tool belt) then with a more cowboy look to him (no tool belt, but a hat this time). It went great and everyone on set was pleasant. Hope to work with Robert and his team again!

If you were wondering about the Doritos Guru contest, my commercial entry didn’t make the top 5. However, I’m still very happy with how things went and the way the video turned out. I’m very thankful for everyone involved in this experience, and the support I had throughout this contest! Filmmaking is definitely something I want to continue to peruse. As for this video, you can now watch it on YouTube in HD!

As you’ve noticed from my last post, I’ve decided to explore being behind the camera, instead of just in front of it as an actor. Well, now I have yet another announcement to make concerning my career path. I’ve decided to completely drop acting and future projects as a filmmaker, to become a rapper. I’m currently working on my first single, “Fishin’ fo tha Fools”.

Watch: YouTube[HD] (30 seconds)

Well maybe not just “directorial”.. I produced, directed, wrote, shot, edited, cast, etc. my very first project this past weekend! Couldn’t of done with without everyone involved.. a big thanks to all!

Check out my new Production page for more details, including a list of people’s contribution to the projet, on the page I put together for my Doritos Intense: Snack Guru commercial entry for the Doritos Guru contest!

Click the link just under the picture to watch and vote (via the thumbs up image when you get to the page) for my commercial. You can vote up to once a day and leave as many comments as you wish. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to join the group to help spread the word. Your support is greatly appreciated!

I’ve finally put together my first production.. and it was awesome! And I can’t thank my wonderful team enough! Without those of you who helped me by being in it, or lend a hand behind the scenes and on set, this wouldn’t of been possible. This means so much to me, especially being a first. It’s something I’ve been passionate about for longer than I even realized, and it was amazing to be able to actualize my vision.

I always thought it would of started with a short film but it turned out to be a thirty second commercial entry for a contest. But not any contest.. $25,000 grand prize and 1% of future Canadian sales? Talk about motivation! Voting ends March 18th so please do your best to vote daily, comment and spread the word!

Before I moved to Toronto, I was represented by my former agency in Ottawa as both an actor and model (as they covered both markets). My focus is in acting, film and TV.. no question about it. However, being open to modeling, I did quite a bit of work (mostly as commercial print ads) and had fun. Not only can it pay well, but often times I meet great people.. some also involved in the film and TV industry.

So I recently decided I would find a modeling agent. This with complete support from my wonderful talent agent, Teri Boyack, fully aware that she would no longer be able to submit me for print castings. She explained that she could only cover a quarter of the modeling work in the city, and that I’d need another agent to cover the rest.

Well I’m happy to announce that from now on, I’ll be represented by B&M Models, here in Toronto. I actually met the owner Melanie Mateus almost two years ago, in Ottawa. She had expressed interest in representing me in Toronto, but I wasn’t ready to spend even more time on the road. I decided since modeling was secondary to me, that I’d wait until I made the move to Toronto. I remembered having a good impression of her.. and still had her business card to this day!

I guess you can say, I’m back in full force. However, as mentioned yesterday, I’m about to test the waters with something other than acting or modeling. Looking forward to sharing this with you soon!

What a great way to start a new month! Today I attended a workshop put up by director George D’Amato, and once again, the lovely Crystal Kramer (C.D.C.). Although this time, I didn’t participate.. but video taped everyone’s performances!

So you could say I audited the workshop.. but I still benefited! The upside is, when you don’t have a scene to prepare, it’s easier to be more focused on what’s going on (rather than having the fact that you will be performing soon in the back of your mind). I learned a lot of things and was refreshed on stuff that I’ve been taught before. I always love going to these. No matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn! Besides, considering the amount of information out there, well do we really know that much?

Big thanks to both Crystal and George on giving me the opportunity to play cameraman and teaching me a lot of useful things! Speaking of cameraman.. that will be one of many new hats I’ll be wearing, as I put together my own project. More to come on this one!

At the beginning of the week, I spent two days shooting a corporate video. I had the role of the host; the lead character in the video. Due to the fact that this will be an internal video, used within the company that it was produced for, I’m not going to name them unless they say it’s okay. In that case, I’d be happy to share that with you as they are an internationally recognized store, with over a thousand locations worldwide. That, and it’s one that I used to love going to as a kid.

What I can say though, is that it was produced by Chris MacKechnie from Slingshot Inc, directed by Mhel Silva, with Avi Zarum behind the camera.

Before I talk about the video shoot, I have a story about the actual casting process! Well, okay.. it’s not that exciting, but here goes anyway. I initially tried out for a secondary character in the video. Two days later, based on the performance of my first audition, I got called in again to try out for the lead. As you now know, I ended up getting the main role, which as actually planned for someone a bit older than me.

Going back to the actual shoot, this was my first time using a teleprompter and turned out to be a great learning experience! One of the guys on set was hired to help the actors with their French, as this was a bilingual video. Well.. he did much more than that! Not only did he help me minimize an accent when switching back and forth between the two languages, he also acted as an amazing catalyst to get the right performance out of me! We also worked together on proofreading the French version, and making minor changes (although he did most of the work there). Again, this man went above and beyond what he was hired to do and did even more than what I mention here. Thanks Antoinne!

Once again, I had a great time working with everyone involved, including the lovely woman representing the company the video was shot for. It was a blast to shoot, and credit goes everyone involved as well as the fun script and concept. Finally, who can forget Zak, the adorable, well behaved dog who hung out with us on set!