30.1.05

Quotes of the day

Noel Coward

"I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me."

Jules Renard

"I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't."

I just remembered... Maybe i should post here my resume. Here it is! Posted by Hello

Quotations on acting


And me again... A couple of years ago... Maybe even decades... Posted by Hello

Ok, so this is my father a couple of decades ago and from then on it's me through very different and strange phases in my life... Posted by Hello

when i was a baby... And that is my mother holding me and my father is looking at the camera Posted by Hello

That first picture is me on the beach a couple of years ago. bellow it's me between Teresa Tavares and Paula Neves at the final days of my last soap opera, before going to NY, Anjo Selvagem Posted by Hello

Another thing i'm really proud of: my certificate from the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute Posted by Hello

I'm sorry to brag, but this is the last letter of evaluation i got from the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and i'm so proud of it that i have to show it... Thank you, Debra. You're the best! Posted by Hello

This is a strip with the schedule of a cable tv channel wich is re-running the sitcom RESIDÊNCIAL TEJO not one, not two, but SEVEN times a week. Enough to be sick and tired of me. So, if you can get this channel, feel free to watch me! ( The signaled Black Adder is because i love the series... ) Posted by Hello

It's a fact: There are Papparazzi in Portugal! Me and Benedita were shot while on set by... it's true! Papparazzi! what really bothers me is that above the picture says « Benedita receives instructions to go with her boyfriend on the side-car » Come on, Samuel Ferreira, at least you could have put my name! And then... Maybe not. Maybe it's better this way... Posted by Hello

29.1.05


Benedita Pereira and me. Ok, so this i have to explain: I was supposed to be playing her boyfriend at the soap opera, but... After one week of shooting, the tv channel for whom i'm working ( TVI ) and wich chose me to play this role as her boyfriend, saw one ( maybe two ) scenes with us together and they thought that maybe they had made a mistake. They though i don't match with her, so... They switched me with another actor. The actor who was playing the bad guy's sun is now playing my role and i am playing his role. In two days i had to wax my chest, belly and back ( yes, i'm a hairless monkey now... ) and do a new image test for the tv channel and two days after the switch i was already shooting with my new character. Even more, now this character is a huge jiu jitsu fan ( well, let me tell you i didn't know a thing about jiu jitsu before last week... ) and so Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday i was rehearsing jiu jitsu so that last tuesday i could spend my intire day shooting jiu jitsu scenes... If i only knew that instead of studying acting i should have had jiu jitsu classes and permanet laser waxing sessions... But all is going fine, don't worry, cause i'm not worried one bit! Posted by Hello

Jenny Romero  Posted by Hello

Jenny Romero and Miguel barros rehearsing 29/01/2005 Posted by Hello

Julio Martin and Susana Arrais Posted by Hello

Julio and João rehearsal at the table 29th January Posted by Hello

Julio Martin and João Didelet paying attention to what the hell we where doing on stage. ( Sponsored by Coke ) Posted by Hello

Miguel Barros suspecting the photographer and i think he had a point in doing so...Posted by Hello

believe me, it's the photographer, because the auditorium is beautifull Posted by Hello

Miguel Barros and Susana Arrais. Married in real life and on stage, accept being my guinea pigs while i try my first shots with the digital camera on my new cell phone ( thanks , dad! )Posted by Hello

My teddy bear was getting anxious asking me when would i put a picture of him on my blog, so... Posted by Hello

I LOVE WHAT YOU DO

So, about the play I LOVE WHAT YOU DO: it's a wonderfull comedy written by Carole Greep, wich has been a sucess in Paris. I'm very happy to be directed by the one i call so often the master, João Didelet, assisted by my zen master Julio Martin ( he's not really a zen master, but for me, it's as if he was because you can never be too pissed when you're near him. Oh, by the way, Julio Martin is one of the hands that got me out of the hole when i was fired: to read the full story, go back to the given circumstances. Part One ) and to be playng oposite such good people like the Susana Arrais ( we got together in the conservatory and she put up with me for the three years there... Thank you for all your patience. She's an old friend... To think that i know her for 10 years now. Time really goes by... And it's the first time that we're working together professionally! ) and her husband in real life and on stage Miguel Barros ( A guy you should take notice of... He's going far, i'm telling you. It's wondefull being near creative people filled with ideas about theatre ! ) And the ( i think i can call her that ) newcomer Jenny Romero ( a very young, clever and beautifull actress, wich i have to say because she plays my wife. She's from Venezuela wich can only be a good omen) I think this play has everything to be a sucess. The production team of Commed'in is nurturing us like little princes as well as all the people who's working there at the Auditorium of the Liceu Camões ( wich by the way, is a fantastic new theatre room. ). We'lll be in Lisbon, Portugal till June ( it's a wonderfull oportunity to come by ). So, on the 23rd of February, cross your fingers for us, cause we're opening the play!

Given Circumstances - The return

Ok, so i got here on the 14th of December. By the 15th i was auditioning for the biggest soap opera production company (and now that i think about it, the only one ) and by the 16th i was already working with them. Not bad. I'm currently on the next soap opera of Fealmar. And then i went to auditon for this play called ( translated literally ) I love what you do. And i got it as well. And then i went to have a talk with Luis Galvão Telles, one of my favorite portuguese directors, with whom i had worked before on the tv movie The Bride in 2000. And i told him what i had been doing and i left him with a tape with my worked. He saw it and he called me saying that he wanted to work with me. And me with him! So, he gave me this gift: a short film wich is going to be directed by him where the extraordinary main character is going to be played by... Me! I can't tell you much, because secret is the soul of business, as we say here in Portugal, but i can't wait to twell you more about it. All i can sy is that i'm back into my workaholism and i love it!

The given circumstances part II

Ok, so, ready for the second part? Here it goes:
So, i was doing that play Abril Futebol Clube. And i was doing some children's theatre at the same time with the people i started doing professional theatre with, The theatre group Os Papaléguas. And then, over the summer, i was doing this play with Maria Emília Correia and i went to this audition for this sitcom called Residêncial Tejo. And... I got it. Before that i had only done small participations in various series like Riscos ( it's the only one i can recall right now,but i'm sure there where others... Time goes by and things get lost... ) where i played dreadfully this addict who pushed his girlfriend into the prostitution world... Sorry Rosa Mãe ( That's the actress i played with... ) I was so into doing it right that i even proposed to the director to cur an onion to cry and when the kissing scene was done i really stuck my tongue into the actress mouth... I really didn't know what i was doing... Once again... Sorry Rosa.
So, Residêncial Tejo, the first time i was doing tv in a series from the start. Oh my god, that wasn't that good as well... Because it was supposed to be theatre in front of a live audience filmed by the tv cameras. And... I never really knew to whom i was acting. But i REALLY tried hard to do my best. Only later i realised that it isn't because you try REALLY hard that things go right. Quite the contrary... Well, anyway, it was so good or so bad that even nowadays it's still re-running on a cabble channel here in Portugal called SIC Comédia, about seven times a week. And i haven't seen one euro more from it. But that is another issue. I don't knowbut i think there is an european law about image rights, but you know, i think it hasn't got here yet...
Well, it was one year and a half ( not bad, hem? ) of trial and mostly error. I didn't do much besides that on that year and a half. I was having too much fun convincing myself i was a tv star. Then, that was over and oh surprise, no imediate invitations. And i was haviong so much fun that all the money was gone. But the theatre never failed me and i got back to it. Maria do Céu Guerra, the star of the show invited me to her company. And there i stayed through the next two years. And then... 7 months after finishing the Residêncial Tejo, Fealmar invited me to do 8 sessions of this character at this soap opera called Anjo Selvagem ( translated literally: Wild Angel ) I never really paid that much attention to the soap operas. So... The character was supposed to be from the interior of the country and people from there use to have a peculiar accent and... I investigated a bit and i started doing that character with that accent. Even my co-workers were in doubt if i was really from there or not. And the producers and directors liked it and i stayed. And stayed. And stayed. One year and a half. And at the same time playing wonderfull roles at A Barraca. It was exausting, but like i said before, if you want to keep me happy, keep me acting. I was develloping a serious problem of workaholism.
And then... I have a cousin who was going to New York to work at this bank that was oppening this branch there. and at his goodbye Party, my cousin Pedro turned to me and said: Listen, i know that you have this dream of going to NY to study, so, i'm going to have a place there and if you want to come there and stay with me, you can. Well, all my appointments with the theatre company where coming to an end, the soap opera had ended, i had some money on the side and i thought: what the hell! Let me try it for 3 months. Well, to cut a long story short, nowadays i'm a certified student by the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, after one year and a half of study there, in New York.
I was supposed to go there for 3 months only. I got there in January. By February i applyed for a scholarship from the Foundation Calouste Gulbenkian. And by the end of March my cousin told me that he was going to stay for another 3 months and he invited me to stay further. So i did. By July i got back to Portugal, trying to get some money because i had spend it all in that wonderfulll and expensive city called NY. And by August, i got my scholarship. They where going to pay for a full nine months of training there! And in January 2004 i got back. and in September i applied for an extension of the scholarship so i could have my certificate and in December, i got back here. So... These are the given circumstances

28.1.05

The given circumstances

Ok, so let me tell you: I'm currently in Portugal, but that wasn't the case a while ago. Sometimes i look back on my past two years and i have to pinch myself. So, here's the story: I'm an actor. I've never really wanted to do anything else. Well, there was a time when i wanted to become an astronaut, but soon i realised that the portuguese space program was a bit delayed. The i wanted to become a director. A film director. But then i realised that the cinema industry over here was a bit behind as well. Nowadays, everythings different. Well, not THAT different, but different, after all, a couple of decades have passed. And what have i done throughuot those couple of decades? Well, i've decided to become an actor. Now i realise that maybe i shouldn't have done it the way i did. After all, now i realise that there are other ways of becoming an actor that don't necessarily have to do with studying acting. Well, but i did it that way. I was a part of every amateur theatre group that i could through my high school years. And, when i was 17, i was accepted at this theatre course where only people above 18 could participate... And on my first day there, i finally told them that i was 17. And they said that they would hide that from the inspectors. So, my first try at acting in real life. Well, not really, but it's something like a prophecy, isn't it? So, done that six months course, i tryed to get into the conservatory, not without before that, doing my first professional show at the age of 17 at the Teatro da Trindade, in Lisbon So then i tried to get into the Conservatory. I was the first one to put in my name there for the tests. And on the day of the test, the trin got late and when i got there, all the students where already being tested, so i got down on my knees in front of a teacher and she let me get there on the next day. I did my tests and i got in! Then there where three years of complete mess in my mind. I just though and had the feeling that everybody else thought as well that i wasn't made for it. Oh, in the meantime, i did a workshop with this ex-teacher from The Lee Strasberg theatre and Film Institute called Marcia Haufrecht. and then i discovered the method. And i kept on dreaming about studying it. So, back to the Conservatiory, that is the Superior School of Theatre and Cinema of Lisbon, i got through. And i though: now i'm going to sell pizzas or something. But no. Destiny was on my side as it has always been ( yes, i am a very lucky bastard... ) and one of my teachers invited me to do a show in his company. And there i started. Haja Harmonia. It was a crazy musical, i'm not very proud of my work there, but there wasn't that much to regret anyway. I did only a very small role. A prison guard. ( I know, there are no small roles, only small actors... ) then i did an audition for this theatre play to be directed by the catalan theatre group Els Comediants ( they're great! ) And i got it! One of the works i'm most proud of till this day. I did this really dumb guy who only wished he was as bad as the bad guys he got along with.... But he just couldn't although he tried really hard. Then, The Expo 98. Great times for this country. And i was there, in the Peregrination event. A daily show that run across alll the area of the expo. Great times.... Then i had no work in the theatre and i was an emplyee for three months at the Valentim de Carvalho record store at the Gare do Oriente near the expo area. It wasn't bad. I got to know a lot of music! Wich i love. t was only then that i realised that there's no way i'm ever going to read or listen to all the music i want.... And then... I went to the Teatro da Trindade again, to do some work guiding school groups on the visit to the theatre. Wich was a lot of fun. And then, an audition that would mark me till this day: Romeo and Juliet. First the director wanted me, then he didn't,, then we started having comunication problems. He told me to do things one way wich i didi and then he would tell me that it wasn't that way. I was completely lost. And one day, he asked me if i was there for the money or for the project. I was honest. I told him: for the money. He complimented my honesty and fired me. I was in shock. It was the first time i was fired from something. And even more. I was fired because i told the truth! My insecurities jumped to red, i felt i had hit the bottom. And then, someone grabbed my hand and invited me to do a play. Abril Futebol Clube. I was more than thrilled. The thing is, i have to act. I need it like breathing. I know i can do anything else, but i just don't feel that i'm using my full potential if i'm not acting. If you want to keep me happy, keep me acting! Oh! I'm getting tired of writing.... I think i'll let you read this first and then i'll come back with part II, ok?

Big hugs,

Alexandre Ferreira

alexandre Posted by Hello

Hello!

Portanto... Bem vindos ao meu blog. Neste espaço vou tentar mantê-los a par do que estou a fazer... Ou não! Portanto, contiuem a cá vir. Espero ter coisas maravilhosamente interessantes para vos contar... Ou não! Portanto, grandes abraços!


So... Welcome to my blog. Here i'll try to keep you updated about whatever i'm doing... Or not!
So, keep on coming. I hope i'll have wonderfully interesting things to tell you... Or not!
So, Big hugs!