Meet Andrés Gaitán | Latino actor and geek

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrés Gaitán and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrés, how do you think about risk?
I have had periods of time when I’m the riskiest person in the room and moments when I’m the safest. This might be the case for most people, it’s normal I guess to want some sort of control in our lives at certain moments. But I do believe that risks bring movement to life and that there is no life without movement. Balance is beautiful and brings a sense of calmness, but we can’t really say there is life without the loss of balance, of equilibrium that necessarily brings movement.

As an actor risks are my best tool, doing something unexpected can surprise everyone in a scene, and I believe rehearsals are amazing places to make these kinds of risks in a safe space. On stage or in front of the camera, these risks show truth, the result is unexpected and our reaction as an artist or audience member will always be truthful. And I think the same principle applies to life. When you take a risk you never know what’s going to happen, you never know how you will feel or where you will end up, but you will definitely be moved by it and that makes you truly present and alive. I took the risk of leaving my country Colombia to look for a path in the North American film industry, it has been the hardest challenge I’ve faced, but I have never felt more in tune with my human condition.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an actor, but I went to college for a degree in Computer Science at first, I used to play video games for hours when I was a kid and wanted to make them, but I got bored after two years and switched to Design and fell in love with interactive design, I finished my program after 4 years and was sure I would be designing sets for theatre plays or for movies. Although I was certain of my path, I had never stopped acting since I was 12, I was always making theatre plays on the side and was sure it was a hobby I wanted to pursue. Then life happened, a few months before graduating college, I got invited to be a part of a version of Macbeth by Pedro Salazar, it was something I had never seen before, Macbeth looked like a punk, there were giant containers on scene, I was jumping from the small sages at my college or the independent theatres I would work at with my company Teatro de Subida, to the big leagues, the Teatro Colón, an institution in my country. I had a small role, but was acting alongside people I had only seen on TV and I knew at the moment that I never wanted to stop feeling like this. I worked my ass off, long rehearsals, tedious movement training, voice lessons, etc… But I lived up to the task and my relationship with Pedro grew, I became a crucial member on his team and traveled the world with him. I felt like I had proven my parents wrong, my friends wrong, and even myself wrong, everyone who thought this was only a hobby started to see how I could really make my dreams come true. So I moved to London in 2020 to study acting “for real”. What a slap across the face that was, three weeks in the country a Covid hit, I was stuck in a tiny room for three months, no contact with the outside world, no theatre, no acting, no school. I had to return to my country on a humanitarian flight. I had never felt like such a failure in my life, even if it wasn’t my fault that there was a global pandemic, I felt I had let everyone down. I was blocked, I couldn’t act like I used to I couldn’t talk like I did, my confidence was gone. Then I met the wonderful world of puppets and man did I fall in love. This tiny creature that lives on your hand and lets out voices and thought you never knew you had. This brought me back to life. The wonderful hands of Milena Forero and Carlos Velasquez showed me the possibilities of this art form and helped me regain my confidence. I worked with them on beautiful projects and had the opportunity to travel my country with their company. After a while Covid had settled and I felt it was time to leave again and give it my best try. I had always seen Vancouver as a great place for me and decided I was going to finally go to my dream school of when I was 16 (Vancouver Film School), they have the best 3D animation and videogame design programs in the world. But I was going to go to become an actor. There I finally found my passion, my true passion that incorporates everything I love: Motion Capture. Charles Douglas, one of my mentors showed me the ropes of this acting language, he was so careful in his way of teaching and so respectful with the artform that I was immediately caught up in it. I have been in the volume several times now and believe that with the emerging technologies we have now, such as the metaverse, capturing motion will become essential to preserve our human condition in our world that is becoming more and more digital day by day. I am still discovering what this looks like, but I am on my way to create a platform where every body, every movement, every story and truth has a place in this new digital age.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Pedro Salazar has been my mentor for years, he is one of the most talented theatre directors in Colombia and I would dare say the world. His passion for theatre and telling stories that have meaningful impact in society and convey beauty to the world has inspired me to create and try to bring the world´s eyes towards Colombia. I would like as many people as possible to see his work. Voces Globales Colombia is an organization I have had the pleasure to work with and to actually call my friends, they are bringing unheard Colombian voices to an international platform and trying to tell our truth in a very unique way that I have never seen before. The passion of every latino I have met has brought me closer to my goals, and I still have a ways to go and I wish to make them proud. My family of course and the beautiful people who work at Vancouver Film School who have given me tools to start my journey in this industry.

Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10806613/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Instagram: @gaitan.actor

Image Credits
The MAin picture was taken by Brandon Hart