Venezuelan actor Paul Cascante has become a familiar face on city television, appearing on shows and in commercials. His actors' workshop brings together Chinese and expats who share a passion for performance, writes Jenny Hammond.

Take a background in art, the influence of a thespian spouse and the advice of a best friend - and that's how a Venezuelan artist ends up in Shanghai in Chinese movies and TV commercials.

For Paul Cascante, acting is another form of art, and he has set up his own acting workshop to bring together Chinese and expats who love acting. His aim is to promote Shanghai as another center for acting talent.

"Acting is a way for me to exhibit and express my feelings, insecurities, confidence, hate, love, sadness, joy, passion - in other words, my life through characters I play," explains the 55-year-old expat who has lived here for four years.

In his time here, Cascante has become quite a familiar face on television, appearing in TV shows and in commercials. He co-starred with Zhang Ziyi in a national ad for Coca-Cola. He appeared in two Chinese TV shows, "Hong Se Tian Wang," in which he played a Spanish mafia pimp, and "Huan Yan," in which he played a minister in 1930s Shanghai.

The expat also has appeared in theater, independent films and music videos in China. He played in a Canadian TV movie "Marco Polo," which was filmed in Shanghai, taking the role of the Persian ambassador to Peking. He has worked on films with actors Brian Dennehy and Ian Somerhalder.

However, acting was not originally his chosen profession: He first was a painter, but acting came naturally.

"To me acting is another form of art, a different medium (stage, film) and canvas (myself), wherein I'm creating art through visual physicality." Creativity, says Cascante "is in my blood and it's what keeps me sane. If I can't be creative, I start climbing the walls and get antsy."

He is constantly looking for ways to create, not just in acting but also through art, writing, photography, and other forms of expression. "For me, creativity is the heart and soul of life, its essence."

Cascante was born in Venezuela; his father is American and his mother from Costa Rica is a naturalized US citizen. "I grew up as an international kid. My father was an international executive businessman, so I traveled throughout my childhood."

Before he was 17, Cascante moved around Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Panama and New York City. He lived in New York for 18 years, majoring in fine arts at New York's School of Visual Arts.

From his first wife, an actress, he "got the acting bug." He started in community theater and moved to Los Angeles in 1987.

In 2003, he moved to Shanghai. "My best friend moved to Shanghai in 1997 and for six years kept bugging me to come visit, telling me that once I came, I wouldn't leave."

Cascante was skeptical, but came for a visit. "I fell in love with the city and made the decision to stay. I have been here ever since."

Settling and adjusting to life in Shanghai wasn't difficult for the international expat.

"Growing up internationally, I have learned to adapt and adjust to any environment. What I love about Shanghai is the energy and life - in some ways much like New York. The people here are alive."

Now his goal is to help establish Shanghai as a center for acting talent. "There's a lot of talent here but because the city is not considered to be a center like Beijing, many of the talents here have been overlooked. I want to do everything in my power to change that."

One way he is doing this is through his acting workshop (taw.cabanova.com), started in 2004.

"As an actor, I need to surround myself with others who share the same love and interest in acting and to keep practicing, learning and improving my skills. Without it, I would get rusty."

With both Chinese and expats in the workshop, "it is a venue for people who are 100-percent committed and dedicated to pursuing, learning and improving their acting skills."

The main focus of the workshop is character development, working to create a natural, realistic, heart-felt character. Too often the focus has been on interpreting lines rather than building, understanding and creating the character first, he says.

"This approach, in my opinion, is limited and doesn't truly tackle the essence of the character," Cascante says.

Acting, like Shanghai, he concludes, "is reacting."

(Shanghai Daily November 27, 2007)