Silvio Defant

FROM ITALY TO HOLLYWOOD--SILVIO DEFANT

Why live in a little village in Northern Italy when you can come to Hollywood and become a working professional actor? That is a rhetorical question, of course, but probably thousands of people in small towns all over the world ask themselves similar questions, that is, why live in such places when you could come to the film capital of the world and have your dreams come true? The problem is that they never make it out of their hometowns and get to Southern California.

Silvio Defant, however, is one of those people who actually made it out of his small town and is a bona fide working actor in the heart of the film industry, Hollywood. He has been acting since he was in elementary school but he considers his role as Bacchae, in Euripides’ Pentheus to be his first real role. He was in high school when he did that one and a friend of his directed the very well-received production. Besides getting rave reviews in the local newspaper, the whole wonderful experience opened Silvio’s eyes to a new world of acting that he very much wanted to be a part of.

Now, years later, Silvio has a resumé full of his acting accomplishments in TV, commercials, stage plays and motion pictures. His passion only grew from that high school play experience and he took it and ran with it and never let anything get in his way of succeeding in the entertainment business. Silvio earned a B.A, in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota and then, thanks to the National Student Exchange Program, he studied cinematography and film acting at the California State University at Northridge. That period in his life, being so close to Hollywood, gave him a real taste of what an actor’s life could really be.

Silvio has achieved international acclaim for his productions. His career began over a decade ago, where his work was noted in a non-profit film (Life as a Dance) for Kids in the Spotlight, Inc which won Best Ensemble at the KITS Award.  His other notable international achievements include the Film Every Bite, where at University of Minnesota Morris Film Festival it won best picture and Silvio won the best actor in 2014.  His achievements can be see not just on films but on international corporate levels as well.  His successful international campaign for “The Spot”  a  new video platform offered by Facebook Live, only a few days after its release, as a new way to entertain the social media audience.media. The Spot was showed in Movie Theatres, TV, Social Networks and Facebook´s web site. The commercial was aired all over the world with Silvio as the lead actor.

Getting out of any small town is easy if you have enough passion to do something bigger. Silvio says: “Be passionate. There is nothing more attractive to anyone in the industry than those who are doing what they love and who are believing in their creative drive. Not only your love for the art will make you a better performer, but it will make people want to work with you.”