Sean Power (actor)

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Sean Power is an Irish-Italian actor who has lived in Canada, the U.S., Ireland and the U.K.

[edit] Early life

He was first on stage in the 5th grade in Edmonton, Alberta in the Christmas pageant. He performed his first play when he was in high school in Toronto playing Felix Unger in The Odd Couple. Soon after, he won the Sears Drama Festival Award for Babel Rap that he directed and acted in. During this time, he was touring a vaudville review to community centers and retirement homes with the Young Actors Performance troupe.

In 1989, he was one of the youngest of 14 people chosen nationwide to be accepted into The National Theatre School of Canada. (The National theatre School is Canada's top theatre school and was the original model for the Juilliard School in New York). He trained there three years with Pierre Lebvevre, Perry Schneiderman, Brigit Panet, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, George F. Walker, Cirque de Soleil and Robert Lepage. He had his professional theatrical debut playing Demetrius in Joe Dowling's A Midsummer Night's Dream on the mainstage of the Stratford Festival in Canada where he acted opposite Colm Feore.

Immediately following Stratford, Sean performed the lead roles in numerous Canadian/World premieres, including Z by poet Ann Szumagalski (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), Molly Wood (Lovers and Madmen productions, Toronto) which won two Dora Awards - 'Best Musical', 'Best new Production', and Crazy directed by Don Allison and John Godbury's Bouncers directed by Shaun Austin-Olsen. He soon after played the role of Bertolt Brecht in the critically acclaimed production The Three Penny Epic Caberet with Lisa Ryder and Bobby Wiseman playing Kurt Weil, directed by Adam Nashman. He also performed in High Temperature and No Sex Please We're British under the direction of David Gardner.

[edit] Career

Sean is perhaps best known for creating the role of beat poet 'Jack' in David Rubinoff's STUCK, the one man show in which he starred and dramaturged. STUCK was critically acclaimed in New York, Dublin and Toronto by every major newspaper. It had a sell out run in each of these places and was attended by Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs. STUCK has been the recipient of CAA Chalmers Literary Award in 1998, Best New Play 1997, Best Actor Toronto Fringe 1996, Best Actor nomination Dublin Fringe 2001, and numerous nominations for the Canadian Dora Awards.

Film wise, Sean starred in his first film Life With Mikey opposite Michael J. Fox, directed by James Lapine. Recent other films include Twisted Sheets which has won over 10 Best Short Awards internationally. Bad Karma opposite Patsy Kensit, Joes Wedding opposite J.W. Moffat,Cowboys and Angels, Tara Road opposite Andie MacDowell and Played opposite Mick Rossi, and Trans-Siberia with Woody Harrelson

In New York, Sean performed at La Mama Etc., Second Stage, the Irish Rep, Gorilla Rep, HERE theatre, and the Irish Arts Centre among others. While there, he had close working relationships with Ellen Stewart, Ciaran O'Reilly, Oren Safdi, Neal Jones and Charlotte Moore. He was also invited to audition for the Actors Studio, which he deferred.

While at La MaMa, he wrote and directed Lady/Speak/Easy, an environmental piece based on the life and music of Billie Holiday set in Harlem speak. With a 12 member cast and 5 musicians, each show was sold out. Some musicians involved in the show were Bemshi Shearer (as Lady Day), bass player Theo Wilson (son of Billie's piano player Teddy Wilson), Ed Swanston (ex-piano for Louis Armstrong), Kalil Madi (ex-drummer for Billie Holiday) and Michael 'smallchange' Johnson who was also musical director. The play received rave reviews from The New Yorker and The Globe and Mail, and got approval from jazz musicians Annie Ross and Jean Jaques Butler.

In Dublin, Sean performed in a number of critically acclaimed productions. He performed as Juror #7 in the sell out run of 12 Angry Men (Lane Productions), Julius Caesar with Rattlebag productions, and 44 Sycamore (Lane Production). In 2005, he played Garth O'Hara: a lead character in Fair City, Ireland's soap opera; and Vince in the series The Big Bow Wow.

Within 6 months of arriving in London, Sean landed a role opposite Woody Harrelson,Clare Higgins, Jenny Seagrove and Nicola Mcauliffe in the West End production of The Night of the Iguana, directed by Anthony Page. This led to Sean being cast as Marty in Jack Dee's Lead Balloon, which started on BBC Four, and then moved to BBC Two. The Guardian called it "The Best Comedy Offering of 2006".