Michael Mando

Michael Mando is a Canadian film and television actor, writer, and director with a background in contemporary and classical theatre. He is well known for his role as Vaas Montenegro, the secondary antagonist in the video game Far Cry 3.

Early life

Mando was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He was raised by his father, and is the middle child of three brothers.^[1][2][3] Their family traveled a lot, and lived in over 10 cities, across 4 continents, and in over 37 different homes all before he reached his mid-twenties.^[1][3][4] Even though his native language is French, he also speaks English and Spanish fluently.^[1][2][4]

Education

Mando was enrolled in many fields, including International Relations at the University of Montreal, before discovering the performing arts at The Dome Theatre Program (Dawson College) in 2004.^[2] Despite no prior training, Michael went on to play the male lead in all 5 productions at the program.^[2][4] He graduated with excellence in 2007.^[1] His Dome credits include, Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Professor Katz in David Edgar’s Pentecost and Valentine Xavier in Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending.^[1][2] Upon graduation, Steven W. Lecky, the Chairman of the program proudly stated Michael to be “one of the finest talents to emerge from the program in the past 25 years.”^[1][4]

Acting career

After playing the leading character in two award winning professional theatre productions in Montreal,^[1][4] Mando promptly founded Red Barlo Productions.^[2][4][5] The company’s first film, Conditional Affection (2010)^[6](which Mando starred in, directed and wrote) was officially selected to Fantasia,^[7][8] Bare Bones,^[8][9] ACTRA Short Films,^[2][8] and the New Hope International Film Festivals.^[8][10]

Mando’s TV debut simultaneously followed with a wide range of contrasting characters. His credits include guest appearances in the crime series The Bridge (2010),^[11] the medical drama mini-series Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures (2010),^[12] as an MS-13 gang member in The Border (2010),^[13] and as a close friend of the character Kenzi (played by Ksenia Solo) in the sci-fi series Lost Girl (2010).^[14]

Mando has had repeated collaborations with directors John Fawcett and Eric Canuel as well as producer David Barlow.^[15][16] Other upcoming credits include a recurring role in Les Bleus de Ramville (2011),^[17][18] a starring role in the feature film Territories (2010),^[18][19] a guest appearance in new show King (2011)^[1][18] and two Ubisoft video games to be released in 2011.^[10] Mando has also finished shooting his second film under Red Barlo Productions, Abyss of the Mind, which will be released in the spring of 2011. In 2012, he featured in Far Cry 3 where he voiced and inspired one of the main villains: Vaas Montenegro,^[20] a vicious and twisted antagonist who arguably became the main face of the video game. He also starred in a webseries called "The Far Cry Experience"^[21] where he plays Vaas who captures and tortures a celebrity (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who has been challenged to survive the island.

Personal life

Mando grew up wanting to be a writer or an athlete.^[3] He was shot in the knee in his mid-twenties and consequently decided to change directions.^[3] He then pursued an academic scholarship at the University of Montreal in International Relations, but shortly after decided to go into acting.^[1][2][3]

Filmography

Games

References

External links

• Michael Mando Official Site
• Michael Mando at the Internet Movie Database