Damian Chao

An award winning actor and producer known for the Ampia award nominated Feature Film "Three." Damian is a Canadian actor who grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He is half Chinese, with Scottish and Swedish roots. He's known for his on-camera work in film and television. Although he has been in numerous stage productions all over North America including: Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" in 2006 for which he garnered rave reviews from critics alike for his intense and riveting performance of Haemon. He was also part of the 2008 Edmonton Fringe Festival's production of "Closer" written by British playwright Patrick Marber, and subsequently made into a film in 2004 directed by Mike Nichols. For which he received high praise from critics for his portrayal of Larry in which is the oldest and largest fringe theatre festival in the world. He played the lead Character of David in the play, "Love and Human Remains" in Vancouver, British Columbia. He toured through out the U.S. doing various shows with different plays over the years. He also toured the U.S. and Canada for ten months with the play "Pitstop", that was adapted from the screen to the stage by his long time collaborator Ajay Patel. He hopes to do a play next year at the 2022 Edmonton Fringe Festival where he plans to act and direct the Sam Shephard one-act play "Ages of the Moon", for which Sam Shepherd is his Favourite playwright; along with Jonathan Larson (Rent). His Grandfather was an actor in China and Japan where he worked in film and television, and directed and acted in his own stage productions. Damian followed suit and decided to become an actor after High School. He would later train for two-years at the Citadel Theatres 'Foote Theatre School' in the Film and Television program. After the program was complete, he would be asked to stay on and work as a teachers assistant under his instructor Shomee Chakrabartty. Damian was also a graduate of the renowned Vancouver Film School "Acting Essentials" program. A school in which he says, "really gave him the tools, and foundation with which to work with going forward as an actor." He also said, "His instructors at the school taught him how much work and discipline is required to become not just an actor, but a truly great actor." He's known for his intense dedication he puts fourth in truly immersing himself with the characters he portrays, and ultimately the craft that is acting. For the feature-film "Money" he lost a whopping 17 lbs to play Wes, a heroin-addict going through withdraw. Damian went on a lemon juice diet for a month without eating solid food, only allowing himself to have coffee besides the lemon juice, and cigarettes. He also chose not to sleep very much and kind of became an insomniac before and during production of the film. For his 2019 portrayal of Reece Kesan, an inmate on death row in the short-film U17 which he produced and was the lead actor grew a handlebar mustache, and mutton chops for four months in preparation, while shaving the sides and back of his head every morning while styling the top of his hair just the way the character would do it. He also refused to shower for the complete duration of the filming process, and slept on the hard surface of his 6" by 6" bathroom for Fourteen days where he wasn't even able to stretch out his legs all the way; as it was just too small of a space. He put himself through this all this so he could get an idea of what it might be like to live in such a small, enclosed environment twenty-four hours a day just as the character would have to endure. In the process of doing this he had horrendous back pain from a prior injury, but also from sleeping on such a hard surface for so long that he had to hunch down a bit when he moved around. So he used the pain he was in from sleeping to inform how his character would sit and walk in his cell. Damian can be seen in the recently released feature film Paris's Apple as the films main protagonist. He is also working on directing and acting a one act play by Sam Shepard 'Ages of the Moon', for the 2022 Edmonton Fringe Festival.