Van Ferro
Van Ferro is a Filipino-American film, television, stage and voiceover actor. He is the first actor of Filipino descent to win BroadwayWorld acting awards in Chicago in 2021 for his work in Chicago theater for that calendar year, as well as the first actor in Chicago to win two acting BroadwayWorld awards in the same theater season in 2021. He is also the first actor in Chicago to win back-to-back BroadwayWorld Awards in 2022 and made a three-peat in 2023, making him the actor of Filipino descent with the most BroadwayWorld Awards for acting outside of the Philippines. He has also appeared in television, most notably as a nurse in Chicago Med.
Personal life
Ferro was born in Baguio, Philippines and originally dreamt of a career as a diplomat working for the U.S. Embassy in Manila. When he was a sophomore in high school, after watching Gone with the Wind (film), he decided to pursue a career as an actor in the United States. Ferro worked his way to community theater companies in the Chicago area such as Oak Lawn Park District and Munroe Park Theater Guild, as well as numerous student films. He starred as Prof Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women, Jesus Costazuela in The Odd Couple for MPTG. He also appeared in Daniel Cooper's Bigger and Better Things, winner of the Best Short Film award at the Maryland International Film Festival, and Michael Dooley's Furnished, to name a few film projects. He decided to go professional as an actor in 2018.Ferro was naturalized as a United States citizen in 2022. He reacquired his Filipino citizenship in 2023.
Professional acting career
2018
Ferro started acting professionally after leaving his job as a registered nurse. In 2018, Ferro appeared in the Sigman Brothers' production of Rumpelstiltskin at Mainstage Theater in St. Charles, IL, which also led to him being featured on WGN-TV's Midday Morning News while doing press for the production. In the same year, Ferro also secured representation with Stavins Talent Agency, The Talent Networks, and Productions Plus. He also appeared in the short film Anak na Amerikana by Filipino auteur Rialin Jose, wearing prosthetics for the first time to age 30 years as Marcelo Mendoza, a distant father to a second-generation immigrant daughter.2019
In 2019, Ferro expanded his representation by adding Helen Wells Agency. He also appeared in Three Cat Productions' Heart of Fairy written by LaurA! Force Scruggs and Perjured Love by David Finney. He also appeared in Hampstead Stage Company's staged reading of I Never Saw Another Butterfly and appeared as Chiang Kai-Shek and Sinmay Zau in Jyl Bonaguro's Soong Sisters. He also appeared as a Japanese astronomer in Zach Cortino's Equinox, and Gail Gilbert's You Got Gail. Starting in the fall of 2019 as well, Ferro also joined the cast of Chicago Med as an ER nurse. Ferro also collaborated with Rialin Jose and appeared as the titular Aswang in the short Miss Aswang, which was an official entry to the Diwa Filipino Film Showcase in Seattle and Houston Asian American and Pacific Islander Film Festival.2020
In 2020, Ferro was due to come back to Sigman Brothers for an original musical, Rip Van Winkle, based on the short story by Washington Irving. As the coronavirus pandemic shut down theater productions across the world, Ferro decided to put up Vera Pictures, his own production company, to produce short-form videos such as Corona Diaries and Kitty Diaries, as well as a talk show in Filipino, YSchool, featuring real-life friends Maica Ayuyao and Yanni. Vera Pictures' productions have been airing on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. He also transitioned to virtual theater with the group Act Your Page, led by Parker Sterling, in which he tackled complex roles such as Brick Pollitt in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Michael Wells in Lee Blessing's Two Rooms, Bill Fordham in Tracy Letts' August: Osage County, Jerry Goss in Letts' Bug, Anthony Candolino in Terrence McNally's Master Class, and Alfieri in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.2021
In 2021, Ferro was the understudy to Gabriel Fries in Metropolis Performing Arts Centre's production of Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. As theaters in Chicago have reopened in April, Ferro became involved in the process of rehearsing Sigman Brothers' delayed production of Rip Van Winkle, now airing as a streaming musical over Facebook Live. Ferro also appeared in Oil Lamp Theater's production of Shipwrecked: An Entertainment by Donald Margulies, which was the second of 2 productions of the theater company to be produced outdoors. Alan Bresloff of Around The Town Chicago writes, "...one of the highlights of the experience is Van Ferro who plays old men, dogs, babies, teen-agers and every other man in the show. He also does some women to show his wide range. He is worth the trip to Glenview...". The production was also cited as Highly Recommended by the magazine. Ferro is also appearing in Sigman Brothers' Christmas Sonata, an original musical written for the five actors playing in the production, for Christmas 2021.On November 18, 2021, BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards nominated Ferro in two categories, Best Supporting Performer in a Play for his critically acclaimed turn in Shipwrecked; and Best Supporting Performer in a Streaming Musical for Rip Van Winkle. Ferro is the first Filipino actor in Chicago nominated for the regional audience award, after Rachelle Ann Go's nominations and eventual wins in the UK/West End edition of the BroadwayWorld Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2018.