Vancouver is a major Film and Television hub. Not only does it have amazing locations, talented crews, and year-round shooting conditions, but it also attracts the best International performers to make it their new home.
This week we spoke with El Salvador—born actor, coach, agent…and much more, Vanesa Tomasino.
HNMAG: Where are you from originally Vanesa?
Vanesa Tomasino: I was born and raised in El Salvador in Central America.
HNMAG: Which city?
Vanesa Tomasino: San Salvador, the capital.
HNMAG: Did you come to Vancouver with your parents?
Vanesa Tomasino: No, I did not. I moved to Vancouver at the age of eighteen to study acting form film and TV and I heard that the second best option aside from LA was Vancouver.
HNMAG: Ok
Vanesa Tomasino: I had never been to Canada. I did not know a single person in Vancouver. And I just applied from El Salvador to an acting school straight out of high school and got in. I traveled to Vancouver with a lot of hopes and dreams.
HNMAG: Which school was that?
Vanesa Tomasino: My first acting school was called the Actors Working Academy in Gastown.
HNMAG: Was Simon Longmore an instructor there?
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, it was before he started VADA. Another acting coach was Judy Norton. She was the eldest daughter, Mary Ellen, on the Waltons. And Tony Alcantar.
HNMAG: After some training, you started working and eventually joined the union.
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, I also worked with a lot of private coaches like David Lyle and James Purcell and trained in different studios for three years straight. I then joined the William Davis Centre working with fantastic teachers like Christine Willes, Bill Davis, and Chilton Crane. By then, I was already a working actor and full union member.
HNMAG: Did it take a while to become a full member?
Vanesa Tomasino: No, it was quite fast. My first booking was a series regular in a cartoon called Sabrina’s Secret Life. So I became full union almost immediately back in 2003.
HNMAG: You got your first acting role as voiceover as opposed to live action. How did you book the voiceover? Did you just audition?
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes. My agent for film & TV is María José Doyle from Universal Artists submitted me for the role of Maritza, Sabrina’s best friend, in the cartoon Sabrina’s Secret Life.
HNMAG: Oh wow, great!
Vanesa Tomasino: They were looking for a young Latina actress and they asked to see. I felt incredibly proud to book that role.
HNMAG: Oh that’s terrific. Back then, you went into a studio to audition in person for voiceovers?
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, I remember having a callback at Koko in person too. The same when I booked Marth Speaks. I had more than one in-person audition for the role of Carolina at Dick and Roger’s.
HNMAG: You continued acting and booking a lot of live action roles as well.
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes. Felt very fortunate for that. Remember that where I come from in El Salvador, there is no film industry and very few Salvadoran based actors. So being a working actor in Vancouver as a young Latina woman felt like the biggest blessing.
HNMAG: And then you transitioned to being an agent as well. How did that happen?
Vanesa Tomasino: Actually, I have had to wear a few hats before that. I was also a broadcaster. I had a weekend morning show radio at a radio station called The Beat 94.5, now called Virgin Radio.
HNMAG: Great.
Vanesa Tomasino: Then I was hosting a TV show on channel M called World beats and then started coaching actors as well.
HNMAG: Right.
Vanesa Tomasino: Especially younger BIPOC kids. Then María José asked me to be her assistant because she could sense that I really enjoyed working with actors, which I do.
HNMAG: Ok.
Vanesa Tomasino: Thirteen years later I decided that it was time that I use my skills learned with María José to transition to being an agent primarily in El Salvador because agencies didn’t exist there. I established the first agency in El Salvador that represents actors for film & TV. That’s briefly how I became an agent.
HNMAG: In terms of being an agent for Salvadoran actors, you were here in Vancouver and you would work remotely?
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes.
HNMAG: They’d have the breakdowns for shows and movies in El Salvador and then you would you submit them and they would go in to audition?
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, correct. I moved back-and-forth from Vancouver and El Salvador. And the breakdowns that the actors were submitted to included projects in Colombia, Los Angeles and Mexico.
HNMAG: You went back there to set it up.
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, and to establish the first acting studio for film and TV called SAS El Salvador. I have coached over 100 actors in 5 years who now work in movies, series, theatre, commercials, music videos and voice overs. It wasn’t easy to create the agency in El Salvador, but it was very much needed. And despite the challenges we also have had great wins. Salvadoran actors booking big roles in foreign productions and El Salvador being one of the very few Central American countries to be included on Casting Workbook, thanks to the healthy relationships we have built with casting directors in LA, Mexico, and Colombia.
HNMAG: Do you still do any broadcasting?
Vanesa Tomasino: I have a podcast now.
HNMAG: What’s your podcast about?
Vanesa Tomasino: It’s called V Unfiltered. My co-host is María Bruzon who is an up-and-coming Salvadoran actress and much younger than me. V unfiltered discusses relationships, friendship, sexuality, and being women in the film industry all through the lens of different generations.
HNMAG: You also earned a degree since moving to Canada. What did you study?
Vanesa Tomasino: Political science.
HNMAG: Did you go to UBC?
Vanesa Tomasino: I started at UBC and then I transferred to SFU where I graduated with a BA. I then applied for a Masters at York University in Toronto and got in with a full scholarship.
HNMAG: Did you do that online?
Vanesa Tomasino: No, I moved to Toronto. I did my Masters in ten months and then did a PhD also at York.
HNMAG: Oh my God!
Vanesa Tomasino: I know, it’s crazy! A lot of people don’t know that about me. And now I’m just waiting to defend my thesis. It’s been a long time in the making for sure.
HNMAG: What are your plans with that once you have defended your thesis?
Vanesa Tomasino: With a political science degree, you can work in government. I had a job as an intern at the legislature in Victoria. I worked there for six months.
HNMAG: Ok.
Vanesa Tomasino: I loved it. I could work in government, but I can also work as a political analyst, which is what I’ve been doing for the past few years writing
about the challenges that we encounter within our different versions of democracy. I also investigate how fragile democratic rights can be in various countries. I study the different forms of violence within democracies from the Global South. I’ve been teaching in universities in Canada and El Salvador and have worked as a research assistant for Harvard University.
HNMAG: Nice.
Vanesa Tomasino: I don’t know what the future holds. I am excited to see which path I’ll take.
HNMAG: One issue with democracy is constituents don’t spend enough time or have the correct information to make informed decisions. They tend to vote with whatever is new and right in front of them.
Vanesa Tomasino: Yes, for sure. People are often reactionary, and to no fault of them. In order to really get a good grip of what really happens within our reality, we need to understand the root of the problem and most of the time our society is not educated enough to understand the real problems. Instead, people focus on the situations that are surface. What they can see. But many times, they do not understand the nuances behind these perceived problems. Sometimes these seeming problems are consequences or results rather than the problems themselves. If we don’t understand the real problem, if we don’t learn from history, we are bound to repeat it.
HNMAG: You’ve been working in film and television for a while and you know that Vancouver is a service industry.
Vanesa Tomasino: Yeah.
HNMAG: Is that changing at all? Do you think we’re getting more TV shows and movies that are set in Canada?
Vanesa Tomasino: I do think that we are taking a step forward in the right direction. Within my circle of colleagues, I can see that a lot of them are working as hired directors for US productions and that helps them then expand their portfolio and resources to produce their own shows based on their own Vancouver experiences. I can see more of them working on their own projects. Things won’t change overnight, but I would argue that more Vancouver based storytelling is emerging.
HNMAG: Sure.
Vanesa Tomasino: I can understand how limited budgets could be great limitations for local filmmakers. However, I feel positive that eventually, more investment could flow into the industry to create Vancouver based productions.
HNMAG: Where do you think the investments will come from? Is it more agencies and government funding or do you think it’s more private investment?
Vanesa Tomasino: It would come from the private sector. There’s a lot of money there and a lot of people who are unaware of how the industry could actually increase their income. Many still see the filmmaking as a hobby, so they’re afraid to invest at times, but if you show them a good business plan and you actually show them that movies can be sold they can then justify their investment. If investors knew they can get returns from that, we could see more private investment in that area. Ideally there would also be government programs that provide funding for local and emerging talent. But this would fluctuate with the changing governments and their respective budgets and programs.
HNMAG: What is your focus for performers right now?
Vanesa Tomasino: The Latin American subcommittee with the Union Of British Columbia Performers (UBCP). Actors of Latin American descent were previously not represented for example on the roundtables organized prior to covid. All BIPOC members of the union should feel seen and included.
HNMAG: Ok.
Vanesa Tomasino: Part of our mission as subcommittee is to educate people on what makes us Latin Americans. I was born during the civil war for example and I grew up in the war for twelve years. My childhood looks very different from the childhood of other children, sometimes even from other Latin American children. My house was attacked, shot at and taken over by the military when I was only eight years old. My experience and story, like the story of many other Latin American people, should also be told on the big and small screen in a respectful and inclusive way.
It was great to speak with a brilliant and diversified performer who took a huge chance, moving to Vancouver from a completely different world in El Salvador. Vanesa has experience in many aspects of Film and Television but soon she will also carry the title of Dr. Tomasino. We look forward to enjoying her work on the big and small screens everywhere or changing the political landscape or maybe both.