Claudio Laniado

Claudio (aka Claude) Laniado was named Renaissance man as per Who? Mag, a magazine for the entertainment field. It is clear that this nickname fits him perfectly.Claudio is world traveled and has been exposed to an eclectic range of life experiences. As a child he moved around a lot with his family and at one point ended up in Argentina. While there he went to primary school for a few years. He used to make his school peers laugh, as he enjoyed being the class clown and making his peers happy. He could not quite understand why his teacher would give him time out since all the school peers seemed happy. His mom, Emma, who was a hairdresser , and a natural comedian, used to tell him "smile at life and life will smile at you". This later rubbed off in his adult life and he decided to study a bit the long form comedy improvisation at the Upright Citizen's Brigade,NYC. He was also in two improvisational groups under the direction of Joy Newman at the NY Comedy Club.His dad Ezra, aka Cesar, was always working in some kind of business such as a salesman in an electronics store in Times Square, NYC , with his brother David. Ezra was traditional and quite strict. Ezra taught Claudio, and Claudio's brother Jos , the importance of surviving financially, being honest, and doing the right thing. Claudio's first job was shining shoes at age 12. Although he liked to do the right thing he was on occasion an adventurer. He used this money to go to the movies and occasionally skipped summer school English classes to enjoy the movies and learn English that way. He was intrigued by the actors and curious as to how they were able to transform themselves to become the characters.While an adolescent he was very curious about many things . He was fooling around making electric cars and remote controlled flying saucers. Also, he enjoyed fooling around with toy rockets. One day he made hydrogen gas and filled a balloon. There was an accidental explosion, fortunately without any casualties , in the kitchen and his father threw out his chemistry set. That did not stop Claudio from being curious about the world. He went on to college and got a biology premedical degree, and scored in the upper 10 percent of the whole USA in a national biochemistry test.While in Argentina, his uncle Max used to take him to play tennis. Max was one of the top tennis players of Argentina at that time. His uncle Max died of leukemia and Claudio wanted to do research in biochemistry. His biochemistry teacher suggested that he study medicine to prepare him for research. He went first to Europe and traveled in most Western European countries. Claudio then studied medicine in Europe. There he learned more about how different cultures lived and became interested in becoming a psychiatrist. He no longer wanted to do research in leukemia, as he felt his calling was more about understanding how people live, communicate, and think. He then became a psychiatrist and continued further studies in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the USA. He has worked in all kinds of psychiatric settings, including state hospitals and forensic psychiatry (with the criminally mentally ill). He was also exposed to meditation and other spiritual practices. He learned compassion and became very spiritual. He learned the balance of what is taught in books and what reality teaches.He was always interested in sports and used to run 10 miles a day at 6 a.m. before going to school. He always dreamed about being in the Olympics and running the 400 meters, but he chose another path ,and went to medical school, and became a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist.After finishing medical school he got an opportunity to train with the 400 meter Greek Olympic team for a couple of weeks even though he was not Greek. It was one of the biggest thrills of his life. The coach was surprised that he was able to keep up with the team who had already been training for a year. Claudio has been in various sport's teams(track, tennis, baseball, soccer) and won all kinds of awards. He has also earned 2nd place, heavy weight division award in the Wo-Fei Hung (all north east competition in the USA) in 1999. He continues to study various forms of martial arts.He has a passion for acting, writing screenplays and helping produce films. His role of Roy in the film Roy(latest director's cut 2010) by Gregory Mitnick has earned him a Best Actor In A Short Film at the New York Int. Ind. Film and Video Festival 2010. and other Best actor awards. The movie has screened in festivals such as the Big Apple Film Festival 2010, Orlando Film Festival 2010, and the Beverly Hills, Film, Television, and New Media Festival 2010. It was chosen by the Big Apple Film Festival to be part of their on demand films.He did a memorable lead role as Rawhi, a Palestinian handler of suicide bombers in Heaven Is Waiting by Shlomi Ben Yair. This movie screened in such festivals as the World Film Festival 2010, at the Academy qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival 2010(won a Nomination for Best Short) , the Milan Int.Film Festival 2010 (won a Nomination for Best Short), and was screened at the Cannes Short Film corner 2010.His role as Herman in the suspense thriller feature Motion Sickness by SM Kerstein, was quite exciting for him. Herman was a southerner, ex-con, hearse driver, and grave robber. Motion Sickness was one of the scariest scripts he has ever read. Originally he auditioned for the role of the Bum and got called several months later to audition for the role of Herman. While most casting directors contact him for all kinds of dramatic roles, he was finally cast in a comedy as Lady Claudia, a transvestite who is into S&M, in the 1970's feature 79 Parts, directed by Ari Taub, with fine actors such as Eric Roberts, Kathrine Narducci(from TV series Power), Angelica Page, and others. In the screw ball comedy Nick and Nicky , with Sean Young(from Blade Runner), he played Sergio , a quirky Italian hotel manager.His latest role was Dr. Pearlman, an Austrian Jewish Doctor, in the Oscar contender Mudbound by Dee Rees. Mudbound was a 2017 selection at the Sundance Film Festival. And has been accepted to : Toronto International Film Festival 2017, NY Film Festival 2017, BFI London Film Festival 2017, New Orleans Film Festival 2017 , among others. Mudbound release date is November 17, 2017 on Netflix and in theaters.In TV, he was a German Jewish Customer in AMC'S Preacher, Episode 4, Viktor, and Episode 11, Backdoors. He was also in the Showtime screened movie Tracks by Peter Wade, with John Heard, and ICE-T, where he played Arthur, a criminally insane prisoner.Claudio comes from a theater background and has done many off- Broadway , and off-off Broadway productions playing many different type of roles. One of his mentors and teachers used to take him to the Actor's Studio in NYC to see what they were doing. Claudio was also passionate in the reading of Andreo Massacio, a lead role of the feature screenplay Empty Handed Painter by Laura Fay Lewis, opposite Angelica Page(daughter of Geraldine Page and Rip Torn)with some other fine actors at The Actor's Studio in NYC. Andreo is the role of an art forger, talented artist, cocaine and alcohol addicted man who used to be a regular at Max's Kansas City and was a contemporary of people like Andy Warhol.His producing effort is the development of his and his brother's Jos Laniado's screenplay Tango Shalom, inspired by a true story from his brother Jos. Tango Shalom is a family comedy and dance movie, with very touching moments, and a message of spiritual unity obtained one dazzling dance step at a time. Tango Shalom has a multi-ethnic cast which stars Jos Laniado, Claudio Laniado, Judi Beecher, Renee Taylor(from The Nanny and How To Be A Latin Lover), Joseph Bologna(from Big Daddy, and Blame It On Rio), Lainie Kazan(from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the sequel), Karina Smirnoff (from Dancing With The Stars, Famously Single) and Marci Fine(from Saturday Night Live). Joseph Bologna is a veteran actor, producer, and an Oscar nominated writer who became a co-writer with Jos and Claudio of the last draft of Tango Shalom. Joseph Bologna , unfortunately lost a long battle with pancreatic cancer, and hopefully memory of him will be long lasting in his role in Tango Shalom as Father Anthony. Tango Shalom was directed by Renee and Joseph's son Gabriel Bologna. Gabriel Bologna is a protege of John Frankenheimer. Making this movie was truly a labor of love, about the importance of family made by family members : The Laniado brothers(Jos and Claudio), and the Bologna family(Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna, and Gabriel Bologna).Claudio's eclectic background is certainly an asset in the acting field. He has been blessed with phenomenal training by several acting teachers and mentors such as Salem Ludwig (Actor's Studio), Marcia Haufrecht (Actor's Studio), and Alec Rubin (Actor's Studio), John Gallagher(Neighborhood Playhouse), and others. His learning experiences were from various points of view such as Method, Meisner, Primal, Adler, Chekhov, Australian Institute of Dramatic Arts, and others. His strengths as an actor come from his training, his eclectic life experience, his work as a Psychiatrist, and his deep understanding and empathy for the human condition. He looks forward to continue getting interesting roles which stretch him to the edge, and studies man's humanity and creative powers. Show less «