A life of lights, camera, action

US-based Guyanese Marc Gomes finds himself being actor, director, writer in the world of Hollywood

Born and raised in Guyana until the age of eleven, Marc Gomes migrated to Canada and attended high school and university in Toronto. In an interview with the writer, director and actor, Gomes stated that he grew up in Subryanville, Georgetown and did not know the life he is living now was imminent.

“I was 11 when I left Guyana with my parents in 1971. I wasn’t in any kind of artistic field. I was just about to graduate standard four at the St. John’s Boys School when we migrated to Canada. I moved to Los Angeles in the mid-90s.”

In Toronto, Canada, Gomes took a year off after high school, during which he decided to audition for the Ryerson Theatre School. “I was accepted, and that was when I started to get the idea that this could work out, although I didn’t really know for sure until a few years later, when I started working in the business right out of school,” he said.

He graduated from The Ryerson University Theatre School with a BFA in theatre-performance, and went on to critical acclaim at several of Canada’s most esteemed theatres in notable productions of ‘As You Like It’, ‘A Slow Dance On the Killing Ground’, ‘Edmond’, ‘A Taste of Honey’, and the North American premiere of Ryszard Kapuscinski’s ‘The Emperor’.

His work in the theatre led to leading roles and appearances in numerous movies and series. He was a lead on the television series ‘Lightning Force’, ‘The Crow: Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘Sue Thomas FBeye’, among many others. He also was seen in recurring roles on the network shows ‘Commander in Chief’ and ‘Criminal Minds’.

Gomes has directed several plays, and wrote and directed the short film, ‘Stir Crazy’, which made several film festival appearances in the U.S. in 2002 and 2003.

As a guest artist member of The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company, Gomes volunteered with underage offenders in the Los Angeles penal system. The company works with former gang members, and uses aspects of theatre: writing, staging and performing, as a means to foster pride, self-confidence and racial tolerance. This is where Gomes’s passion for teaching emerged.

He has been coaching actors and directors privately. “The MG Studio came out of private coaching work that I was doing with a few actors. I felt the need to grow it and expand it to become an ongoing studio for new and experienced actors to be able to practise their craft in a nurturing environment,” he said of his studio.

Marc has worked with actors Roma Maffia from ‘Nip Tuck’ and ‘Internal Affairs’; Taylor Nichols, who was in ‘Barcelona’ and ‘Mind of the Married Man’, among others; and directors such as Bryce Zabel, who directed the movie ‘Poseidon Adventure’ and ‘Dark Skies’; and Ken Haines, who directed ‘Sue Thomas FBeye’ and ‘Til Death Do Us Part’.

He is a longstanding member of Angel City TryWorks, a writing and performance collective that counts Taylor Nichols, Raymond Barry and Gary Bairos among its members.

Gomes recently finished writing a film adaptation of the classic Caribbean novel ‘Corentyne Thunder’.

“The big ongoing project is bringing ‘Corentyne Thunder’ to the screen. Financing niche films from the Caribbean is still a huge and sometimes seemingly overwhelming challenge.

“And that’s putting it nicely. ‘Corentyne Thunder’ really had taken three years to get to this point, and we’re still a long way from shooting. The difficulty is attracting investors and financiers from the Guyanese diaspora. There hasn’t really been a successful model who has gone before that gives them confidence. The business plan that I have put together for this film actually works, has worked for similar films from other regions around the world,” he disclosed

Additionally, his idea is to raise the funds completely from the private sector, with just a nominal input from government agencies. He stated that he had some very promising meetings with various ministers in Guyana, but has not to this point finalized any commitments.

“What is frustrating is when I pitched the film internationally at the Toronto Int. Film Fest, for example, there was great excitement, and they completely get how this film would be great for Guyana in so many ways. In terms of tourism, it will create a new creative sector stimulating trade and investment. Yet, in Guyana, the willingness to dive in doesn’t seem to be there.”

Gomes said the ‘Corentyne Thunder’ really could be the foundation for a wide range of new content aimed at Guyanese at home and abroad, and the possibilities for a return on investment are tremendous. “It just takes a few folks with vision to see this. I’m looking forward to being back in Guyana soon to follow up on conversations that have been ongoing since February 2010. So to all those who have been involved in the project so far, this film will be made.” Meanwhile, for the past 10 months, he has been working on a television project that he created with Chef Joe DiMaggio Jr. They spent three weeks last year filming a presentation reel for the show, and have a large amount of corporate sponsorship supporting them. “Companies like American Express, Delta Airlines and Toyota are onboard. We have several American broadcasters interested, and I’m very excited about it. It goes to show the Guyanese business sector that these large corporations trust us, and I hope they do, too.”

He was back in Guyana in 2009 for the first time since he migrated, and then again in 2010, putting together the film ‘Corentyne Thunder’. The project, he noted, won a UNIDO CEMA award in 2008. Gomes said he has a few relatives living in Guyana still. “It was great to see and spend time with them after not seeing them for such a long time, and I will be back soon because I love my country of birth.” (Taken from Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)