When Les Chantery was at drama school in Sydney, the young Australian-born Lebanese actor was given a blunt message.

“I was told I would be offered three kinds of roles – drug dealers, terrorists and gang rapists,” he said.

(Australian actress Rachel Taylor & Les Chantery pictured).

…So when director Serhat Caradee wanted to cast him in Cedar Boys as a panel beater who is seduced by the fantasy of making quick money through a one-off drug heist, Chantery turned it down, fearing he would be typecast.

The Turkish-Australian director was not to be deterred.

…”I was sick of seeing young Lebanese boys portrayed in such a one-dimensional way on our screens,” Caradee told the ABC.

Please read the complete article at: www.abc.net.au

Australian actor Heath Ledger’s final performance before he died of an accidental overdose in January 2008 nearly never made it to the big screen, US-born director Terry Gilliam said.

The film maker’s first thought when Ledger died in New York was to ditch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which was only half finished.

But encouraged by people around him to continue, and helped by actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell who played Ledger’s character in three separate dream sequences, Gilliam eventually completed the movie.

To read the complete story please click here: www.reuters.com

TVI actors studio’s New York full time program graduate, Australian based Shailla Quadra, is an actress, writer, producer, director and everything in between!

The actress/filmmaker who lives in Sydney has been accepted to screen her short film Breathing at the A Night Of Horror International Film Fetsival, March 29 – April 3, 2009.

Quadro has worked on numerous film projects in all departments, from editing and marketing to casting and music composition.

Be sure to check out her websites at: www.shailla.com &
www.meuamorfilms.com