Fil-Norwegian actor a rising star in Norway's theater scene

Filipino-Norwegian actor Hermann Sabado stumbled into a prodigious career in acting by messing about in middle school.

“It just started out as a fun thing to do at middle school, and just grew from there,” he told GMA News Online.

Before being engrossed in acting, the 31-year-old was captivated by his father, a native from Cavite who he said had a big influence on him.

He recalled the times his father took him and his mother to celebrate Philippine Independence Day in Trondheim, and when he was taught the quintessential Filipino folk song “Bahay Kubo.” He had even tried the dreaded Pinoy delicacy balut several times, and cooks adobo and pancit for his friends when the mood strikes him.

He has but one regret in his childhood.

“I wish he would have spoken Tagalog to me as a child though, it would have been great having Tagalog as my second language. But it's never too late, I guess. Maybe I'll try to learn it someday,” Sabado shared.

Career in acting

Sabado eventually took up Theatre Science at the University of Trondheim. According to his profile on the Lisa Richards Agency website, he then applied at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, one of the most prestigious institutions in Norway for educating actors.

He debuted in a leading role right off school, and played the troubled Alan Strang in Equus at the Trøndelag Theatre. In the same company, he played the lead roles of Melchior in Spring Awakening, and the eponymous male in Romeo and Juliet, to name a few.

Though Sabado reverently studied and worked for all his roles, even winning several awards for his run at the Trøndelag Theatre, he confessed that he doesn't know what drives him to act.

“I've never been able to explain this weird urge to be on a stage or in front of a camera,” he said

But what he does know, he said, was acting meant he needed to live a life alongside work and art, to be able to depict life with substance.

Working on a project with directors who want to express a meaningful and inspiring message, he said, is a doubly rewarding experience.

No favorite roles

Though he won lead roles early in his career, Sabado insists that he tries to make all his roles a favorite. He said he has no genre preference.

“It's not as much the role, as it is the people I'm working with. And the scripts of course... I'd rather be "man from the right with a spear" with people I love, than be "Hamlet" with people I can't stand. Luckily there is not many people I can't stand, but we all have our bad days, right?” he jokingly relates.

In 2009, the young actor diversified and played Axel in the movie Upperdog. In the film, he played a spoiled, repulsive man who was separated from his half-sibling when they were adopted by separate families—he by a wealth family, and her sister by a far more modest one.

While it was challenging to prepare for, Sabado said he had a lot of fun in developing Axel.

"One of the great things being an actor is that you are able to play with personalities that are not your own, and explore sides of yourself that you rarely use or know at all,” he said.

TV show

Though his performance definitely contributed to the film winning several awards, there was one thing he couldn't do in preparation for it. During rehearsals for Upperdog, his director asked him to go to a real sex shop and play out a scene from the film, without anyone knowing he was acting.

“That was really hard, and I never managed to go through with it, I chickened out every time,” said Sabado.

His versatility shows most tellingly when he shared that he has a TV show airing locally next spring.

He explained, “I just finished shooting a TV-series here in Oslo. I'm not sure what the English title is, but in Norwegian it's called Det Tredje Øyet, which means The Third Eye.”

Though his time is thoroughly stretched out because of acting both on stage and camera, he said that he will never choose one over the other.

Sabado is currently engaged with rehearsing Peer Gynt, the Henrik Ibsen play he did with the National Theater in Oslo last year, for a Lithuanian festival. He's also busy with his run in Frank Wedekind's Lulu, and other projects at the National Theater in Oslo.  — KBK, GMA News