UCLA MFA alumnus scores important theater role

For many theater students, finding that “big break”
into the professional world is life’s most difficult task.
But for MFA alumnus Giovanni Jose Ortega, his red carpet is slowly
being rolled out right before his eyes.

Starring as former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the East West
Players’ acclaimed new production of “Imelda,”
Ortega has journeyed across the world, and with his MFA experiences
in tow, is ready to fulfill all of his long-awaited
expectations.

“I was a singer in the Philippines when I was a
kid,” said Ortega. “We were a group of choir boys who
lived in the cathedral and often did concerts. It was really cool
because once I got to sing for President Aquino. Plus my
mom’s family are all artists and singers, so I was always
around it.”

After moving to America at the age of thirteen, Ortega knew that
his life would take him to the stage. He settled in Chicago,
finished his undergraduate years on a music scholarship and found
himself in the real world. It was at this point that Ortega decided
to try out for MFA programs. After visiting the hills of Westwood
for his audition, he knew that he was UCLA bound.

“I had a few other offers, but I knew that there was no
way I wanted to be anywhere else but UCLA,” said Ortega.
“When I heard back, I was like, “˜Hell
yeah!'”

“Imelda” traces the life story of the dictator
Ferdinand Marco’s wife. In a familiar style akin to Eva Paron
of “Evita,” Imelda slowly materializes into a woman who
understands that her husband’s career can make all her dreams
come true. For Ortega, shifting gears to play a presumably evil man
was a huge career leap.

“It is easy to play the good guy, but this project was
hard because I had to try to bring humanity to Marco knowing all
the bad things he did,” said Ortega. “I’m mainly
used to playing the “˜young boy’ character, the guy who
got hurt, the younger brother. It’s like Johnny Depp going
from “˜21 Jump Street’ to “˜Finding
Neverland.'”

While Ortega has made his break into the wide, and paid, world
of theater, his heart still remains in Los Angeles, where he
received the training that he says made his current success
possible.

“Professionally, as far as getting myself out there, UCLA
was so important,” said Ortega. “Also just the labor of
the work in the MFA program was so intensive. I know that all the
techniques that I use in “˜Imelda’ are based off of what
I learned there.”

Luckily for Los Angeles, the New York theater scene will have to
put up a fight to get Ortega’s talents out of Southern
California. Now that he has made some valuable contacts, he has his
sight set on bigger, albeit local, aspirations.

“I’m staying in L.A. because it would be silly to
leave all my friends here and start over from scratch,” said
Ortega. “The theater scene here is good, and I do want to get
into films. So this is the place to be.”

As far as influence goes, Ortega attributes much of his success
to the personal growth that he underwent at UCLA. Yet, despite the
close relationships he formed with professors here, his greatest
role models still come from home.

“I know it is so cliche, but my parents have been my
greatest influences,” he said. “I’m not a
millionaire yet, for the first time, I was able to pay for my mom
to come from the Philippines to see “˜Imelda.’

“She was a cabaret dancer when she was young, and while
she always wanted something concrete for me, that was the first
time she admitted that I can actually make a career out of
this.”