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Background:
"I find 'celebrityism' a bit of an obscure concept; idolizing people who appear
on film is a bit silly, really when you think about it. 'Ah, he speaks,
therefore he's a hero'. People do more important jobs than acting in film that
should be recognized, but for some reason it's big money, so people are elevated
in status. If I was a bus driver, I'm sure you wouldn't be interviewing me. So
the loss of anonymity does frighten me if it happens." Adam Garcia.
Australian actor Adam Garcia received notice while portraying Kevin O'Donnell,
Violet’s (Piper Perabo) object of affection, in David McNally’s romantic comedy
Coyote Ugly (2000) and starring as tap dancer Sean Okden in Dein Perry's Bootmen
(2000). An actor who made his big screen debut in the biopic Wilde (1997),
Garcia continued to act in such films as Riding in Cars With Boys (2001), The
First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002), the acclaimed Love's Brother
(2004) and went to the spotlight again while costarring Lindsay Lohan playing
rock star Stu Wolff in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004).
Garcia is a professional dancer and is the co-founder of the internationally
acclaimed dance group, the Tap Dogs. Additionally, he is a talented stage actor
and received rave reviews for starring John Travolta's character Tony Manero in
the stage version of the musical “Saturday Night Fever” at the London Palladium
from April 1998-April 1999. He recently starred on UK stage in a production of
“On the Town,” playing Frank Sinatra's role of “Chip.”
The 5' 11" tall, dark brown-haired and blue-eyed actor is now sweetly linked
with his Love's Brother costar, English actress Amelia Warner.
Tap Dog
Childhood and Family:
Son of a Colombian father, Adam Gabriel Garcia was born on June 1, 1973 in
Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia. Since six years old, Adam has begun
dancing and attended the prestigious Capital Dance Studio in Sydney. During that
time, he also studied at Knox Grammar School from 1985 to 1991. In the opening
ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games 2000, one could watched him dancing in the
tap dancing sequence.
His mother, along with his older brother Tom, currently resides in Australia
while his father lives on the West Coast of the US. Garcia moved to the West
Coast of the US in 2003, but after 18 months, he relocated to London.
Fan of authors J.R.R Tolkien, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Tom Robbins and actors
Johnny Depp and Paul Newman, Adam Garcia loves to watch his favorite films Monty
Python And The Holy Grail, Spinal Tap, Star Wars and Withnail & I. He is a
professional dancer in tap, ballet, jazz and classical ballet, and plays the
guitar and the piano. An ardent environmentalist who previously intended to be a
Chemical Biologist and adored David Attenborough, Garcia recycles and loves
animals.
The Dancing Actor
Career:
"It is such an education. The process of rehearsal means you learn so much and
really get the chance to develop your work on a character. You can cover so many
facets - try things out. For example, by the second week Tyler was different -
he was much more level, and slightly standoffish He became more still, watching
people. And he stood up for himself more. And night after night you find out
more about the character, and get the chance to try things. In films there is
never that time to really develop a role. You can get halfway through and think:
"Oh, that's what I am about!" Adam Garcia (on his theater works).
Commencing his show biz career as a dancer, young Adam Garcia got his first
professional dancing job performing tap dancing on the stepladder of the town
hall in Sydney under the direction of Baz Luhrmann. Along with his friends,
Garcia co-founded the Australian dance troupe Dein Perry's All Tap Company,
which later received worldwide praise.
A one-line role in the Aussie TV show "Home and Away" was Garcia’s first acting
work. He then went on stage and toured Australia from 1992 to 1993.
Subsequently, he flew to London and played character Slide in West End
production of the musical "Hot Shoe Shuffle" and was cast to play the leading
part of John Travolta’s character Doody in the West End (London) production of
"Grease."
Garcia became a co-presenter on the British kids’ program "Boiled Eggs and
Soldiers" in 1996. He eventually landed on the big screen, playing the bit part
of miner Jones in Brian Gilbert’s Wilde (1997, starring Stephen Fry), adopted
from the best-selling biography by Richard Ellman about Irish-born, homosexual
author and public speaker Oscar Wilde. He followed it up with the British
football soap "Dream Team", playing Noah, an Australian studying at an England
university.
The rest of the 1990s saw Garcia returned to stage. He costarred as Al in the
London stage adaptation of "Birdy" and portraying another John Travolta’s
character, Tony Manero, in Robert Stigwood’s production of the musical “Saturday
Night Fever” at the London Palladium from April 1998 to April 1999. The latter
character received critical applause and Garcia was nominated for an Olivier
Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
"During Saturday Night Fever at the end of the first act dance number I tried to
perform a split-jump, only I can't do them so I ended up on my ass followed by
the most unsightly backward roll out of it, followed by the cast falling over in
laughter and a good portion of the audience too." Adam Garcia (on his
performance in the play “Saturday Night Fever”).
The new millennium gave Garcia a big break. He won the breakthrough role of
Kevin O'Donnell, Violet’s (Piper Perabo) love attention, in his Hollywood
feature debut, David McNally’s raucous, raunchy movie Coyote Ugly (2000, also
with Maria Bello and Tyra Banks). He followed it up another breakout role as
disgruntled young steelworker and mutinous, talented tap dancer Sean Okden in
Dein Perry's directorial debut, a semi autobiographical film about Dein Perry,
the drama comedy Bootmen (2000, costarring Sam Worthington and Sophie Lee).
After a one-week performance in Marta Emmit's production of "Cadillac Ranch,"
Garcia was cast to play Jason, Drew Barrymore's grown-up son in Riding in Cars
with Boys (2001, also starring Steve Zahn). The true-story based comedy movie
was helmed by Penny Marshall and was inspired by Beverly D'Onofrio’s book. In
the next years, Garcia nabbed the starring role of a successful salesman quits
his job in Mick Jackson’s screen version of Po Bronson’s novel, the comedy The
First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002, alongside Rosario Dawson) and
voiced over the title character of Kangaroo Jack in the animated movie with the
same in 2003.
More recent, Garcia teamed with Mena Suvari, James Van Der Beek and Amy Adams in
Matthew Cole Weiss’ film about a popular yet drunken actor, Standing Still and
played Giovanni Ribisi’s handsome brother in Jan Sardi’s award winning romantic
comedy Love's Brother. He also costarred as Stu Wolff, an English band lead
singer whom Lindsay Lohan character has such a crush on, in Sara Sugarman’s
adaptation of Dyan Sheldon’s book, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (also
with Megan Fox), and became Jacqueline Bisset’s reluctant son in Klaus Menzel’s
independent thriller Fascination (with Stuart Wilson and Alice Evans).
On the small screen, Garcia appeared in the telemovie version of Agatha
Christie’s novel, Marple: The Body in the Library (starring Geraldine McEwan),
and in the new series "Doctor Who" (starring Christopher Eccleston and David
Tennant). He is scheduled to star as Vaslav Nijinski, a ballet choreographer, in
the upcoming BBC movie set in Paris in 1913, Riot at the Rite. Always a stage
actor, Garcia recently went back on England stage for the English National
Opera's “On the Town,” in which he played Frank Sinatra's role of “Chip,”
opposite Caroline O'Connor.
Awards:
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