CLARO DE LOS REYES
FILM & THEATRE ARTIST | EDUCATOR
Claro (he/him/his) is NYC-based actor, film & theatre artist, and educator.
Born in Metro Manila, Philippines and raised throughout the United States; living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami-Dade, New England, and New York City, Claro draws from his diverse upbringing and eclectic interests to make art that interrogates questions about transnational identity and global culture.
As a filmmaker his short film ‘drawn” was an official selection at the 2024 Urbanworld Film Festival, and his 2023 short film “SPUR” was nominated for Best Experimental Short Film at the San Diego Filipino Film Festival ‘23. He is currently in post-production for two short films focused on the Filipino diaspora.
As an actor, you can catch Claro on screen in the 2023 hit action film “PLANE” (Lionsgate) alongside Gerard Butler and Michael Colter - Now Streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV +. He has performed in stage productions with NY theater companies that include NAATCO, Pan Asian Rep, Leviathan Lab, and International WOW. Additionally Claro has had the honor of co-creating theatre alongside community members in NYC, Minnesota, the Philippines, and Rwanda.
He is the founder and director of Atlantic Pacific Theatre, a socially-engaged theatre and film company committed to exploring cross cultural exchange and pluralism. Recent accomplishments in this sector include: “The My Baryo Oral History Project” supported by The Laundromat Project Create Change artist commission; National Artists Strategies Creative Community Fellowship; Downtown Art Artist-in-Residence; and the Epic Theatre Ensemble’s Spotlight Commission.
His work as a theatre-based educator has been published in the books, "Citizen Artists: A Guide to Helping Young People Make Plays That Change the World" (2021) and "Applied Theatre with Youth: Education, Engagement, Activism" (2021) .
As a playwright, Claro is a proud member of the prestigious Ma-Yi Theater Company Writers Lab, the largest resident company of Asian American playwrights in the country. His plays have been workshopped by Leviathan Lab and at the Virgin LabFest 2020 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
In 2023 Claro received the Outstanding Artist Award from FANHS-MNY.
Claro is a graduate of Fordham College Lincoln Center theatre program, and he is currently pursuing his Masters at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College.