Meet Marcus Marcelli

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Marcelli.

Marcus, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Rome, my family has direct lineage from ancient Rome’s consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, I come from a family of passionates of history, so that’s where I got my name from. For the first years of my life, I grew up in the countryside not far from the forest. Since I was young, every time I’d go out to explore the wild, there was that sense of adventure that pulled me towards the unknown and I grew quite fond of it growing up.

That sensation between fear and excitement, that is what has guided me through all my acting career. It’s my passion for challenges, faced with a mixture of excitement and fear, that has guided me so far in my acting career. I was also inspired by many heroes that populated my fantasies, Errol Flynn was one of my favorites. I think I share a similar personality with him for his romantic swashbuckler roles, we’re both adventurous, reckless and sometimes crazy! As a child I grew up reading Greek and Latin classics and JRR Tolkien (from whom I’ve learned a lot about writing) but also watching classic movies and cartoons, Walt Disney is still one of my greatest heroes. I used to get inspiration from Disney comics for writing stories and even designing my favorite characters and playing their feats through acting.

When I was 18 I was studying in England and by chance, I was scouted to play in a London theater the role of James Dean in “Rebel without a cause”. Since then I realized that I could give more in this field. My challenge then became to be able to work in Hollywood, in the home of the entertainment business. For me it was not enough to just be successful, I wanted to compete with the best and I knew they were all in Hollywood. Although my family was really heartbroken (and also quite scared) by my decision, they have supported me throughout all these years. As time has passed, I’ve started to realize how important is to have a family that supports you, to know that whether you succeed or not there’s a home waiting for you.

Especially during my first years when times were particularly tough. I started taking acting classes when I was in college in the beautiful city of Boston, and although I consider that city my second hometown I eventually realized that all I dreamt of was out in LA and so I decided to move to Hollywood. There I was selected to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in LA. There I lived two very intense years of training and further selections until I graduated in 2018. Once there I discovered a passion for musicals and so in the same year I moved to the New York campus to study singing and dancing in the heart of Broadway. Musicals are a great passion of mine but I eventually realized that movies are my vocation, so I came back to LA and I enrolled at the LA headquarters of the New York Film Academy where I actually learnt more about filmmaking and directing, that made me realize I could be an actor and a filmmaker at the same time.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it wasn’t smooth, especially at the beginning. When I was 15 I was training as a professional swimmer and that gave me an athlete mindset for personal achievement, but that comes with a lot of boring, repetitive work done over and over that eventually leads you to your goals. It’s a lot of afternoons and nights spent rehearsing while you’re friends are out having fun and you just gotta hold on tight to your vision and keep ongoing. Every time you put the bar a little higher and so you grow.

Sometimes tough your best work is not enough and you got to accept the defeat and keep on moving forward to do better the next time. Eventually, I decided to give up my athletic dreams to concentrate on acting and that was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. When I first arrived in Hollywood everyone approached me with a big smile and, most of the time, with a second intention. With time, I’ve learned how to choose my friends and colleagues carefully. I’ve met thousands of people along the road but only a few of them are the ones that I work and develop projects with.

When I ended up without a roof, I have been helped by a total stranger, almost by miracle! Probably one of the most intense stories I’ve ever lived but also one of the most beautiful. Faith has also helped me a lot, I feel like the Divine providence has given me so much, that every time someone comes knocking at my door I have to help. Only now I realize that all those experiences I’ve lived good or bad happened for me, not just to me. every single hard moment has made me grow as a person and as an actor, eventually all these combined turned me from a boy into a man. When someone asks me what made me grow as an actor, I would say the hard times more than any technique.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I started as an actor and now I’m also starting to direct short films. I come from a family of historians. I remember that my father and my grandparents when I was a child, used to take me out for a walk in the woods and tell me so many stories of our past, even those long forgotten. Even today I find fascinating the fact that so many stories and dramas that must have been living in a really intense way for the people who existed in those times, now are completely forgotten, think about WWII becoming just another chapter in a history book with no emotional connection to it. I feel like this story deserves to be told, to tell what people back in the days would have felt in those situations.

I would like to do this with my films: relive and try to reproduce the intense experiences of the past. But I also do not disdain any work of fantasy, in which history and imagination become a new story. My new short film will be released soon and is set in the early 1400s. It is a story of rivalry between two brothers: the older one leads the army into war and is far away fighting for years, meanwhile his brother, having no more received news of him for years, he marries his betrothed and becomes the new lord of the land, the drama happens when the elder brother returns. The idea behind this plot is inspired by various stories that I have listened to and researched like Romulus and Remus, but it is also the result of imagination. Another passion of mine is animated films: I’m thinking of combining this genre with that of historical films for a younger audience.

However, I also like to play brilliant comedies, love stories, action and war films, in particular, those where I can make use of one of my great hobbies, medieval fencing. I have to admit I have a special crush for the middle ages! Although I trained for Musicals, that is one of my other main passions, I hope I’ll have some time to work on a musical at some point. However, it is also beautiful to artistically interpret human dramas that emerge from the contradictions of today’s society. I am fascinated by the fact that 100 years later we still watch the same films by Charlie Chaplin, 2700 years later we still read the verses of Homer, which tell something important for the human heart regardless of their time or their technology with which they were made. The great works of art in fact always remain young, even after centuries, because they touch the heart and elevate our soul. Whether you do Film, Musical, or any other form of art the first requirement is to entertain, but that’s only the first goal, when you can tell stories that elevates us, then you made something immortal.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There have been many proud moments in my career but if I could name one, I would say, a few weeks ago, when I saw my first film finally edited. It was the culmination of my dreams to be simultaneously the writer, the leading actor and the director of the same film. In the end, I had the satisfaction of seeing my ideas arrive on the big screen and not just as a mere component, but as the main storyteller. It was a great experience for me to be on both sides of the camera: it gave me incredible new ideas to better express the story, not only as I imagined it, but also as it could have been. You always have a complete idea in your head, but when that idea becomes reality, you discover that there are many other different, more interesting paths you can take.

Contact Info:

• Phone: +1 8573338316
• Email: marcus@marcusmarcelli.com
• Instagram: @marcusmarcelli

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