Rising Stars: Meet Giorgio Haddad of Fullerton CA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Giorgio Haddad

Hi Giorgio, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
for starters, my name is Giorgio Joseph Haddad. I am 18 years old born in California. I grew up in a middle class low income family with my mom who’s Lebanese and my dad who is Lebanese both coming from Lebanon so my blood is Lebanese . wanting to pursue big dreams while I was growing up. I pursued multiple different things like soccer boxing violin, trumpet and band as much as I enjoyed those things growing up. I just felt like it wasn’t for me. and during that time I moved to Canada for a few years meeting wonderful people and wonderful friends. Unfortunately I moved back and left the beautiful Calgary Alberta Canada, and went back to Chino California going to school was different. I’ve transferred multiple different schools growing up. So it was hard maintaining a few friendships and good grades after I got out of elementary school and went to middle school. I was still clueless on what to do. I felt like there was nothing for me before I went into middle school. I auditioned for a very popular TV show, and I was super excited eventually, after the audition the casting directors of the show said they loved me and wanted me to be part of the show which I was really excited for because I could’ve used that to support not only myself, but my family after a while they were talking over some paperwork with my parents while I was outside, not hearing a single thing I was really excited to pursue the show, thinking about how excited I am to be in front of a camera for the first time in my life. but after my mom and dad walked out of the conference room my mom looked very upset and it turns out that they wanted us to pay $20,000 out of pocket for four years no pay and after that four years, I start getting paid, after that day I thought the doors of acting would be shut for me forever thinking that I had to buy my way in the industry or force myself in the industry, which I did not wanna do because I want to show my talent and be paid for my talent without me having to pay someone so after that, I just worked through life getting my grades up going to school, making new friends and went into high school as well and when my sophomore year hit the doors of acting started to crack open for me in my Theatre class, my friends told me that I should join an audition which I was very hesitant to because at the moment I hated acting. I did not want to do it because of that experience I had with Disney, so I gave it a shot either way, and the Theatre director Mr. Frank smouse , told me that he sees a lot of talent in me and he told me that I should be part of the show which I was really happy and very grateful to hear so I decided to take on a supporting lead role, which was my first role in a play that was live so not only that I had stage fright, but it was my first ever acting gig so I worked hard and hard studying lines, my character, what to do stage directions and eventually we hit opening night, which I was really excited to show what I had in store for the audience my mom came my uncle came all my friends came and they were really really impressed and proud of me so from there my acting took off. I did a bunch of amazing roles. After that I played Simba and The Lion King the musical we did at my high school. I played George Gibbs in our town the stage play which was an amazing lead role and I also got the opportunity to play Hans and Kristoff in frozen the musical and right after that, I played beast Gaston and Lum year and beauty and the beast the musical at my high school. I felt amazing getting all these lead roles because I was working so hard to get them. Eventually I started auditioning for film and I started getting supporting and day players and to be very honest the film industry is so hard, but I still managed and I was really pleased that I did not have to pay out-of-pocket to perform in front of a camera so I landed my first film character and I started getting rules from there. I also was part of the show. Love you with Adam Sandler, which was also amazing and now fast-forward to 2024 life has been going great for me. I have an amazing girlfriend I have an amazing stable house to live in with my mom and my stepdad and my beautiful cats but one thing for certain is, I will never give up on acting and I pray that one day I could land myself a really humongously role but the struggle I had to endure growing up, dealing with not only fighting in the acting industry, but also fighting for myself standing up for myself going through financial troubles with my family dealing with family issues. I took a lot of losses, but now all my losses means something because when one door closes on me three more open for me and now I have a stacked acting résumé and I am really humbled and blessed and I think the Lord for all these roles that I am getting and every day I’m auditioning and trying so that is my story on how I chose acting thank you.

Alright, 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?
it has not been a smooth road at all some struggles that I had to deal with was financial struggles, losing a bunch of friends the passing of my grandma who is my biggest supporter telling me to never give up and the treat people with kindness, even if they don’t treat you with kindness back my grandma is the definition of no excuses when she was old she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and every day when I would see her, she would ask me what’s your name? What’s your name and I would respond with my name is Giorgio my name is Giorgio and each time I would see her. That’s what she would always ask me very confused at the time because I was so young I did understand how Alzheimer’s disease worked but fast-forward three weeks before her passing. I visit her at her nursing home and I go up to her and say don’t she wanna ask what my name is and she goes no your name is Giorgio and my heart felt so shocked because all this time she was asking me for my name because she wanted to know my name so hard and so she remembered it so she never gave up asking me what my name was and a few weeks later my beautiful grandma passed away and left this earth

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a Actor/StagePreformer and i am known for Theater Roles
1. Roy in Plot Like Gravy Thickens – Supporting (2021)
2. Lead in Ghost Light 1 (2021)
3. George Gibbs in Our Town – Lead (2022)
4. Simba in The Lion King Musical – Lead (2023)
5. Hades in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Musical – Day Player (2023)
6. Gabe in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Musical – Day Player (2023)
7. Ensemble in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Musical (2023)
8. Chad in High School Musical: The Musical – Lead (2023)
9. Multiple Roles (Stan, Joe, Roy, Kyle, Scott) in Ghost Light 3 – Lead (2023)
10. Hans in Frozen: The Musical – Supporting Lead (2023)
11. Kristoff in Frozen: The Musical – Lead (2023)
12. Pig Pen in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – Ensemble (2024)
13. Beast in Beauty and the Beast Musical – Lead (2024)
14. Gaston in Beauty and the Beast Musical – Lead (2024)
15. Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast Musical – Lead (2024)

Film Roles
1. Michael Warren in The Curse of Alice Dubel – Supporting Actor (Feature Film, 2024)
2. Young Cliff Unger in Death Stranding (A24)
3. Nikolas in The Book of Palms: A Vampire Story, directed by Justin Durden (2024)
4. Student in What Is Art?, short film directed by Jordan Lee (2024)

Something that sets me apart from others is that i don’t give up and take no for an answer and no matter how long i’ve been in a theatre space or the same film set i will always behave like it’s always my first day there

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Acting matters to me the most, because the opportunity that come with it so i can provide for my family and for my self and my loved ones, it matters because acting is a live from of art and it always continues to grow and change as time goes by from silent films to film with color and sound i just think that it’s so magnificent and so beautiful and im very proud to be part of a culture in the arts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm15638200/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/not_giorgio/profilecard/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits
Michael Warren in The Curse of Alice Dubel – Supporting Actor (Feature Film, 2024)
2. Young Cliff Unger in Death Stranding (A24)
3. Nikolas in The Book of Palms: A Vampire Story, directed by Justin Durden (2024)
4. Student in What Is Art?, short film directed by Jordan Lee (2024)