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Since its inception, a Tirelli film has
screened at New York Latino. And in 2002, two of his films screened
and each walked away with an award.
"I'm
just delighted. It was beyond my wildest dream and expectation. As an
actor you work and you hope your work is viable and people enjoy it.
You look for consistency and hope that one job leads to the
next." Adding, "when two films are given prizes of this
magnitude at the New York International Latino Film Festival, it makes
me even more pleased and grateful and honored to be a part of
it."
The New York actor is overjoyed about the advent
and continued success of the festival. "Hallelujah!!! Thank God,
we need it. I [am] happy because it finally gives these directors a
venue to express their art. A film that wouldn't get seen in some
markets, because it's here, people will notice it and may be it will
make it to other markets," Tirelli explained.
Tirelli's films at the festival were both shot in
New York and reflect disparate cinematic themes. Washington Heights,
which won the festival prize for Best Feature, highlights a tense
father-son relationship and captures the cultural and geographic
diversity of the northern Manhattan neighborhood. Walking away with
the Lincoln Filmmaker Trophy, All Night Bodega is a gritty urban drama
chronicling a young girl's coming-of-age on Manhattan's mean streets.
Tirelli's skills as an actor are given a broader
showcase in Bodega where he plays Ralph, a 25-year veteran narcotics
officer. Bodega director Felix Olivier saw Tirelli in Girlfight and
asked Tirelli to play the embittered cop. Adding a touch of humor to
loosen up the character, Tirelli had to completely disrobe to enhance
the character's credibility. But Tirelli's clothes didn't come off
with ease. Olivier explained that the character is based on the
subject of a documentary. As Ralph, Tirelli had to mimic an officer
determined to convince suspects that he wasn't wired for sound.
Undressing was a sure fire way to do so.
Before Tirelli tried his hand at acting, he played
centerfield for Los Arecibos Lobos, a professional baseball team in
Puerto Rico. "I represented the Boston Red Sox in a barnstorming
tour of Venezuela and traveled throughout Colombia and Venezuela
promoting the team and playing the professionals down there. I won the
batting championship and [the Red Sox] was going to sign me at that
time, but circumstances prevented it. I was getting older - a little
long in the tooth at 25," Tirelli recalled. In addition, he was
also honored to represent Puerto Rico in the Central American games.
Having trained at the American Academy of Dramatic
Arts, Tirelli's jump from centerfield to center stage was accelerated
when he received a call to audition for a play at the American Place
Theater in New York. The role required an actor to throw a baseball
into the wings of the theater and the play's producers were afraid
that someone would get killed. "I played centerfield and I had an
arm so I said 'No problem,'" Tirelli smiles.
More theater work followed and he was blessed to
cross paths with playwright Miguel Pinero. "I was going to do the
Sun Was Shining, a Miguel Pinero play, at the Boothe Theater, but Joe
Papp lost that contract so we did it somewhere else in NYC and then in
Los Angeles."
Tirelli remembers Pinero as being an instrumental
figure in his early career. In addition to theater projects, Pinero
helped Tirelli land a guest appearance on Miami Vice and to secure the
role as Jose in Fort Apache The Bronx, which is widely considered
Tirelli's big break.
And as fate would have it, Tirelli was able to pay
homage to his mentor by contributing to the success of the film of
Pinero's life, where Tirelli played Marty.
Through the years, Tirelli has turned in
consistently strong performances, making the most of the opportunities
that have come his way and preferring roles where the character has
depth. "The character has to have some sort of intricacy,"
Tirelli explains. Adding, "[the character] can be an outcast, he
can be outside of the law, but he has to have some redeeming
qualities. I like to see a character go whoop [motioning in an arc],
where he moves around and finds revelation…cognition."
Choosing quality over quantity, Tirelli, hopes to
compile a body of work that demonstrates "that [Latinos] are more
than what we were portrayed as before - whores, hookers and pimps -
that we can do everything and that we are a force politically. Through
the arts we can elevate people. Artists are the conscience of the
people. So if we can present projects and films that have a lot of
hope, that have growth, that show a coming of age like Girlfight and
All Night Bodega, we can show our community that there is hope out
there."
M
September 2002
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