Gabriel Traversari
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Traversari is a Nicaraguan
American
actor
, director
, writer
, singer, songwriter
, painter
and photographer.
, California
, but grew up in El Crucero
, a municipality just outside of Managua
, Nicaragua.
He was sent to a junior boarding school in Pomfret
, Connecticut
called The Rectory School
and graduated high school at Middlesex School
in Concord
, Massachusetts
. Traversari went on to graduate from Florida State University
in Tallahassee, Florida
with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. While in school he performed on stage in Twelfth Night (as Antonio), The Apple Tree
(as Adam), Princess Ida
(as Cyril), Macbeth
(as Macduff
), Infancy (as Avonzino), What the Butler Saw
(as Nick), The Sea Gull
(as Trigorin), Romeo and Juliet
(as Romeo), The Lost Colony (as A. Dare/J. Borden) and Camino Real
(as Abdullah).
’s first major original production, TV Mujer (1988-1990), an international talk show which he co-hosted for three years. Traversari also starred in other popular television programs which aired in Latin America and Spain including "Mejorando su Hogar", the first home improvement show produced in Spanish in the United States, and "Casa Club Magazine
".
Traversari went on to produce, direct and host "Un Día de Fama" and many episodes for the "Behind the Scenes" series for E! Entertainment, in Latin America.
In 2004 he began hosting "Esotérica" on Cosmopolitan Television. He was also cast as one of the lead voices for the Spanish version of Duckman
, the Emmy-award winning cartoon, and as the voice of "Juan del Diablo" in the English translation of the soap opera, Corazón Salvaje
. He has appeared on various television series such as Miami Vice
(1988), as well as small credited appearances in movies such as Something Wild (1986), Once Upon A Time in America
(1984) and Two Much (1995). He was cast as the lead in the independent low budget feature, Murder on the Border, where he starred alongside Mexican actress Alpha Acosta (2005). He has also appeared in three Telemundo soap operas Anita no te Rajes, El Cuerpo del Deseo and Pecados Ajenos.
Traversari produces, directs and hosts the TV series "Las Espectaculares Casas" for Casa Club TV, a subdivision of MGM Networks, Latin America.
He wrote his first book of poetry, Before the Dawn: Genuflections to my Cimmerian Wraith, in 1996. It was during the writing of that book that he became interested in painting. He has since published numerous other works and is preparing his first full length novel. He is launching his first photography book entitled, "Vernaculo: Encuentros con mi Tierra" which will have its debut presentation at the Palace of Culture in Nicaragua in the summer of 2008.
He founded the Fundación Cultural Hispanoamericana in the 1990s for the purpose of promoting the vision of young Hispanic artists. He has now traded his work there to support another foundation, The Future of Nicaragua Foundation, founded by his aunt Julia Sevilla de Hopping. Traversari has aided in several culturally driven projects including a musical concert in the national stadium in Managua that brought together more than 50 Nicaraguan artists and some special international personalities such as Laura León, Victor Noriega and Sebastian Ligarde. Throughout his career, Traversari has hosted many beauty pageants including Miss Nicaragua
, Miss Panama, Nuestra Belleza- El Paso and Miss Carnaval; song festivals such as La OTI- Nicaragua, La OTI- Nueva York and La OTI -Tampa, and television specials such as Fiesta en America and La Casa de sus Sueños for Pepsi Cola, Año Nuevo, Vida Nueva for Golden Hill Productions and numerous guest hosting appearances for Televisa Espectaculos. He has served as jury member for the OTI
Nacional and Nuestra Belleza.
In 2002 Traversari shot his first documentary project entitled Por Los Caminos, a 24 hour journey through the streets of Managua
that was screened at eight film festivals all over the world, including the Miami International Film Festival, the Havana Film Festival (Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano), the London Latin Film Festival and others.
Traversari launched his first CD, Luna de Piel, in 2002.
Nicaraguan
Nicaraguans are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans live in Nicaragua, although there is also a significant Nicaraguan diaspora, particularly in Costa Rica and the United States with smaller communities in other countries around the world...
American
Nicaraguan American
Nicaraguan American are Americans of Nicaraguan ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 177,684 Americans of full or partial Nicaraguan ancestry living in the U.S...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and photographer.
Early life
Traversari was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, but grew up in El Crucero
El Crucero
El Crucero is a municipality in the Managua department of Nicaragua....
, a municipality just outside of Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
, Nicaragua.
He was sent to a junior boarding school in Pomfret
Pomfret
Pomfret are perciform fishes belonging to the family Bramidae.They are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and the largest species, the Atlantic pomfret, Brama brama, grows up to long....
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
called The Rectory School
The Rectory School
The Rectory School is an independent, coeducational, junior boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, USA. The school was founded by Rev. Frank H. Bigelow in 1920...
and graduated high school at Middlesex School
Middlesex School
Middlesex School is an independent secondary school for grades 9 - 12 located in Concord, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1901 by a Roxbury Latin School alumnus, Frederick Winsor, who headed the school until 1937. Winsor set up a National Scholarship Program for the school, the first of its kind...
in Concord
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Traversari went on to graduate from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
in Tallahassee, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. While in school he performed on stage in Twelfth Night (as Antonio), The Apple Tree
The Apple Tree
The Apple Tree is a series of three musical playlets with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Bock and Harnick with contributions from Jerome Coopersmith...
(as Adam), Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
(as Cyril), Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
(as Macduff
Macduff (thane)
Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is a character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth . Macduff plays a pivotal role in the play: he suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act...
), Infancy (as Avonzino), What the Butler Saw
What the Butler Saw (play)
What the Butler Saw is a farce written by English playwright Joe Orton. It premièred at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1969. It was Orton's final play and the second to be performed after his death, following Funeral Games the year before....
(as Nick), The Sea Gull
The Sea Gull
The Sea Gull is a 1968 British-American-Greek drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Moura Budberg is adapted from Anton Chekhov's classic 1896 play The Seagull....
(as Trigorin), Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
(as Romeo), The Lost Colony (as A. Dare/J. Borden) and Camino Real
Camino Real (play)
Camino Real is a 1953 play by Tennessee Williams. In the introduction to the Penguin edition of the play, Williams directs the reader to use the Anglicized pronunciation "Cá-mino Réal." The play takes its title from its setting, alluded to El Camino Real, a dead-end place in a Spanish-speaking town...
(as Abdullah).
Career
Once Traversari graduated from college he moved to Miami, where he was hired as the co-host of UnivisionUnivision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
’s first major original production, TV Mujer (1988-1990), an international talk show which he co-hosted for three years. Traversari also starred in other popular television programs which aired in Latin America and Spain including "Mejorando su Hogar", the first home improvement show produced in Spanish in the United States, and "Casa Club Magazine
Casa Club Magazine
Casa Club Magazine was the flagship show for MGM Latin America Hosted by Gabriel Traversari, Patrice Martial and famous singer and host Vicky Larraz.The show aired throughout Latin America throughout the late 1980s and early 2000s. The Show was produced by Fran Mires and JB Diederich. 130 one...
".
Traversari went on to produce, direct and host "Un Día de Fama" and many episodes for the "Behind the Scenes" series for E! Entertainment, in Latin America.
In 2004 he began hosting "Esotérica" on Cosmopolitan Television. He was also cast as one of the lead voices for the Spanish version of Duckman
Duckman
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American animated sitcom that aired from 1994–1997, created by Everett Peck and developed by Peck. The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his Dark Horse comic...
, the Emmy-award winning cartoon, and as the voice of "Juan del Diablo" in the English translation of the soap opera, Corazón Salvaje
Corazón salvaje (1993 TV series)
Corazón Salvaje is a Mexican telenovela, which was produced by and broadcast on Televisa in 1993. It was also broadcast on Galavisión and Univision in the United States later that year and again in 2003 as well as in Peru in 1993 and 1999, in Kenya on KTN and in Italy on Rete 4 in 1993 and on 7Gold...
. He has appeared on various television series such as Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
(1988), as well as small credited appearances in movies such as Something Wild (1986), Once Upon A Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
(1984) and Two Much (1995). He was cast as the lead in the independent low budget feature, Murder on the Border, where he starred alongside Mexican actress Alpha Acosta (2005). He has also appeared in three Telemundo soap operas Anita no te Rajes, El Cuerpo del Deseo and Pecados Ajenos.
Traversari produces, directs and hosts the TV series "Las Espectaculares Casas" for Casa Club TV, a subdivision of MGM Networks, Latin America.
He wrote his first book of poetry, Before the Dawn: Genuflections to my Cimmerian Wraith, in 1996. It was during the writing of that book that he became interested in painting. He has since published numerous other works and is preparing his first full length novel. He is launching his first photography book entitled, "Vernaculo: Encuentros con mi Tierra" which will have its debut presentation at the Palace of Culture in Nicaragua in the summer of 2008.
He founded the Fundación Cultural Hispanoamericana in the 1990s for the purpose of promoting the vision of young Hispanic artists. He has now traded his work there to support another foundation, The Future of Nicaragua Foundation, founded by his aunt Julia Sevilla de Hopping. Traversari has aided in several culturally driven projects including a musical concert in the national stadium in Managua that brought together more than 50 Nicaraguan artists and some special international personalities such as Laura León, Victor Noriega and Sebastian Ligarde. Throughout his career, Traversari has hosted many beauty pageants including Miss Nicaragua
Miss Nicaragua
The Miss Nicaragua contest is the national beauty pageant of Nicaragua and is a franchise of SILHUETAS, a modeling agency. Each Nicaraguan department may choose a representative who then enters the Miss Nicaragua finals, traditionally held at the Rubén Darío National Theater. The winner is crowned...
, Miss Panama, Nuestra Belleza- El Paso and Miss Carnaval; song festivals such as La OTI- Nicaragua, La OTI- Nueva York and La OTI -Tampa, and television specials such as Fiesta en America and La Casa de sus Sueños for Pepsi Cola, Año Nuevo, Vida Nueva for Golden Hill Productions and numerous guest hosting appearances for Televisa Espectaculos. He has served as jury member for the OTI
OTI
As a three-letter acronym, OTI may refer to:* Office of Transition Initiatives, an office of United States Agency for International Development founded in 1994...
Nacional and Nuestra Belleza.
In 2002 Traversari shot his first documentary project entitled Por Los Caminos, a 24 hour journey through the streets of Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
that was screened at eight film festivals all over the world, including the Miami International Film Festival, the Havana Film Festival (Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano), the London Latin Film Festival and others.
Traversari launched his first CD, Luna de Piel, in 2002.
Awards and recognition
- Acrin; Host of the Year - (twice) by the North American Critics Association
- "Güegüense de Bronze" - by the Lions' Club Miami/Managua
- "Mundaje de Oro" - by the Association of Nicaraguan Artists
- "Hunk of the Year" - by the Galaxy of Stars association.