Meet Shelene Atanacio

Shelene has graced the stage and screen with her talent of transforming herself into an array of characters; from a young Harajuko seductress in the enlightening film Harrison Montgomery starring Oscar winning actor Martin Landau; to a role closer to her heart, in her own one woman stage piece, Underneath The Smile, where she took stories from her own grandparents during WWII - inspiring the character of an 80 year old Filipino grandmother recollecting the traumatic event of World War II in the Philippines. Aside from the writing, Shelene also performed the piece at the Playwrights of Color Festival in San Francisco. Her performance entertained and moved audiences to laughter as well as tears. A judge at the festival praised her actor/writer talents as following in the footsteps of well known actor/writers’ Anna Deavere Smith and John Leguizamo. Through the playwrights’ festival, Shelene’s work was honored with a meritorious award, and in turn, she was sent with a special invitation to perform at the Kennedy Center Regional Festival in Phoenix, Arizona. In an effort to support good causes through acting, Shelene recently appeared in a short film educating travelers on being environmentally friendly. Funded by the United Nations, the film currently plays at 870 World Heritage Sites around the world.

In the Community

In addition to her work in the performance arts, and inspired by her own struggle to afford a college education, Shelene has always been passionate about encouraging and helping others in the community attain a higher education; she believes a higher education gives you the added opportunity to explore life and automatically avails you to plethora of higher opportunities. During her college years at UC Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science, she has worked with various outreach groups with missions to inspire and educate others; organizations such as Break the Cycle Program and as an active member of UC Berkeley’s PASS (Pilipino Academic Student Services) both with missions to break the cycle of limited opportunities in education to the Filipino community and other communities of color. This work led to her involvement in UC Berkeley’s student government where she took on the position as a UC Berkeley Senator, advocating for increased funding towards grassroots outreach efforts to lower income communities.

Due to her outreach work, Shelene was selected as one of 20 students from across the nation and sent on a full scholarship to represent the U.S. and UC Berkeley at the Japan-U.S. Student Conference for a summer in Washington, D.C. Her work with the Telegraph Area Association (an organization whose mission was to keep the Telegraph area of Berkeley in high environmental and economic standing) earned her a community service award from the Mayor of Berkeley, California.
Shelene found a way to pursue her combined loves of acting, education and working in the community by performing with different educational theater companies such as the New Conservatory Theater and Creative Imagination Theater Company. She travelled along with other actors to elementary schools, junior high and high schools around California educating kids through plays on topics from history to homosexuality.

As a Writer

Shelene’s love of acting comes from her love of exploring life through characters and scripts. She believes it could be the best way to see the world and delve deep into the human experience. She also embraces the opportunity acting gives in serving and connecting with others by the stories you tell, she says, “whether through comforting, educating, inspiring, or just plain entertaining.”

As an advocate of the arts and education, and in continuing to share her passions for acting, Shelene is in the final stages of publishing her first book, “Act From the Inside Out “, where she shares powerful acting tools that she believes can transform readers’ “real” lives in the most positive and empowering ways. She believes that everyone can live life to the fullest by stretching into new roles in life with authenticity, creativity and most importantly faith. For more information on Shelene’s book, “Act from the Inside Out”, click here or go to www.ActFromTheInsideOut.Com or reserve your copy today at www.Amazon.com