Actor Cesare Scarpone has demonstrated wide-spanning range in his standout career that’s seen his talents shine both on stage and on the screen.

Hailing from Canada, Scarpone won the Sears Drama Festival’s award of excellence for the York, Ontario region for his work in the role of Jerry in Edward Albee’s “The Zoo Story.” He was selected to study the craft of acting at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), and went on to act on the stage in titles such as Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest.”

Scarpone’s gone on to play a crazed serial killer who takes hostages and pits them in a survival of the fittest contest in “Chance,” the Archangel Gabriel in “All I Need,” an ‘Every Man’ in “Modern Romance is Dead,” a grieving, revenge-seeking father in “Aftermath” and a local townie who guides unassuming victims through a terror unleashed in the horror feature, “Black Forest.”

Classically trained and influenced by the greats like Brando, Dean, McQueen and De Niro, Scarpone in an analytical artist when it comes to acting, one who dives into characters to understand and deliver their intrinsic subtleties. His performances have resulted in recognition and praise, and have demonstrated the work of one of today’s foremost, exemplary actors.

Recently, we had the chance to put the spotlight on Scarpone for a question and answer session, and we’re excited to share his story below.
 
Where are you from originally?
CS: Brampton, Ontario until I was about 10, then moved to Maple Ontario and grew up there.

What films and TV shows did you grow up watching?
CS: All the kids’ classics, “Friends,” anything from Disney and Warner Bros. I enjoyed a lot of the films that had fantasy elements to them – “The Pagemaster,” “NeverEnding Story” and so on.  Then as I got older, I got into the classics…anything Marlon Brando, James Dean, Steve McQueen, “Raging Bull” and “Dog Day Afternoon,” “American Psycho,” “Leon the Professional,” “There will be Blood,”  anything with a great story and excellent characters.

What drove you to want to pursue a career in acting?
CS: The feeling of constantly being in the moment when on stage and in front of the camera – having the ability to connect with an audience and move them.

Who are some of your inspirations or influences?
CS: Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Gary Oldman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day Lewis and Joseph Gordon Levitt, to name a few.

Tell us a little about your theatre background. What were some of your favorite roles you’ve played for the stage?
CS: Jerry from “The Zoo Story” by Edward Albee is still one of my favorite characters, the neurotic outcast, unable to cope with society had to be one of the most interesting characters yet.  I’ve played Ferdinand from “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare and Staff Captain Vassily Vasilyevich Solyony from Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.”

How did starting in theatre help your transition into film and TV?
CS: It gave me a strong foundation in work ethic and exploration along with having fun and learning how to listen to the other actors on stage.

What are the traits and qualities that the best actors possess?
CS: The ability to be fully in the moment, to listen and react truthfully to what is being given to them and a strong work ethic and passion for what they do.

How do you incorporate those characteristics into your own acting?
CS: I try my best to approach each bit of text I get as openly as possible, mining as much information I can about the character I am playing and construct an image for the choices I believe the character would make in the moments. Then, I try my best to forget all the work and play, hoping that the ghosts of my work will come through in my performances.

What does it take to effectively become another person and deliver a character?
CS: This might get philosophical, but to say I can become someone else, portray someone else who has been through an infinite amount of moments and memories would seem like a disservice to anyone out there. I think I can only make choices that are different from my own habitual instincts, ones that, through the work and research are informed and in line with what I feel to be the characters’ line of thought.

What’s one character you’ve played who was most unlike you?
CS:  I would have to say Chance. He is a serial killer.  I feel bad hurting a mouse and now more recently, spiders.

You played Paul in David Briggs’ horror feature, “Black Forest.” What’s the movie about and how does your character tie into the story?
CS: I don’t want to give too much away as it hasn’t made its DVD release, but it is about two best friends – Bree and Jess – who take a camping trip out to the forests of Northern Ontario. They meet a seemingly ‘Mad Man’ Isaac, and find themselves trapped in the woods needing to find a way out for their lives.  Paul is a local from a nearby town, who acts as a guide to help them find their way through the terror.

Before your foray into horror, you played The Archangel Gabriel in Rebecca Carrigan’s fantasy drama, “All I Need.” What was the film about and how would you describe your character?
CS: The film was about Sophie, who finds herself thrown into the world of angels and demons. She is made aware of her guardian angel, Nathan, who is sworn to protect her from the madness she finds herself in. Their relationship gets closer than is allowed by the angels and my character, Gabriel, must step in to save both Nathan and Sophie, while still acting according to law.

Tell us a little bit about the story of vengeance and that of playing Cameron Shaw in the 2014 short, “Aftermath.”
CS: It was a truly sad story of a father experiencing the loss of that which he cared more for than anything in the world: his daughter. I considered how this affects the mental stability of a father and what they would do to rectify, in their minds, the nightmare they experienced. To himself, he was completely justified in his actions, taking the law into his own hands when he believed the world failed to see what he saw.

Your leading role as E.M. in “Modern Romance is Dead” pits you in a layered thriller/drama. What was that character’s journey all about and how did you go about executing the role?
CS:  E.M, which stands for ‘Every Man’ was the personification of the general male perspective of what a relationship should be and represent in this modern society. I drew on my own experiences and extrapolated. Because he might have been the closest to myself, I tried to be as true to my own feelings in how I’d feel in each moment, while work and exploration of my own imagination was used to fill in any of the gaps.

In 2012, you played the leading antagonist in director Rob Comeau’s thriller film, “Chance.” What were Chance’s motivations and methods? Just how crazy was the character and what types of challenges did the role present you as an actor?
CS:  Chance wanted to make the world a better place and like anyone, believed his actions were completely justified, because he was serving the greater good. He was making the world a better place by starting a chain reaction of understanding. Rob was as normal as directors get, though passionate, he served as a good grounding stone for the film, especially as it was so wild. He was open to any ideas I wanted to throw at him and gave me the freedom to play. The biggest challenge was to learn not to judge any character. To be truthful to any character or story, you can’t just play concepts, that you are still portraying a person with feelings and thoughts and life.

What’s one thing people might not expect that’s true about being a film and TV actor today?
CS: It is a lot of work and dedication, never as glamorous as one is led to believe.

What’s surprised you the most about working in the industry?
CS:  The true passion I come across every day from piece to piece.  How joyful everyone can be when they are doing what they love.

What’s been the most rewarding part about your acting career to date?
CS:  How it changes me and helps me grow past my comfort zones, as well as performing for the young.  Their uninhibited responses and complete immersion in the stories you give them.  

What films or TV series are in your Netflix queue or DVR? What are you watching nowadays?
CS:  “House of Cards,” and for films, I have a crazy long list that I haven’t even cracked. There are just too many out there, so I just tend to watch something that someone has recently recommended.

What hobbies or activities fill up your spare time when you’re not acting?
CS: I love to read, exercise and do anything outdoors I possibly can. Being with people I care about.

Who is on your shortlist for fellow actors you’d like to work with?
CS: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Gary Oldman.

What can we look forward to seeing you in next?
CS: I will be working on a short, “The Porter and the Stone,” as well as the feature, “Imaginary Friends,” which is a working title. I am currently working on “Blood Wedding” By Federico Garcia Lorca, which will open on the 25th of May at LAMDA.
 
 

“Dungeon Crash” is the ultimate fantasy role playing game that’s equally addicting and interactive. From Firefly Games Inc. and development team, Pitaya, the free mobile game for Android and Apple catapults players into a battle against evil orcs, elves, goblins and dragons in an effort to restore order to the Kingdom of Berman.

Users are challenged to recruit, train and assemble a lineup of heroes to journey through dungeons, plains, an ice winter land, lava mountains and other perilous locales inhabited by powerful monsters. Peace and prosperity can only be restored to the kingdom by locking the evil forces back into the dungeons.

The game features revolutionary mechanics with more than 60 underground dungeons and endless treasures to collect. There’s more than 40 hero characters to build a team with including warriors, mages and healers who can be equipped with hundreds of weapons variations, armor and strength attributes. The “Dungeon Crash” campaign storyline features more than 100 quests to complete.

Firefly Games’ Zi Li – known for her designing and producing of award-winning games including “Dissonance,” “Leviathan,” “Epic Knights,” “Paralect,” and “MiraLab” – served as producer for “Dungeon Crash.”

“Dungeon Crash welcomes players who like RPG games with simple and unique gameplay,” she said. “It is designed for casual and mid-core players who like RPG games. But it also has lots of hardcore players because of its deep gameplay. Players always have the next goal in the game. The main goal of the game is to collect the best team of warriors, mages and healers.”

The game is ripe with interactive features, a component that’s yielded high popularity and success. “Every feature is interactive,” Li said. “Players can enter instant battles to become more powerful or keep upgrading their heroes and gear. The most interesting part is interacting with other players. Players can send gifts to each other, visit friends, visit other players’ kingdoms, chat with other players, make guilds, help friends fight against other enemies, and so on.”

Li said among the game’s most popular features are its Arena and Labyrinth modes. Arena pits player versus player head-to-head to get position on the leaderboard, while the Labyrinth feature is for finding hidden treasure to cash in for rewards.

Characters are comprised of differing tiers of heroes ranging from Uncommon, Unique, Epic, Legendary and Mythical. “Mythical heroes are the best in the game,” Li said. “Every player is trying to collect Mythical heroes. There will be a better tier in the future – Celestial. Players will see the Celestial heroes soon in the future updates.”

Li’s task as producer requires her to ensure the game runs as hitch-free as possible and to implement improvements based on data analysis. She liaisons between the game’s development staff and upper stakeholders including the publisher – Firefly – and its executive staff. She develops and maintains schedules and budgets, oversees art, design and technical development and ensures timely delivery of production milestones. After the game is ready to roll out, Li handles quality assurance testing, beta testing, focus groups and localization.

“As the producer, Zi was unequivocally leading and critical to the project, as she was in charge of supervising the production team to ensure the smooth execution of the work in a time and cost effective manner,” said Michael Zhang, founder and CEO of Firefly Games Inc. “Needless to say, this was an immense workload that is liable to overwhelm anybody unprepared for it; however, being the seasoned professional that she is, Zi remained undaunted and was committed to making “Dungeon Crash” the best that it could possibly be.”

Working with the different extensions behind the game’s creation, Li communicates ideas and player feedback with the designer. She submits bug fixes to programmers and tracks customer support for any in-games issues that players experience. She coordinates with the community manager for ongoing game updates, tracks budgeting for the marketing department and works with the product manager for continual ways to improve the game.

“Each team works closely together. I’m the bridge between each team,” Li said.

The bridging is anything but easy though. Li’s role includes creative mandates as well, from artwork for promotional purposes to design principals. Her background is befitting for producing. She received an MFA in Interactive Media & Games from USC and before that, Li earned a Bachelor degree in Engineering at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. She’s the perfect blend for game design: the mind of a scientifically cultivated engineer with the knowledge, skills and abilities of an artist, specifically in animation, filmmaking and even painting.

“In order to make it efficient, I need to balance these two types of mindset,” Li said. “Sometimes we adjust the feature based on data and do less subjective design. For example, some in-game events need more attention in digging into data so that we can adjust them to better fit players’ need.”

In less than a year’s time since releasing, “Dungeon Crash” sold on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store in more than 100 countries. It has more than a million downloads and was voted by Google Play as the Top Developer’s Game.

The commercial aspects make it an analytical, data-driven directive where Li observes player behavior and how to push development based on data. Li says there are plans for the release of updated versions, which will build upon and enhance the user experience.

“There is a lot we can do with the game and want to share with players,” she said. “The goal is to keep this game running for years and offer long-term fun experience for players.”

As is stands, “Dungeon Crash” has certainly found a strong following that’s predicated largely behind the stalwart efforts of Li and the entire team behind its creation. “You can hardly get bored by playing this game. When you are familiar with the gameplay, you can hang out with friends, building your own community and find more potential of gameplay by interacting with other players,” said Li. “It has a lot more than its designed gameplay.”

For more on “Dungeon Crash,” join its Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/DungeonCrash
Visit the game’s official forum here: http://forums.fireflygames.com
And check out more from Firefly Games: http://fireflygames.com
 

Patricia Lagmay is a celebrated stylist who has worked with distinguished brands and establishments such as Aritzia, Wings + Horns, Priory, Samsung and Hearst Media. Her outstanding styling has been showcased across print, digital and commercial platforms.

Lagmay’s aesthetic and refined sense of style has been met with industry recognition and acclaim. She’s styled thousands of looks and stands on the apex of the industry as a trusted source of excellence in fashion.

Here, Lagmay shares her top five personal styling tips.

1. Create a mood board
"This is something that I do for work but is also really useful when defining your personal style. Start by collecting images that you’re drawn to and edit them down to about ten to create your final mood board. This collection of images should function as a litmus test when you’re deciding whether to add a certain garment to your wardrobe. The tighter and more succinct the edit, the easier these decisions will be."

2. Invest in timeless classics
"Spend on quality pieces you’ll wear time and time again – they’ll last you longer and your cost-per
-wear will be fantastic. Trend pieces are where you should look for savings."

3. Visit your local thrift store
"Your local Salvation Army is a treasure trove for inexpensive, unique pieces that no one else will have. It’s a great place to experiment with your personal style."

4. Get things tailored
"If you’ve found the perfect piece but the fit isn’t quite right, consider taking it to your local tailor. Minor alterations that are specific to your body can take a garment from looking like it cost you $20 to $200."

5. Do a yearly purge
"Re-examine your closet at least once a year and get rid of clothes that no longer fit your personal style. Doing this edit regularly will ensure that the pieces you’re wearing are true to how you actually want to dress. Items you may have forgotten about also get re-discovered. Use your mood board to decide what stays and what goes."