Albert M. Chan - Asian Actor

Based in New York, Boston, and Toronto, Albert M. Chan is a versatile Chinese-Canadian film and television actor who has recently broadened his interests to filmmaking.

Ironically, it was only when Albert was working towards his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2004 that he began to explore the creative arts, eventually discovering his true passion for telling stories that matter — stories about how the human heart changes. Albert’s initial foray into storytelling was as an actor, and his strong engineering background even provided a jumpstart to his acting career.

Albert's first major audition was for a supporting role in the feature film Dark Matter starring Meryl Streep. The casting director called Albert when she found out that he was an engineering graduate student, asking him to audition for the role of a chemistry graduate student from China. Director Chen Shi-Zheng liked what he saw and invited Albert to New York to audition again. Ultimately though, the film required improvisation in a Chinese dialect, and the dialect Albert speaks was not the one Chen Shi-Zheng was seeking.

Though disappointing, the experience gave Albert a huge boost in confidence, and it wasn't long until Albert landed a role in Disney's live-action film version of the classic 1960's cartoon Underdog, (James Belushi, Amy Adams, Jason Lee). Since then, he has been cast in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas), Every Day (Helen Hunt, Liev Schreiber, Brian Dennehy, Eddie Izzard), and Life of Lemon (Dan Lauria, Mimi Kennedy, Beth Grant, Rachel Miner). On TV, Albert has had roles on 30 Rock (NBC), Law & Order SVU (NBC), Body of Proof (ABC), Brotherhood (Showtime), and I'm Paige Wilson (CW).

Not satisfied with storytelling only as an actor, Albert broadened his interests to filmmaking in 2007. Albert wrote, directed, and produced his first film, Fate Scores, which was recognized by the prestigious National Film Board of Canada at the 2009 Vancouver Asian Film Festival. Fate Scores enjoyed a successful festival run, screening at major North American festivals. Fate Scores was recently picked up by Moving Images Distribution (formerly Canadian Filmmakers Distribution West).

While still currently involved in acting and touring the festival circuit with his latest film about gay adoption, The Commitment, Albert is also working on his third project as a filmmaker, a collaboration with Emmy®-nominated cinematographer Cira Felina Bolla and music composer Ryan Leach (The Dark Knight, Bee Movie, Cold Case). Inspired by the migration experiences of Albert's mother and grandfather, Descendants of the Past, Ancestors of the Future is a narrative film that focuses on an expectant father who must deal with his family's past in order to face the future.

For more information, visit http://albertmchan.com.