Before even stepping foot on campus, Dan Fabi had already played a major role in a movie on a television network.

Auditioning for acting roles since he was 9, the Cherry Hill, N.J., native has a long list of work experience, including more than a dozen commercials and an appearance in the film, “August Rush.” However, he played his biggest role to date the summer before his freshman year at Syracuse University. Fabi, a sophomore television, radio and film major, played the character of Dennis in the movie “Contest,” which premiered last semester on the Cartoon Network.

Anthony Giunta directed and wrote “Contest,“ a live-action indie movie in 2011 that focused on sending an anti-bullying message to teens. Cartoon Network picked up the film to go along with its annual “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” campaign.

“Contest” tells the story of a school bully and his perennial victim bonding over a cooking competition. Fabi’s character Dennis acts as a leader of one of the teams in the contest.

 

Separating him further from most incoming college freshmen, Fabi spent his summer working and hanging out on a movie set. He said there’s no better way to spend a summer.

“I loved working on the set,” he said. “I loved everyone in the cast, the crew. [It was] just an all-around awesome experience.”

Even attending the movie premiere in New York City felt like going to see a movie with all of his friends, Fabi said.

Initially, Fabi auditioned for an entirely different role, but the director sprinted to the elevator after his audition to offer him the Dennis character.

“Dennis was definitely more of a bully character,” Fabi said, who did not mind playing the bad guy, especially under a great director. “The director gave me so much freedom to experiment with the script and improv lines. I really loved that.”

The director must have loved it, too, because most of Fabi’s off-the-cuff scenes were kept in the final film.

Fabi plans to continue auditioning and acting, but, while at SU, has widened his horizons when it comes to film.

“Acting was definitely the first thing that got me into film,” he said, “but after being on set, I realized I loved writing, creating and directing.”

He balances all this while finding time to fulfill his duties as eminent chronicler for his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Even with all of this on his plate, he continues to audition for roles during school breaks.

Fabi’s main goal right now is to study television, radio and film at SU, and said he hopes to work more on the CitrusTV program, “Syracuse After Hours.”

Published on January 13, 2014 at 12:07 am

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu