Shelene Atanacio is a Filipina American actress, model and author (Born March 5) . She is best known in for her role as the young seductress in the independent film "Harrison Montgomery"[1] starring Oscar Winner Martin Landau and Magnolia's Melora Walters. The film successfully debuted at the San Paulo International Film Festival, Santa Monica Film Festival, MethodFest Film Festival and other film festivals around the world. She is slated to appear as the lead character, international secret agent Lola Basheer in RedCape Cinema's[2] First Independent Feature Film Code:Name DragonFly[3] set to start shooting in late 2009. The promotional trailer for the film has already screened at the First Annual Hero Fest Film[4] Festival and Baltimore Comic Convention.
Modeling'
Shelene was born in San Francisco and grew up in Daly City, California a small suburb 15 minutes south of San Francisco. A city known for it's predominantly Filipino population. Shelene started her career as a model by winning a model search sponsored by Macy's Department Store. Aspiring to go to law school, Shelene worked as a model and actress to help support her way through college where she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Political Science.
Amongst her portfolio of modeling work, Shelene appeared in a BART commercial with actor Danny Glover.
Stage Work
As she discovered her talent and passion for acting, she decided against law school and went on to perform in many theater productions. One of her more notable accomplishments is her one woman performance, Underneath the Smile, where she played an 80-year old Filipino grandmother recollecting her time during World War II in the Philippines. Shelene based her writing of the fictional character on stories she collected from her own grandparents during their time in WWII. Shelene worked with director Ann Fajilan in her character work in transforming herself as authentically as she could from a young actress into a woman whose lived a long life of 80 years. As a part of the Playwrights of Color Theater Festival sponsored by the prestigious Kennedy Center, Shelene was honored with a meritorious award for her writing and performance of Underneath the Smile, along with the recognition in her writing and another short play "Beyond Therapy: The Filipino Way", which also debuted at the Playwrights of Color Festival with a large ensemble cast. From the Playwrights of Color Festival, Shelene was specially invited to perform at the Kennedy Center Regional Theater Festival in Arizona.
Action Films
Most recently, Shelene has appeared in a genre of action projects, where she is currently slated to appear as the lead character, international secret agent, Lola Basheer, in Red Cape Cinema's First independent feature, Codename: DragonFly set to start filming in late 2009. The promotional trailer for Codename: DragonFly has already screened at the Baltimore Comic Con and the First Annual Hero Fest Film Festival[5], along with another project, Eve, where she plays the sword fighting evil temptress, Jezebel. Eve has screened at the San Diego Comic Convention, Phoenix Comic Convention and has officially been selected to appear at the Action on Film Film Festival[6] in Pasadena, California in 2009. For Eve Shelene trained in Japanese Samurai Swordfighting to prepare for the role of Jezebel and for CodeName: Dragon Fly, Shelene trained in mixed martial arts with black belt trainer/choreographer Pierre Parker.
In an effort to share with others the power the art of acting has had in her life, Shelene has written her first book Act From The Inside Out: Powerful Acting Tools to Transform Your Real Life. As a first generation Filipina, Shelene has been passionate about encouraging others, especially those in the Filipino community and other minority communities, to live life to the fullest. In her own struggle to afford a college education and pursue her dreams, Shelene shares some of her own journey along with the life lessons she has learned along the way from the craft of acting in stretching into various new and bigger roles in real life. Her book especially reaches out to communities of color as well as those who are in job and life transition looking to take on new roles in life. She feels her book is universal offering inspiring interviews from the acting community as well as successful individuals pursuing their "real life" dream roles. Her book is due to be released by Bush Street Press[8] in late August of 2009. Naturally shy, early on in life, before acting, writing has always been a natural way for her to express herself. Shelene is an advocate of the arts and education and plans on donating some of the proceeds from her book to a Filipino Scholarship fund.
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