Rodrigo (or "Rod", that's cool too) is a Brazilian-born Canadian actor-director with a German last name, who trained in theatre in England. That's right. 

He identifies as Latinx, Latino, an Immigrant, a New Canadian (he became a citizen in 2015) and an all-around nice chap. His first language is Portuguese. His thoughts and his dreams are often in English. His natural accent is a collection of many things. But, as Fernando Pessoa once said, “there are no norms; all people are exceptions to a rule that doesn’t exist”.

Rodrigo is a graduate of Stratford's two prestigious training programs, the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre and the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction; and he has performed in three seasons at the Stratford Festival of Canada. In the 2019 season, he was Assistant Director to Graham Abbey in the American classic “The Front Page”, adapted by Canadian funnyman superstar Michael Healey.

Before relocating to Ontario (where he lived between 2015 and 2019), Rodrigo used to call Winnipeg home - where he was a founding member of Theatre by the River and currently still serves as the General Director of Bravura Theatre. Awesomely, Rodrigo returned to Winnipeg permanently in October 2019, as the new Artistic Director of Shakespeare in the Ruins.

Under the Fancy Bred Theatre brand, he performed in his first one-man show: "About Love & Champagne", which he also wrote and directed as part of the 2014 ChekhovFest. Additional shows under the Fancy Bred umbrella include "The Duck Variations" (2008 MametFest) and "Pariah" (2011 StrindbergFest). 

In 2014, Rod had the pleasure of performing in his first strictly dance/movement piece, "La Belle Laide", at the Winnipeg Fringe - an unforgettable and highly physical experience (dancers are the best teachers of acting). The following year was beautifully intense: he tackled Noel Coward’s “Private Lives” as Assistant Director at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, and then dared to play the title dream role in a multilingual, black-box "Hamlet" at Studio 320 in Winnipeg’s beautiful Exchange District; and he also performed in his second one-man show that year - the Canadian premiere of Simon Stephens's "Sea Wall" - which was a smash 5-star hit at the 2015 Winnipeg Fringe.

Additionally, you may also remember him as Angelo in "The Comedy of Errors" (Shakespeare in the Ruins-SIR), and as Alex in Michael Healey's "Generous", with Theatre by the River (he was the guy in his underpants); or maybe you even saw the Canadian premiere of "Lungs" (the CBC Drama Choice of the 2012 Fringe), which he directed. Other directing credits include Mike Bartlett's "Bull" (Canadian premiere) and "Cock" - which were produced by Theatre by the River as a double-bill event in the Fall of 2014 - and, of course, HAMLET (again!) with Shakespeare in the Ruins (SIR) in the Spring of 2019 (his first show as newly minted Artistic Director).  

While training in England, Rodrigo had the challenging pleasure of playing Duke Vincentio in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure", directed by former Royal Shakespeare Company guru Bill Alexander (who was the man behind the famous "Spider Richard III", starring Sir Antony Sher); "Measure for Measure" was presented at the LAMDA Linbury Studio in West London. Additionally, Rodrigo co-directed the acclaimed David Ives hit "Venus in Fur", which was staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London in November, 2013. 

Indeed, Rod's sole reason to have joined the profession was to do the plays of William Shakespeare, and he's been lucky enough to have tackled some of the Bard's finest works, such as "Twelfth Night" (MTYP), "King Lear" (U of W), "Comedy of Errors" (three times, with TBTR, SIR and Stratford), "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (TBTR), "The Winter's Tale" (Tom-Tom Theatre), "The Merchant of Venice" (SIR), "Macbeth" (twice, with SIR and Stratford), “Timon of Athens” (Stratford), "Hamlet" (twice, with Bravura Theatre and SIR), "Richard III" (also twice, with LAMDA and the Stratford Conservatory), "As You Like It" (Stratford Conservatory), and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” (as guest director at the U of W).

Rod holds a BA (Hons) in Performance from the University of Winnipeg, and an MA in Classical Acting from England's London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

He's a footy fanatic and a follower of superstar coach Pep Guardiola - his role model for motivational speaking and fashion!

For a detailed CV listing Rod’s professional credits, please click HERE.