Behzad Dabu

Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alumnus Behzad Dabu ’08, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Acting Program, is profiled in The Hedonist, an online magazine. Dabu is currently a featured cast member in ABC-TV’s series How to Get Away with Murder and in the Showtime series The Chi, which was created and is written by Columbia College alum Lena Waithe ’06, a graduate of Columbia’s Television Writing and Producing BA program.

Asked by interviewer Armand Alvarez what inspired him to study acting at Columbia College Chicago, Dabu responded: “It is a school that focused on the hands-on and pragmatic approach to life as an artist, in an urban environment, with a faculty of working professionals in the most vibrant theatre-city in the country.  It was a no-brainer.”

Dabu describes acting as “a true service profession,” explaining: “I think the only way people will truly change is if they go through crap, but people don’t like going through crap. So what if an actor could go through the crap for you? I see acting as a true service profession . . . and it’s fun.”

And, though grateful for the success his TV work has brought him, Dabu declares that his first passion is live theatre: “Theatre – is sacred to me.   I feel powerful on stage. In the theatre, the audience has a choice on what to look at, since there is no camera focusing on what we want them to see.  Therefore, the story is told in the energy between the actors. It is a living and breathing thing with a communal element that includes a little bit of magic. We’re all breathing the same air.”

For the complete interview, click here.