A Maple Ridge actor whose mom is a nurse at Abbotsford Regional Hospital is the children’s champion of the Monologue Slam Canada contest.
Haven Vivero, 8, took top spot in the monthly contest that is considered North America’s largest acting showcase. His mom Sherrylyn said this was Haven’s first time joining the contest.
“We just wanted him to try it first,” she said. “We didn’t expect he would win.”
Haven first made it into the top six in his age group and then the top three before winning first place.
Haven, who lived in Abbotsford with his family until two years ago, started acting at the age of six and loves meeting new friends on set and watching the drones.
When he was seven years old, he won the Swap Places contest by Canadian Child Actors and was a regional finalist for The Actor Launch contest.
Haven loves the challenge of playing different characters and was nominated four times for the Joey Awards last year.
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While on set he creates Godzilla and dragon drawings and hopes one day to become an animation artist.
Monologue Slam Canada promotes inclusion and free expression through the performing arts and was co-founded in 2010 in Ontario by Canadian actor/producer Oluniké Adeliyi and executive director Andre Newell.
Monologue Slam migrated to downtown Toronto in 2011, and launched the Jamaica Monologue Slam in Kingston, Jamaica. It started in Vancouver in 2017 at Café Deux Soleils and opened in Ottawa and Montreal in 2018.
However, in March 2020, Monologue Slam had to close all its live events because of the COVID-19 pandemic and moved online.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the acting organization.
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Virtual editions now include weekly workshops, live streams and involve many people from the acting community from across the country, including 5,000 actors, 40 casting directors, agents, coaches and producers.
There are instructions on the organization’s website on how to enter and what format the competition is to take. Categories include comedic, dramatic, youth aged 12-17, children aged 11 years and under, and international.
Submissions are recorded and uploaded to either YouTube or Vimeo.
Visit monologueslam.ca for more information.
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