Biographies:

Singer • Pianist • Educator • Poet

Mike’s unexpected beginnings as an actor began when he made his fiery début as Mercutio rather than the meek Benvolio in scenes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at College Avenue Public School.

Since then, Mike has débuted a wide variety of roles in plays and film in numerous languages and accents. Now based in Montréal, Québec, Mike Fan continues to engage audiences as a versatile Chinese-Canadian opera singer. Mike has trained in Italy and performed in Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Mike’s theatre performances have built upon this early Shakespearean encounter. Mike’s theatre roles include Shakespeare’s Malvolio, Theseus, and Mercutio as well as Snake, Careless, and William in Sheridan’s School for Scandal and Merriman in Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Mike has also performed stage roles in French and German theatre, often making use of Mike’s talents as a singer and musician as well as an actor. Mike is also in demand as an opera singer and pianist.

Film credits include the documentary In Tune filmed at George Brown College, Master Chang in “From Out of Town” with Steamworld Entertainment, Newspaper in “Back Once Again” with Merridian Films, and the robot Sulla in a short film adaptation of Čapek’s R.U.R. Short films in which Mike has appeared have been submitted to the Colchester Film Festival, England.

Mike swept away First Prize at the OMFA Provincial Finals 2017 in the Advanced Speech Arts category performing monologues, poetry, and prose of Browning, Austen, Shakespeare, and Walter & Learning. Mike was a founding member and served as President of Student Budget Productions from 2017-2018 at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, a company with which he performed many theatrical roles including newly composed incidental songs which he premiered for performances of Sheridan’s “School for Scandal”. Mike has also performed Palestrina as incidental music for a production of the anonymous medieval play “Everyman” presented with Laurier Historical Theatre and the Society for the Archaeology of Ancient Music.

Mike is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, and German with accent specialties include Chinese and Russian. Mike has completed Speech Arts and Drama (SAAD) training with the Royal Conservatory of Music at the Grade 10 Level, including completed examinations of all of the required SAAD theory. Mike is currently completing his third ARCT (Associate Diploma) with the Royal Conservatory in Speech Arts and Drama.

Mike is available for dramatic coaching as well as speech arts RCM practical theory lessons and examination preparation. Mike is also an educator of music in addition to science, math, and languages. Mike holds two Honours Bachelor’s degrees in both Biomedical Science with Distinction (BScH, Guelph) and Voice Performance with High Distinction and Double Minors in Italian and German Studies (HBMus, Laurier). Mike also holds two ARCT diplomas from the Royal Conservatory in both Voice and Piano Performance.

Education:

• MMus ~ Masters in Music, Opera & Voice Performance (McGill University: Schulich School of Music, 2021)
• ARCT ~ Speech Arts Performance (Royal Conservatory of Music, 2021)
• HBMus ~ Honours Bachelor’s in Music (Voice Performance) with High Distinction, Double Minors in Italian & German (Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, 2019)
• ARCT ~ Voice Performance (Royal Conservatory of Music, 2015)
• BScH ~ Honours Bachelor’s in Biomedical Science with Distinction (University of Guelph, 2014)
• OSSD ~ Ontario Scholar (Centennial Collegiate and Vocational Institute, 2010)
• ARCT ~ Piano Performance (Royal Conservatory of Music, 2009)