ACTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER
<Chita Rivera Awards Nominee>
Fabian Zarta is a Colombian American stage and screen actor, film/media producer and writer based in-between New York City and Bogotá City. He is a cast member, screenwriter and producer of the short film The Painter’s Dream (El sueño del pintor), selected by the digital streaming “Retina Latina” for its World Philosophy Day lineup on November 19th, 2026.
“I grew up in Colombia surrounded by endless Andes mountains in Bogotá, and I was influenced by the countless “fairy tales” of the Magdalena River that waters the banks of Purificacion—Tolima, the town of my ancestors, a tropical la la land that grows rice, cattle and cruel oil, cultivating the edge of a magical umbrella where fireflies are depicted in the landscape to welcome you when is dark, and coffee aroma can bewitch your senses ‘cause coffee lands are just above and below it. The town is rich in the history of indigenous warriors like the Yaporox, European colonizers that finally set the flag later on, and people of color that moved to the Pacific Coast after all.” FZ
Zarta was nominated for the Chita Rivera Awards in 2019 for Outstanding Musical Ensemble for Twelfth Night at The Public Theater. In 2025 he was awarded an acting fellowship for Idartes Colombia’s Artefactum Audiovisual and Expanded Theatricalities Initiative—Labs, through which he played a lead role in the film Concierto para mariachi y orquesta. Op. Chapinero 25, led by filmmaker Cristina Gallego.
Cast in films like Mi nombre es Abraham, Bragi. Shorts, A Lothario’s Lament —Official Selection at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner— Black Hamlet, Memorias, Sangre culpable, Ayax, among others. His stage credits include Troy, Twelfth Night Musical, The Odyssey Musical, The Tempest Musical, Here We Are, Solariego, Dracula Alma, El sexo del Che (monologue featured to close the Immigrant Heritage Week in NYC 2009), The Return of the Buffalo: Tatanka Owe Akupi, The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock, and the solo performance Nariño (which he also wrote and produced).
Producing credits include documentary Eudoro —honoring his Grandpa’s legacy as a comedian in the South of Tolima, Colombia in the sixties, seventies and eighties— Web series Del gris al rojo (2027). Short films, I Tweet —acquired by Rai Cinema TV from 2014 to 2024—, Las cigarras, Ayax, The Painter’s Dream, among others.
Writing works include web series Del gris al rojo, short films Las cigarras, Sofocados, Roads & Hegemony, Self-Animal —Performance filmed in 360 for VR, exhibited at the Cinemateca Distrital de Bogotá in September 2024—. Short plays, Andariegos, Las Cigarras (adapted from his short film), The Painter’s Dream (an adaptation from his short film), and Hegemon&—Acros$ the border (an adaptation from his screenplay). Solo performance Nariño (A new act with danza, singing and acting). Lyricist, songs— Estoy dolido, Nariño, Desierto, Delirios.
This artist leads a seasonal bilingual, English and/or Spanish, open acting and performance lab for actors, performers and amateurs to do research on the craft in different cities or towns. He is also a former cast member of Activate Ensemble, a collective theatre initiative led by Laurie Woolery at The Public Theater New York between 2015 and 2016.
He has performed at Delacorte Theater in Central Park, MoMA PS1, Queens Museum, Colombian Independence Day Commemoration in Flushing Meadow Park New York, The High Line, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Terraza 7, Hershey Park (portraying The Necromancer), Bric Arts, among other cultural hubs and theatres in the US or abroad.
Fabian holds an Associate Degree in Arts from CUNY LaGuardia College, where he received two Incentive Awards in Performing Arts. He has studies in acting, producing, screenwriting, dramaturgy, history and directing at HB Studio, The Living Theatre, The Public Theater, CIBEF, Fest Film Lab and more.
The actor has trained with Amir Azir Zuabi & Craig Leo (Puppetry 2026), Cristina Gallego (2025), Coco Badillo (2025), Marianne Mayer-Beckh (film production 2024), Eugenio Barba (2023), Luis Mandoki (acting & directing 2019), Judith Malina (2012), Olympia Dukakis (2011), Peter Miner (on camera 2016), Ramiro Sandoval (2014), Laurie Woolery (2016), David Deblinger (2017).
Courses or workshops: Mauricio Kartun (Dramaturgy 2026), Meisner Technique (2025), Peter Webber (Directing 2024), Chubbuck Technique with Olga Gabriell (2024), The Public Theater NY (Public Works’ Playwriting Cohort 2024), Maria Adelaida Palacio (Dramaturgy 2023), Suzuki/Viewpoints with Ernesto Martinez (2022), Spanish Mexican accent with Martin Rojas (2019), ABC Primetime Casting /ABC Workshop (2018), English American diction with Robert Perillo (2017), Contemporary Dance (Battery Dance Co 2016), Shakespeare (The Public Theater New York with Tia James 2015/2016), Biomechanics (The Living Theatre 2012), Fusion, Contemporary Dance, Latin (Steps on Broadway), Flamenco with Victorio Korjhan (2012), Clown and Alexander Technique with John C. Murphy (2011), Stage Fencing with Joseph Daly, Acting Techniques with Will Koolsbergen and Catrina Ganey.
Thanks for reading
Namaste