By Angela Zhao
You can often find Sian Shin gracing the dimly lit stage of Darlene Howard Theatre; from starring as the kind and optimistic Anne Frank in the eponymous play to playing the coy and dramatic Katherina Cavalieri in Amadeus, she has quite the variety of impressive roles under her belt. In film club, Sian is an avid filmmaker, producer, and actor, and one of her many accomplishments includes directing the short film Little Red Box, one of Collingwood’s two submissions to the prestigious BC Student Film Festival.
Sian greets everyone with a genuine smile and outgoing personality, and looking at her now, you would probably never be able to guess that she used to be extremely shy. She cites film and theatre as what allowed her to gain confidence, and felt that it was important to share, as she wants people to know that “you should never feel limited by what you think you can or can’t do.” In Sian’s opinion, stepping outside your comfort zone and trying things you’ve never imagined yourself doing is how you grow as a person. Two years ago, Sian thought she’d never step foot onstage, but look at where she is now!
Outside of theatre, Sian describes herself as an “artsy nerd,” and does everything from music to dance to writing. She plays alto saxophone in the Senior Jazz Combo, a group that she loves being part of. She was in Hip Hop Crew from grade 9 to the beginning of grade 12, and now takes classes at Harbour Dance Centre as often as she can to continue pursuing her hobby of dancing. Sian also loves writing, and in addition to being part of Arts Mag and Ad Verum, works on creating her own screenplays. In her remaining free time, Sian is a self-proclaimed Netflix addict, “possibly to an unhealthy extent…”
Sian started her acting career with outside of school public speaking classes in middle school. She auditioned in grade 11 for Collingwood’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, and was cast as the starring role in her first play – an incredibly rare and impressive feat.
You can often find Sian Shin gracing the dimly lit stage of Darlene Howard Theatre; from starring as the kind and optimistic Anne Frank in the eponymous play to playing the coy and dramatic Katherina Cavalieri in Amadeus, she has quite the variety of impressive roles under her belt. In film club, Sian is an avid filmmaker, producer, and actor, and one of her many accomplishments includes directing the short film Little Red Box, one of Collingwood’s two submissions to the prestigious BC Student Film Festival.
Sian greets everyone with a genuine smile and outgoing personality, and looking at her now, you would probably never be able to guess that she used to be extremely shy. She cites film and theatre as what allowed her to gain confidence, and felt that it was important to share, as she wants people to know that “you should never feel limited by what you think you can or can’t do.” In Sian’s opinion, stepping outside your comfort zone and trying things you’ve never imagined yourself doing is how you grow as a person. Two years ago, Sian thought she’d never step foot onstage, but look at where she is now!
Outside of theatre, Sian describes herself as an “artsy nerd,” and does everything from music to dance to writing. She plays alto saxophone in the Senior Jazz Combo, a group that she loves being part of. She was in Hip Hop Crew from grade 9 to the beginning of grade 12, and now takes classes at Harbour Dance Centre as often as she can to continue pursuing her hobby of dancing. Sian also loves writing, and in addition to being part of Arts Mag and Ad Verum, works on creating her own screenplays. In her remaining free time, Sian is a self-proclaimed Netflix addict, “possibly to an unhealthy extent…”
Sian started her acting career with outside of school public speaking classes in middle school. She auditioned in grade 11 for Collingwood’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, and was cast as the starring role in her first play – an incredibly rare and impressive feat.
Black lily
To Sian, art is what makes us human. She believes the purposeful and creative art we know is unique to humanity, and that “Art is how we communicate and connect with people. Art is how we share stories. And this sharing of stories is what breeds empathy, which I think is one of the most important values in life.”
Her favourite parts to act are dramatic scenes where she gets to explore different emotions on either end of the spectrum. Sian explains that’s why she enjoyed acting in The Diary of Anne Frank so much; she had to “act super happy as if everything in life was rainbows and smiles to completely distressed and scared for my life in the span of five minutes.”
Her favourite play is Blown Sideways Through Life written by Claudia Shear, a monologue play that explores the author’s journey through 65 jobs, stressing the importance of passion and perseverance through challenges in life. Sian calls it the only play that has made her both laugh and cry.
She loves both film and theatre, but for different reasons. “Film allows me to have total freedom and control about what stories I want to tell through the art form and theatre allows me to have an outlet in which I can access emotions that I’ve sometimes never really felt before.” Some of her favourite films include: Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, The Royal Tenenbaums, Fight Club, and Dead Poets Society.
As for her biggest influence, Sian refers to the people she works with and spends time with in film and theatre. To her, being in an environment made of people who are overflowing with passion for what they do makes her own passion for the experience grow even stronger. To those people, Sian would like to make a “shoutout to our little film/theatre group and the teachers who have ceaselessly supported us.”
little red box
Sian is heading off to Northwestern University this fall as a Communication Studies major, and hopes to continue her passion for film and theatre there.
Her current projects include her first screenplay, a short film titled Black Lily, which film club just finished producing. Sian also just finished making a short concept video titled Woke for her Media Studies class with Bryn Cowan, a fellow artist and friend.
To budding actors, Sian stresses self-confidence and faith in your own ability and passion: “Don’t hold back. Give everything you have to being immersed in your character or to performing a particular scene. In order to reach your best potential, you have to take that risk of stepping outside of your comfort zone and being vulnerable to potentially being completely embarrassed or making a mistake.”
For artists in general, Sian recommends taking advantage of Collingwood’s amazing resources both in terms of equipment and teachers. To those with even the slightest interest in film or theatre, she recommends sitting in on a film club meeting or trying out for a school play. “Who knows,” Sian says with a knowing smile, “maybe you’ll absolutely fall in love with it like I did.”
Her current projects include her first screenplay, a short film titled Black Lily, which film club just finished producing. Sian also just finished making a short concept video titled Woke for her Media Studies class with Bryn Cowan, a fellow artist and friend.
To budding actors, Sian stresses self-confidence and faith in your own ability and passion: “Don’t hold back. Give everything you have to being immersed in your character or to performing a particular scene. In order to reach your best potential, you have to take that risk of stepping outside of your comfort zone and being vulnerable to potentially being completely embarrassed or making a mistake.”
For artists in general, Sian recommends taking advantage of Collingwood’s amazing resources both in terms of equipment and teachers. To those with even the slightest interest in film or theatre, she recommends sitting in on a film club meeting or trying out for a school play. “Who knows,” Sian says with a knowing smile, “maybe you’ll absolutely fall in love with it like I did.”