Bio

Essan Laurent has an exotic background that ensured an immensely creative destiny- his fathers heritage is Persian and Spanish, his mothers is Arabic and French. He didn't realise at his young age how grateful he would be for this multi-cultural bloodline- it was set to influence his future work in ways that would never have been seen before. Essan was introduced to the art forms from a very young age, his mother and father were both avid art fans who took pleasure in encouraging the children, hence all of them growing up with a true appreciation and love of the arts. His parents took him to music theatre, to cinema and he regularly got him self lost in art galleries where his siblings exhibited, only to be found sat in front of piece of work, admiring it and commenting on the style. This was the beginning of a life long dedication to art, in all of its forms, embracing and practising as many as he could. A chorister from the age of 7, Essan was described as having a voice of an angel. He also had extra singing lessons and was always writing down song ideas. Essan's father also gave him a camera, and he took up painting. Immediately he was encouraged to practise these skills and has produced collections in both forms every year until now and continues to do so. Even from this young age his multi-cultural descent was apparent in his work. At the age of 15 he got a part as an extra in film, thus spurring his advance into acting, as well as doing singing, painting and photography. He began acting and dancing lessons, gaining parts as a featured extra in several films, lead in commercials and gaining knowledge in ballet, flamenco and belly dancing. At one of these ventures he was spotted by a model scout, seeing an opportunity to travel and experience more of the world's culture, he began a new journey. At university, Essan obtained degrees in Computer Science and Graphic Design, and continued to pursue his art throughout this time, he went on to work as a graphic designer then as an art director for Time Advertising. In evenings, in a quest to broaden his artistic horizons he took courses in film-making and writing, continually amalgamating the art forms to create unique work. The modelling work increased, during this time he also proved himself as a make-up artist and absorbed fashion couture He honed his photography skills, learning the very useful art of making anybody feel comfortable in front of a camera and therefore learning to bring out the best in his subjects, thus producing pictures of outstanding quality. The modelling would take him on a journey to Paris, London, Milan and, finally, New Zealand, where he worked on leads in commercials, TV and films. Essan has proved to be a very versatile actor in that he can adapt himself to any role required; he works in Drama, comedy, action and musicals, never being typecast to a particular role. He reinvents himself looks wise every six months, thus giving him a portfolio of huge variety. He has found that he can play every assortment of role and by changing his look; his portfolio shows his acting range. Essan's photography continued all throughout his adventures, with his camera rarely leaving his side. Throughout his travels he gained many an inspiration for the collections he would later produce, drawing upon all cultures, religions and people he met. After collating the inspirations from his travels Essan compiled his ideas to bring us the amazing works in his portfolio today. He uses his fashion skills to produce the costumes and design and apply all the make-up. Essan has exhibited in Sydney, at the MCG, with The More-ish Collection, making the front cover of the National Newspapers. Having been in front of the camera and producing many a photographic exhibition, Essan decided it was time try and create his own works in film; he had dabbled in script writing throughout his life and decided it was time to make one of these writings reality. His first film, The Message, was a short film that he wrote, produced, directed and starred in. Since this first experiment in film Essan has gone from strength to strength, producing many films, and two television series, Ma Cherie, an eclectic collection of music photography and imagery and Men on Heat, a comedy TV show that discusses sex through double entendre. These are currently showing on TVS and have been shown in 13 countries along with The Message and Innocently Guilty. All of these he directed, produced and starred in. His love of music lead to him developing his singing skills, and writing his own works, with an immense range to his voice and training in operatics, he began to experiment with his music, producing his own songs. Essan does all of the vocals himself including the backing tracks, this talent coming from his multiple octave range. He does the styling, make-up, choreography, production and direction of all his songs and videos. Common themes in his songs are the freedom of sexuality and self expression, these come through in the lyrics, music, beats and videos, thus portraying his creative originality and giving a finished product that makes a statement that all can enjoy. Essan's inspiration comes from the diversity of life, apparent in all of his work, he uses multiple colour, race, style and settings, creating individual works of outstanding quality that also reflect his intense passion and appreciation for the world's culture.