Andrew Ramsay chases his acting dream

A new face, with a familiar surname, is part of the team behind Living in the Dead of Night and also an actor in it. The short film is directed by David Olson and produced by Cutaway Productions.

His name is Andrew Ramsay, the youngest sibling of TV and film actor Derek Ramsay. The creative in Andrew pursues and explores content-making — and acting.

When the young thespian had a virtual one-on-one with The STAR, hours before the film’s advance exclusive screening on a Friday night, he sounded and looked enthusiastic about what the future may hold for his budding career. New actors like Andrew are welcome additions to the thriving local entertainment scene.

“In the movie, I play a supporting role named Tom,” Andrew, director of sales and co-founder of Cutaway, jump-started the conversation. “He is like a wannabe drug lord, a very aggressive person, very flamboyant. I find it (the role) challenging because that’s not me as a person.”

Based on the information given to this paper, Living in the Dead of Night is described as a “neon-noir film that follows the story of Hunter, a sheltered teenager finding his place in the sleepless metropolis.” He meets Tom and then, they make a deal that will change the former’s life. The same source said that Cutaway is into creating “ads, social media content, and full-length features for a broad clientele.”

Aside from that movie, Andrew is the lead actor of the 2022 Cinemalaya Film Festival entry, Ginhawa. where he essays the character Anton Banal, a boxer “who dreams of making it big,” according to the provided notes.

“Gusto ko talagang maging actor (I want to become an actor),” shared he. “What, I think, differentiates me from my brother is that I want to get into the character acting side muna. Si kuya started with mainstream agad with teleserye. That was his way, (the) start of his journey.”

As for his own acting story, Andrew wants to play deep and complex characters. “When later down the road, kung pwede akong mag-teleserye, then, why not? For now, I just wanna focus on acting and managing Cutaway.” His brother Derek is very supportive of Andrew’s plans from Day One and in finding his way to show business.

“I think what really got me passionate about acting was theater,” recalled Andrew. “I did theater in high school and I fell in love with it... I enjoyed it and I felt, like alive when I did theater. And then, I wanted to take that up for college. I went to England and studied Shakespeare. From London, I wanted to study more, but the film aspect naman.”

To fulfill this, he traveled to L.A., where Andrew did some theater shows and auditioning. “I experienced the work life there,” recalled he.

Andrew finished his lower school and high school in the Philippines. Then, he studied musical theater and acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. After that, Andrew earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting for Film from the New York Film Academy (Los Angeles campus). Through all this, he understood acting as a craft and its creative industry.

What also ignited his interest in embodying characters is brother Derek’s profession.

“This whole journey started because when I was young, (Si Kuya) Derek, dinadala ako sa mga set niya dati (he would bring me to movie sets). I was curious, like ‘Wow, ang galing ng process nila to make a movie (I was amazed at their process in making a movie).”

Asked if he is happy the way things are going in his career, Andrew answered: “To be honest, masarap yung pakiramdam ko ngayon with what I’m doing, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, I don’t want my ego to shoot up to the sky kasi I’m (taking) baby steps pa muna, but it feels nice. Parang my mindset now is ‘Just keep doing, keep doing what I’m doing, keep moving forward and be humble.’”

When it comes to his technique in approaching a role, Andrew begins with the text and reads it at least three times. “For me, that’s No. 1, you need to know the script like it’s a road map that you know or it’s a place you know subconsciously,” said he. “As soon as I read it three times, these are only factors that I really take (into) account for: What’s the objective of my character, ano yung mga tactics for him to succeed that objective and the obstacles that will stop him from achieving his objective.” With that, he is ready to become, let’s say, a struggling boxer in Ginhawa or the antagonist Tom in Living in the Dead of Night.

“Right now, we’re exploring the international market,” said Andrew of the path his production company is treading on. Following his train of thought, one could say that Cutaway Productions will respond to the diversity content the filmmaking world looks for and sees itself as a platform to showcase Filipino talent abroad.

In the future, Andrew and his team entertain the following possibilities: Make Filipino content (like comedy or something that Filipinos can enjoy), submit an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) and collaborate with studios and film productions like Viva. But the artist in him will also carry on to play new and uncharted roles.