Caption: Middle School Students crowd around Folgosi at the end of middle school chapel in the hopes of asking him a few more questions before moving on to their next class. [Dr. Cristina Meier]
by Cristina Meier, Ph.D.
August 19 brought an unexpected guest to the Pan American Christian Academy (PACA) campus when Brazilian actor, producer, and comic book writer, Felipe Folgosi, was invited to speak at the secondary chapels by PACA’s fourth grade teacher, Mateus Mendes.
Mendes and Folgosi knew each other prior to this visit as they met at an English speaking church in Sao Paulo earlier this year. They organized the visit with Lucas Ham Swisher, the school’s chaplain.
During each chapel service, Folgosi shared his life experiences in becoming an actor and his dream of publishing his comic books while staying true to his Christian faith and his devotion to being a follower of Jesus Christ.
For some of the students, they were most familiar with him in his role as a father in the Brazilian television show, “Chiquititas.” Folgosi shared how his career and faith developed over the years since those early days as a little known actor.
He was quick to share how God helped him with the increasing number of opportunities that were made available to him over the years.
One of the things he is most excited about is his upcoming movie, “Fly Wheel: Ignition of the Soul” set to open in the United States on October October 16 and in Brazil on November 5.
The movie is a sequel to the original movie by the Kendrick Brothers which was their first production in 2003 and launched their careers in the making of Christian based films. This new movie brings a similar storyline from the first movie to the setting of Brazil with all the filming recorded in Rio de Janeiro and the script done completely in Portuguese.
Folgosi also shared with students his goals as a writer of graphic novels which can be purchased through his online bookstore (https://felipefolgosi.com/).
After sharing about his experiences, students were given the opportunity to ask him questions. The middle school students were enthusiastic to ask him many questions about his characters and movie roles. In the high school chapel, there was more hesitancy, but some asked him how to get started as a young actor or writer in the business. Folgosi was more than happy to give them suggestions.
“You can always self-publish, too,” he suggested, reminding them of his own website where his books are available for people to purchase.
When asked if he had ever experienced a failure or setback that eventually turned out to be a good thing in his life, he was quick to share about the times that he was trying to make it big in the movie business, but had many setbacks. Reflecting back, he said that he saw how God had kept him from early success, because he wasn’t ready to deal with everything that was involved in being a high profile actor back then.
In summary, he explained that God’s timing is perfect. He encouraged students to look for opportunities, but at the same time appreciate the process of growing and learning and staying true to the talents God has given each one of them.
