Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leandro Taub. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Leandro, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I feel very lucky for the films I’ve worked on, and look forward to more.

These are the films I’ve worked in the last few years:
Where To Land (2024), directed by Hal Hartley
The Big Score (2024), directed by Fedir Zavodylenko
Drunks (2023), directed by Albert Rudnitsky
The Resident (2023), directed by Sergio Graman
The Black Man Cometh (2023), directed by Alexandre Pulido
A Wounded Fawn (2022), directed by Travis Stevens
All Tomorrow’s People (2022), directed by Jivensley Alexis
Somos (2022), directed by Max Cantor
Externo (2021), directed by Jonathan Taub & Leandro Taub
Woodwind (2018), directed by Fin Manjoo
Bed (2017), directed by Florian Tscharf
Be the Meister (2017), directed by Ralf Schmerberg
An Innocent Mind Has No Fear (2016), directed by Ralf Schmerberg
Endless Poetry (2016), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
¿Quién Soy? (2015), directed by Luis Alvarez Armenta

With Endless Poetry (by Alejandro Jodorowsky) we went to the Film Festival of Cannes in 2016. It was a great experience to be there, see the movie with a huge audience and experience the reaction of everyone.

With Externo (by Jonathan Taub and myself), we had a long run in the film festival circuit, reaching more than 50 film festivals and receiving more than two dozen awards. Was a blast of an experience.

With A Wounded Fawn (by Travis Stevens), I had the chance to experience Tribeca Film Festival 2022.

With Woodwind (by Fin Manjoo), I had the lovely experience to shoot in India and South Africa.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I was 7, I insisted to my mom that I wanted to be on TV. She took me to the only TV channel that we had in Bariloche (Patagonia, Argentina). Don’t know how, but I ended up singing that type of song that children sing when there is no adult around. The TV host got very nervous and stopped me in the middle of the show.
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Sometime after, my uncle decided to do a TV commercial for his restaurant (where my nickname was the name of a sandwich I don’t like). He let me be the protagonist. I had to eat ice cream and say that I love to eat in his restaurant. The director made some takes and it worked out. I loved it. I wanted to do it more.

Then, my parents decided to do a TV commercial for a clothing brand. I modeled with my brothers. In one of the takes, my younger brother punched my balls by mistake and I overreacted in a funny way. The director liked it and used it for the commercial.

The years passed by and I wanted to act more. We moved to Buenos Aires and I started to go to auditions and casting calls. I felt very inadequate and, mostly, not welcome. Jewish, with a lot of chutzpah and a peculiar personality. My small town popularity was not getting translated into big city popularity. I kept trying and I was lucky to get some small participation in TV shows, some commercials, and make a short film.

Then, I made friends and became a teenager. I still dreamed about acting and making films, but I got busy with other commitments: friends, girls, study, and work. When I was 18 I left home and spent a big part of my day working to pay the bills [in the business tab you can find more information about my entrepreneurial side]. Between 19 and 24 years old, I studied, partied, became an economist, master’s in finance, teacher assistant, financial analyst, and an assistant of the CEO of a fund management company. At the same time, I was craving to become an actor and be in the movies and TV. In my free time, I used to study acting, do courses, read books, and do auditions.

​When I was 24, I left Argentina and started traveling. When I was 25 years old I co-wrote a book in India [more information in the books tab]. After this, I went to NYC to play the guitar in the subway and then to LA to see if Steven Spielberg would cast me for his next movie (he didn’t… yet). A business opportunity came to my door, and I moved to China.

The following year (27 years old) I went back to Argentina, got into a theatre course with Norman Briski and I spent some time collaborating with Fito Páez, who had a great artistic impact on my life. I wrote my first feature-length script, shoot a trailer, made a pitch deck, and started sharing the project around. It was a story about tarot cards and numerology, influenced by my interest in the work of Alejandro Jodorowsky. Luckily, several people got interested and some doors got opened, but not much more happened. So, I wrote a theatre play, ask some of my theatre classmates to join me and we did a happening where I was performing full naked, painted in colors, around a circle of fire, talking about the path of our soul to the earth, meanwhile one of the other actors were opening the wall with a chainsaw and another was burning the empty swimming pool.

After pushing and pushing the project, I got frustrated and moved to a beach in Mexico to write another book, about a secret society [more into my book section]. Because I had some time in my hands, I decided to write another script, this time about A Boy Named Sue (the Johnny Cash song). After writing it, I discover that I wasn’t allowed to make a movie about that song, so I decided to write a third script: the love story of a couple that destroys each other by trying to love each other. I got a producer and director in Spain, who was interested to direct and produce it, but not much more happened.

Something was happening. I was learning. All these writing, pitching, meetings, reading, studying, were influencing my work. Suddenly I got invited to participate in a TV series (after the work preparing it, didn’t happen), then another TV series (after the work preparing it, didn’t happen) and then the big stuff! A producer hired me and three other artists for the pilot of a TV show for a big TV Network. I was going to be one of the four main characters! And… it didn’t happen!

In the middle of all of these, I was touring around Latin America and Europe presenting my books and talking in a variety of venues (theatres, galleries, museums, houses, retreats, yoga centers, libraries), when I met the Mexican director Luis Esteban Alvarez Armenta. He started joining me during my tours in Mexico and filming me. One day he told me he was going to do a documentary about my work. Thank you! After a time of hard work, he came up with the documentary “¿Quién Soy? En Busca de lo Esencial”.

I was craving for doing more stuff. To act. To write. To talk. To be everywhere. To do everything.

So, I did what any other person would do in my situation: I moved to Paris to meet Alejandro Jodorowsky and become an actor in his next film. And, believe it or not, I became the co-protagonist of the next film of Alejandro Jodorowsky. We moved to Chile where we shot the film. Without me acting on a film before, he invited me to act in a multi-million dollar film. It was amazing. He was very generous with me and the experience of acting in his movie (and being in Cannes for its release) was a very interesting experience.

After his movie, I moved to Berlin, where I got into writing a new script. This time a comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family with a special guest. I got one co-producer, he brought the other two producers, one of the new producers (that is also an actor) helped with the cast, and suddenly we had a LA top-talent signing LOIs for my movie. A movie that I wrote and I was going to direct. Things were getting great!

In the middle of this, I got a role in a short film in Marrakesh! Great experience. I was the protagonist of ‘Bed’, directed by Florian Tscharf and made with a very talented crew. I loved it. Also, I started working with Ralf Schmerberg on the development of a feature film based on my first script.

Some months after, I went to South Africa and India to work as the protagonist of ‘Woodwind’, the first feature film of the talented Fin Manjoo. He and his team are great.

Back once again in Berlin, I worked with Ralf Schmerberg on ‘An Innocent Mind Has No Fear’ and Jägermeister ‘Be the meister’. Both productions were great. Work by the side of Ralf was a source of much learning.

I wrote another script. A story about a group of teenagers that get stuck in a home in the countryside, while a zombie apocalypse is happening outside. The script won an award in Germany. Then a director paid me and it was done! For the first time in my path, I wrote a script that won an award, and it was sold.

Years after, I end up living and studying in a couple of Yeshivot in Jerusalem. I decided to write a new script. This time it was going to be something simple, something that I could produce. I wrote ‘Externo’ (more about this movie in the ‘Externo’ section). After some back and forth, I went back to Berlin, this time with my brother Jonathan, and we co-directed and co-produced this feature film. It is the story of Joseph, who is conquering the world.

And then… I move to NYC and worked in more films. May reserve the following steps I took for a future article. I think this is good for now, so you know more about my acting career.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Many years ago, I decided to write my thoughts and ideas I was studying on social media. Thanks G’d it was well received and the platform grew up to 1.4M followers combined.

It inspired me to work harder to bring quality content, to share good ideas, to push for what is good in the world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to influence for good the other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leandrotaub.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/leandrotaub
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/leandrotauboficial
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/leandrotaub
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/leandroTaub
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/leandrotauboficial
• Other: IMDb imdb.com/name/nm5441632/
  Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leandro_Taub

  Website leandrotaub.com
  Press leandrotaub.com/press
  Reels imdb.com/name/nm5441632/videogallery

  Twitter twitter.com/leandroTaub
  Facebook facebook.com/leandrotauboficial
  Instagram instagram.com/leandrotaub
  Threads threads.net/@leandrotaub

Image Credits

Samantha Dagnino