Billy Elliot (2000) encourages homophobic parents to relax: boys who like dance are absolutely, positively, 100% not-gay, although they might have gay friends. I heard that the musical gave the gay character a less "endless angst and misery" plot arc, as demonstrated by a production by the Vancouver Arts Club in 2016, with Valin Shinyei as Billy's gay friend.
Vallin Shinyei (the name is Sanskrit and Japanese) was born in Vancouver in 2001 to an artist dad, a choreographer mom, and an actress sister. He was home schooled through eighth grade while studying dance at the Peggy Pearl School. Then he enrolled at the Thomas Haney Secondary School, graduating in 2019.
Valin began doing commercials and modeling in 2006, and moved into television in 2009, playing a Little Boy in an episode of Smallville and one of the kids being nanny-ified by Mrs. Miracle.
Plus he began dancing nightly s at the Pacific Exhibition ("British Columbia's choice for diverse events and experiences.".
At the 2010 Paralympic Games, Valin passed the torch to the Russians at the closing ceremony.
He also hosted the ceremony commemorating Rick Hansen's 25th Anniversary Tour: In 1987, Rick completed his Man in Motion Tour, traveling around the world in a wheelchair to raise awareness spinal cord injuries. In 1987, he repeated the tour, traveling across Canada.
Valin does not personally have a disability. I don't know what his connection to the disabled community is.
He broke into film with A Christmas Miracle (2012), about eight strangers stranded in an abandoned church, who...well you can figure it out. Star Dan Payne played a gay guy (and showed off his butt) in Mulligans (2008). Valin won a Young Artists Award for his role as a boy lost in the woods.
Continuing the Christmas theme, Valin starred in A Christmas Story 2 (2012), a straight-to-video sequel to the 1983 movie, with the 16 year old Ralphie (Braedon Lemasters) wanting a car and the Girl of His Dreams rather than a rifle. Valin plays his piggish younger brother. It got horrible reviews, but three years later (2015), Valin was playing Ralphie in A Christmas Story at the Vancouver Arts Club.
In 2016, he began as the understudy for Billy (Nolan Fahey) in the musical Billy Elliot. Then he took over as Billy's gay friend Michael, who has a crush on him. Billy isn't into guys, but he does agree to a drag number, "Expressing Yourself," and he kisses Michael on the cheek. That's better than endless angst and misery, I guess.
More after the break
Also in 2016, Valin appeared in an episode of Supernatural as the young Jesse Cuevas (Lee Rumohr as an adult), a hunter seeking revenge for the death of his brother at the hands of a bisaan (shape-shifting cicada-creature). He's married to fellow hunter Cesar Cuevas (Hugo Ateo, left).
A promising start, but then Valin's on-screen work lapses into heteronormativity. Dead Hearts (2014) has him as a 13-year old mortician winning The Girl.
Identity (2019) is not about being gay; it's about an atheist who shows up at the Pearly Gates (actually a cabana in the woods), and after St. Peter exhibits overdramatic disgust at his...ugh...atheism, and tells him that he has systematically brainwashed into being blind to the truth. Like dinosaurs didn't exist? Valin plays his friend, who he talks to at school, brings home for dinner, and argues with, post-brainwashing.
Superbook (2020) retells Bible stories, or rather, modern kids travel back in time to help out with them. Valin appears in a 2020 episode where the kids visit Jonah in the great fish and Daniel in the lion's den, and learn that God answers prayer.
En Dehors de Toi (2022); Mia refuses to be out because it would ruin her ballet career, thus jeopardizing her relationship with her girlfriend, Sasha., Valin plays Marco, who tries to kiss her during a rehearsal. She complains, but the director says "Strong male leads are hard to come by. Make it work." But he doesn't show up for the next rehearsal, so the director allows her to dance the pas-a-deux with Sasha, and they kiss. Wait --was Marco supposed to kiss her?
.jpg)
In the concept video he created for the year end show at Harbor Dance Center in 2022, Valin is upset because he thought the relationship was written in the stars, but now hi boyfriend or girlfriend has dumped him, and it's "hard to do it alone." He calls to say "We've lost touch. It's been awhile. I miss you." But he doesn't say if the person he misses is a boy or a girl. The lack of gender-specific terms suggests that he is gay.
His most recent on-screen role is in Lego Friends: The Next Chapter (2023-25), set in Heartlake International School, starring human kids -- they use Legos to solve the problem, and thereby sell the various Lego play sets. Valin plays Leo, who likes soccer and surfing, but is most interested in cooking, a talent that he hides from his friends for fear that they will think it cringe. Really? in 2023?
According to his facebook page, Valin now an instructor at the Hive Climbing Gym, and studying at the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy.
No "Valin" nude photos, but I found a few under "Vladimir. " This guy looks more like Tom Hardy.
Doubtful.
So: not disabled, only doubtful nude photos, only straight characters after 2016. At least Valin is gay in real life, right?
His Instagram has only five photos, and hasn't been updated since 2023. So I checked his Facebook.
I shoulda stood in bed.
Billy Elliot: The Musical: Breaking Out of the Gender Box
No comments:
Post a Comment