Gabriel Traversari

Early life

Traversari was born in Los Angeles, California, but grew up in El Crucero, a municipality just outside Managua, Nicaragua.

He was sent to a junior boarding school in Pomfret, Connecticut called The Rectory School and graduated high school at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. Traversari went on to graduate from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting. While in school he performed on stage in Twelfth Night (as Antonio), The Apple Tree (as Adam), Princess Ida (as Cyril), Macbeth (as Macduff), Infancy (as Avonzino), What the Butler Saw (as Nick), The Sea Gull (as Trigorin), Romeo and Juliet (as Romeo), The Lost Colony (as A. Dare/J. Borden) and Camino Real (as Abdullah).

Career

Once Traversari graduated from college he moved to Miami, where he was hired as the co-host of Univision’s first major original production, TV Mujer (1988-1990), an international talk show which he co-hosted for three years. Traversari also starred in other popular television programs which aired in Latin America and Spain including "Mejorando su Hogar", the first home improvement show produced in Spanish in the United States, and "Casa Club Magazine".

Traversari went on to produce, direct and host "Un Día de Fama" and many episodes for the "Behind the Scenes" series for E! Entertainment, in Latin America. He also became that network´s Miami-based entertainment correspondent for over three years.

In 2004 he began hosting "Esotérica" on Cosmopolitan Television. He was also cast as one of the lead voices for the Spanish version of Duckman, the Emmy-award-winning cartoon, and as the voice of "Juan del Diablo" in the English translation of the soap opera, Corazón Salvaje. He has appeared on various television series such as Miami Vice (1988), as well as small credited appearances in movies such as Something Wild (1986), Once Upon A Time in America (1984) and Two Much (1995). He was cast as the lead in the independent low budget feature, Murder on the Border, where he starred alongside Mexican actress Alpha Acosta (2005). He has also appeared in various Spanish speaking TV shows such as "Decisiones" and "Lotería" and three Telemundo soap operas Anita no te Rajes, El Cuerpo del Deseo and Pecados Ajenos.

Traversari produced, directed and hosted the TV series "Las Espectaculares Casas" for Casa Club TV, a subdivision of MGM Networks, Latin America.

He returned to his country, Nicaragua, in 2008 where he has been diligently working in several cultural projects and personally contributing to the development of the local and regional music industry. He created and managed "Myla Vox" (www.mylavox.com), one of the most popular young musical groups to emerge from his country. The group eventually ended its 5-year stint, but clearly left its mark. Since it first appeared on the scene, "Myla Vox" helped change the way Nicaraguans perceive their own music, creating a frenzy that forced radio programmers to promote and celebrate locally made product and establish a celebrity-based culture unlike any seen before in Nicaragua. Gabriel also founded the "Central American Music Conference" as an opportunity to unite regional talent with top international record industry executives. The first conference, held in Nicaragua, brought luminaries such as grammy winner KC Porter, distinguished music empresario Bruno del Granado, prestigious producer/composers such as Marco Flores and Victor Daniel, record label execs such as Jorge Mejía (Sony/ATV Publishing) and Aldo Gonzalez (Machete Music) and top music promoters like Joe Granda, among others. He is also the creator of the Nicaraguan Music Awards, a platform that has honored and recognized Nicaragua´s varicolored music community.

He wrote his first book of poetry, Before the Dawn, in 1996. It was during the writing of that book that he became interested in drawing. He has since begun to showcase his work publicly, and in 2014 he completed and presented an exhibit entitled: "Akropolis: Rasgos y Restos de una Cultura Helénica." He launched his first photography book entitled, "Vernaculo: Encuentros con mi Tierra" which had its debut presentation at the Palace of Culture in Nicaragua in the summer of 2008, and is currently promoting his latest book, a journalistic experiment called: "La Hija del Dictador" ("The Dictator´s Daughter"), a biographical account based on the life of Lillian Somoza Debyale, daughter of Nicaragua´s notorious military dictator, Anastasio Somoza García.

He founded the Fundación Cultural Hispanoamericana in the 1990s for the purpose of promoting the vision of young Hispanic artists. He has now traded his work there to support another foundation, The Future of Nicaragua Foundation, founded by his aunt Julia Sevilla. Traversari has aided in several culturally driven projects including a musical concert in the national stadium in Managua that brought together more than 50 Nicaraguan artists and some special international personalities such as Laura León, Victor Noriega and Sebastian Ligarde. Throughout his career, Traversari has hosted many beauty pageants including Miss Nicaragua, Miss Panama, Nuestra Belleza- El Paso and Miss Carnaval; song festivals such as La OTI- Nicaragua, La OTI- Nueva York and La OTI -Tampa, and television specials such as Fiesta en America and La Casa de sus Sueños for Pepsi Cola, Año Nuevo, Vida Nueva for Golden Hill Productions and numerous guest hosting appearances for Televisa Espectaculos. He has served as jury member for the OTI Nacional and Nuestra Belleza.

In 2002 Traversari shot his first documentary project entitled Por Los Caminos, a 24-hour journey through the streets of Managua that was screened at eight film festivals all over the world, including the Miami International Film Festival, the Havana Film Festival (Festival del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano), the London Latin Film Festival and others.

He also made a cameo appearance in TLC's 90-day Fiancé.

Traversari launched his first CD, Luna de Piel, in 2002.

Discography

Awards and recognition