early inspiration

First, the name… Victor Fischbarg was knighted Victor of Aquitaine on the set by underground director/rebel Jon Moritsugu shooting the first of their seven feature films together. What to do when your birth name lacks a certain underground rebel pizazz? Instant fabu pseudonym. And given his early inspirations — irreverent personalities with colorful given names like Chaka Khan and Evel Knievel — the name was a logical fit.

Victor of Aquitaine, early film still

In a review of their first film, Variety agreed. “Victor of Aquitaine is the only colorful performer worth watching in the film.” (Jeff Menell, Variety) Their subsequent films together have earned multiple ‘Best Feature’ festival awards, but mainstream reviews have not often been kind to their films. He remains proudest of this Moritsugu critic’s gem: “Everything on every frame is terrible.” (Hollywood Reporter)

As a classically trained musician, he first began acting at a young age as Doris’ musical brother in MGM’s classic musical film, Fame. And before he could legally drink, he was singing in New York clubs as Victor E.

watch video for “Meditation No. 6 (Getting to Know You)”

As a struggling New York musician, he was signed to Polygram for a 3-record dance music deal; none of the recordings were ever released. He subsequently wrote all the songs and played nearly all of the instruments on his first album, Victor E: The Meditations, available on iTunes, Amazon, Yahoo! Music, Spotify and MySpace. It received airplay on indie stations nationwide, including KCRW‘s influential “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” Including the song “Meditation No. 6 (Getting to Know You),” the Metropolis-meets-Roller Boogie fantasy concept music video was shot on location in Los Angeles. It debuted at the 2003 Los Angeles Film Festival, and stayed on PowerPlay’s Top 20 Videos chart for several weeks (Comcast/Cablevision stations). “On the one hand, it was an entire concept album all about getting yourself out of a dark place. I remain prouder of that album than anything I’ve ever done. But on the other hand, kind of echoing that music video, I felt trapped in New York at the time. Typical of many New Yorkers, I had never learned how to drive. What kept me away from L.A. for all those years was parallel parking. Seriously. I still struggle with it.” Sales were lackluster, and with the demise of the music industry, he attempted a local return to acting. New York theater roles were a devastating low-point, from a sword-fighting Japanese warlord in the NYC Fringe Festival (“The plastic swords were wobbly”) to an all-male naked production of Macbeth. (“More wobbly swords, pun intended.”) “I stayed at the party too long. I was never a classical theater actor anyway. It was finally time to go. I felt like my luck was running out of time.”

And so, with no possibilities beckoning whatsoever, he made the transition to Los Angeles. “Like they say, leap and the net will appear.” He has been working ever since in film and television roles in three languages: English, Spanish, and French.