Biography
Chan Harris grew up in the part of East Texas that always smells like something's burning, surrounded by music and tuna casserole. After high school, he moved to New York City (spending his first night at Newark International Airport) to study at the Juilliard School. At Juilliard, with classmates that included Renee Fleming, Audra MacDonald and Laura Linney, he studied voice with Beverley Peck Johnson, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Music.
After graduation, he briefly lived in Houston, TX, where he worked for several theatres including Theatre Under the Stars (West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles, the world premier of Kopitt & Yeston’s Phantom, Evita, the Merry Widow), the Alley (Forever Plaid, Robert Wilson's Danton's Death) and in Houston Grand Opera's historic production of Astor Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires. He has been cast in several national tours (Evita, Big River, Into the Woods) and worked in New York, both Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway -- Equity Library Theatre (Too Many Girls), the York Theatre (Grand and Glorious), the Pearl Theatre (Miss Julie) -- and in regional theatres all over the country in Forever Plaid (Casa Manana Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, Dallas Summer Musicals, Commonwealth Theatre Company), Tommy (Casa Manana Theatre, Maine State Music Theatre), Brigadoon (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Old Wicked Songs (the Cider Mill Playhouse), Beauty and the Beast (Mill Mountain Playhouse), Godspell (Casa Manana Theatre) and was resident actor at the Mountain Playhouse, one of the oldest continuous-running theatres in the country (Don't Dress For Dinner, The Winslow Boy, Funny Money, Inherit the Wind, Broadway Bound, The Lion In Winter, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). He was featured in the film The Doghouse and has appeared on several Law & Order episodes.
Internationally, Chan was cast in a German language tour of Phantom of the Opera, for which he toured Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. While in Berlin, in addition to working for the prestigious Theatre Des Westens and Berliner Ensemble, he made several appearances on German-language television, including Kommissar Rex, a television show about a police dog. He also created the role of Young Kafka in Kafka: In the Penal Colony for the Polish National Opera.
In 1997 he was asked to play Jesus in the Korean-language Jesus Christ Superstar for the Hyundae Theatre Company in Seoul, South Korea. For this role, he was the first foreigner to work as an actor in Korean-language theatre and the first foreigner to win a “best actor” award at the Korean Theatre Awards.
In 1999, he was asked to direct the national tour of Forever Plaid. This led to a production of Forever Plaid at the Mountain Playhouse, a professional summer-stock theatre in the Pittsburgh, PA area. At the Mountain Playhouse, Chan has directed over 20 plays, including four world premiers, three of which were commissioned through a grant by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He has continued to direct in New York and for theatres all over the country.
During his career as a director, Chan has continued to study. He enrolled in The Actors Center conservatory program, studying under Ron van Lieu (acting), Earl Gister (acting), Felix Ivanov (stage combat), Grace Zandarski (voice), Per Brahe (mask), Katherine Fitzmaurice (voice), Christopher Bayes (clown) and Frank Deal (improv). He spent time in Bali, Indonesia studying Balinese dance, mask work and kecak, and in Korea studying Pansori.
As a teacher he has taught all over the world. In addition to teaching masterclasses in New York City, at the University of Alabama, the University of Montavallo, the Foxcroft School, Bowdoin College and the University of Texas, he taught drama and theatre development as a “sustainable” resource in the Transvaal area of South Africa through a U.N. Sponsored program.