Meet Bill Berloni and Chico
Since he first trained a mutt to play Sandy in the Goodspeed Opera House’s production of Annie in 1976, Bill Berloni has been training animals for theater, movies and television.
Chances are, you’ve seen some of the animal actors Bill has trained. They’ve appeared in the movies Charlie Wilson’s War and The Producers, Broadway and theater productions The Wizard of Oz and Legally Blonde The Musical, CBS News, Sesame Street, MTV music videos and commercials for AT&T, Coca-Cola and Target, among many others. Recently, Bill and his animals appeared on the Today Show.
Bill “discovers” his animal talent in shelters, humane societies and rescue leagues, often rescuing them from euthanasia. He specially trains each animal to ignore all distractions from the audience and respond to the same cues in the same way every night of a production. He was one of the first animal trainers to also train human actors to work with the animals and has won awards for his humane training methods, including the ASPCA Humanitarian Award and the American Humane Association Craven Award.
You’ll have the chance to meet Bill and Chico, the Chihuahua star of Legally Blonde The Musical. This talented canine had spent most of his life chained in a backyard until Bill rescued him and brought him into the limelight onstage. Bill and Chico will be coming to the stage at PawsAbilities where they’ll share their experiences as an animal trainer and a star actor. Bill will also be signing copies of his recent book, Broadway Tails, about the dogs he rescued and trained for show business.
When you pre-order your copy of Broadway Tails, we’ll give you a $2 discount off your admission ticket to PawsAbilities. All of the proceeds from Bill’s book will be donated to the Sandy Fund at the Humane Society of New York.
Be sure to check out Bill Berloni and Chico at PawsAbilities!
View more information about Bill Berloni and his theatrical animals.
