Rob Salerno is a writer, actor, and journalist based in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Canada. His preoccupations as a writer include social justice and probing issues that polite people wouldn’t touch.

As a theatre artist, Rob has been honored with several awards and distinctions, including nominations for Dora Awards for writing and acting. The Doras are like the Canadian equivalent of the Tony Awards, but on a much smaller scale (it’s a cash bar). He was once labelled a “theatrical rabble rouser” by The Globe and Mail‘s theatre critic.

In Los Angeles, Rob is one of the producers of Mike Pence’s Big Queer Nightmare, a monthly sketch show at iO West spotlighting queer writers, actors, and comedians.

Rob is the artistic director of Ten Foot Pole Theatre, a Toronto-based theatre company dedicated to telling stories polite people wouldn’t touch. His original plays Balls, Big in Germany, Fucking Stephen Harper: How I Sexually Assaulted the 22^nd Prime Minister of Canada and Saved Democracy, RAW, and First Day Back have played in more than thirty cities across Canada and around the world.

Rob’s work has been published in VICE, Advocate, National Post, Metro Toronto, NOW Magazine, #CdnCult Times, FAB, Homorazzi.com, Eye Weekly, and Outlooks and he’s appeared as a commentator on CTV News and Sun News Network. He is best known for his work as a reporter and columnist with Xtra, Canada’s Gay & Lesbian newspaper, now DailyXtra.com, where he covers such topics as: national, provincial, and municipal politics; community organizations and activism; human rights law; crime; media analysis; HIV/AIDS; and immigration and refugee issues. He is well-known in the LGBT community for fearlessly sharing his unconventional opinions on topics of the day.

Rob holds an MA (Drama) from University of Toronto and a Joint-Honours BA (Political Science, Cultural Studies) from McGill University. He completed the sketch and improv programs at Upright Citizens Brigade Los Angeles, and studied at Groundlings and Playhouse West. He has also completed residencies with the Banff Playwrights Colony and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s Young Creators Unit.

Rob is always looking to collaborate on interesting projects as a writer or actor. If you are interested in working with him, feel free to get in touch.