Reza Salazar: From surviving clown to Broadway actor

As part of the cast of “Clyde’s,” Reza Salazar does eight performances a week at the Hayes Theater on Broadway alongside award-winning Uzo Aduba and others. It’s an achievement that he does not take for granted: The Peruvian actor began his career out of necessity at a very young age, when he and his mother would dress up as clowns to earn a living.

“I believe that what I did with my mother is still my foundation, the essence of what I continue to do now,” says Salazar. “I always have the clown inside, and it has opened the doors to Broadway, really.”

“Clyde’s,” written by two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Kate Whoriskey, takes place in a sandwich shop whose owner (Aduba) hires ex-convicts to give them a chance to re-enter society. While the insensitive Clyde tries to keep them under her control, forcing them to stick to her old ways and recipes, they dream of creating the perfect sandwich.

Salazar plays Rafael, one of these employees, with Kara Young as his love interest Letitia, Ron Cephas Jones as the inspiring father-figure Montrellous, and Edmund Donovan as the newly hired Jason.

On “Clyde’s,” he plans to stay until the closing day of Jan. 16. The production hasn’t had to cancel any performances due to the pandemic and continues to perform on the planned schedule.