MEET THE CLOWNS OF THE 138th EDITION!
In the 138th Edition of The Greatest Show On Earth®, the world-renowned Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Clown Alley is more of a presence than ever before. With a clown moment on nearly every page of the show's script, their constant pratfalls and riotous gags are woven throughout the production's story line.
SANDOR EKE
Sandor Eke hails from a Hungarian circus family, but grew up with Circus Scott in Sweden , in which his father is the Tentmaster and his mother was formerly Ringmaster. Sandor's earliest aspiration was to be a stuntman, but he first became a professional swimmer before attending the Hungarian State Circus School. From there, he worked all over Europe with Circus Italiano and the Hungarian State Circus, performing at circus festivals in Wiesbaden, Paris, Belgium and Hungary, as well as at Berlin's Urania Theater and in the musical, Cats, in Hungary. Sandor spent the beginning of his performing and circus career as an acrobat and was initially hired by the Red Unit of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1997 as a member of a featured Hungarian teeterboard act.
Intrigued by the physical aspects of clowning, Sandor eventually brought his unique and irreverent humor to the Ringling Bros® Clown Alley. Fueled by an ever-present supply of Gummi Bears and inspired by his hero, Batman, and comedian Rowan Atkinson's bumbling character, Mr. Bean, Sandor brings his repertoire of acrobatic pratfalls to the 138th Edition. He says that one of his favorite things about being part of Ringling Bros. is the opportunity to work with elephants, even though he enjoys returning home every day to his cat, Mickey. He also admits that he misses his family and that they, too, miss him, disclosing that, when he departed for the United States almost 10 years ago, his mother told him, " 'My left eye is crying and the right one is smiling.' She was sad because I was leaving home, but glad to know that I would be happy here!"
GABOR NEMES
Growing up in Budapest, Hungary, Gabor Nemes, the son of a chef and a pedicurist, was "crazy for circuses." After high school, Gabor followed his passion and enrolled at the Hungarian State Circus School where he became the first member of his family to pursue a performing career and began to follow his passion to become a professional clown. He worked with several European circuses and appeared at many circus festivals, including Weisbaden in Germany, Ludvika in Sweden and Ostende in Belgium before joining Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 2003.
Gabor has since reveled in the opportunity to see so much of the United States, work with many talented performers, build lasting friendships with Ringling Bros. cast and crew, and interact with the show's enthusiastic audiences. Gabor says that, while his clown character is inspired from what he feels inside, he is "more funny than I look" in real life. He also believes that people should know that, although he enjoys eating and sleeping as much as possible, he "can move fast when I have to." The 24 year old also discloses that he is a very sensitive person and, notably, a cancer survivor, one with a well-earned and infectious sense of humor who most enjoys cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, and the circus tradition of "pieing" people on their birthdays.
DANIEL "TOMALITO" SANCHEZ
As a boy, Daniel Sanchez, whose stage name is "Tomalito," meaning "little tomato," aspired to be a soldier. Instead, when he turned 11 years old, he began to play in his family's musical group and also studied theater in his hometown of Lima, Peru. Inspired by his father, a musician and carpenter by trade, who had wanted to be a circus performer when he, himself, was young, Daniel began to pursue his clowning career when he was in his early 20s. For the past 15 years, he has appeared in circuses in Mexico, Brazil and the United States before joining Ringling Bros., which he considers to be the realization of a lifelong dream.
Daniel looks to his experience working on The Greatest Show On Earth as providing him with an opportunity to "reach a higher quality of performance with regards to circus arts." In addition, Daniel stays close to his musical roots by playing several percussion instruments, from bongos to kettledrums, often as part of his act. When he is not honing his craft, Daniel relaxes while reading - poems are his favored choice - and staying in touch with his wife Clara and their children, Dyana and Giommar. While claiming to be "a good friend of Spider-Man®," Daniel's feet are quite firmly planted on the ground and in real life, which he affirms is where he and his fellow clowns draw most of their gags from. Daniel's love and respect for the circus is profound, and he voices it quite eloquently: "So long as children exist in the world, the circus will be eternal and we will be worthy of this eternity."
JAMARR WOODRUFF
A devout Baptist from Atlanta, GA, Jamarr Woodruff was a first-year clown with the 136th Edition who considers himself the "Clown of Crunk," a high-energy style of hip-hop music that originated in Atlanta and which he now shares with Ringling Bros. audiences. Jamarr's circus life has taken him full circle. Although he attended The Greatest Show On Earth nearly every year while he was growing up, he always watched from the upper section of the arena, the only seats his family could afford. Now, as a Ringling Bros. performer, he has the best seat in the house!
When he was a senior in high school, Jamarr saw a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College® audition poster and from that moment, he knew his destiny. While he did not ultimately attend Clown College, Jamarr went on to graduate, cum laude, from Alabama State University's Theater Arts program in 2002. He then graduated from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in 2004 and the San Francisco Clown Conservatory in 2005. When he got the news that he was being invited to join Ringling Bros., Jamarr didn't know whom to call first, so his mother advised him to call on the Lord, and he did. As he travels with the 138th Edition, Jamarr is thrilled to be able to bring joy to so many people and looks to his hero, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for daily inspiration. Both Dr. King and Jamarr were born and raised in the same city (Atlanta), attended the same high school (Booker T. Washington) and, as Jamarr puts it, "We both believe in dreams."