Financial-aid recipient No. 8: Veteran Denver actor Tom Borrillo, a graduate of Mullen High School, has performed as the hot-tempered patriarch Chet in the 1950s family vignette Over the Tavern everywhere from the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to the Arvada Center to the Bas Bleu Theatre in Fort Collins. He won the 2007 Henry Award for his performance in the Paragon Theatre Company’s Frankie and Johnny. His local stage credits include Misery (Paragon), Rounding Third (Arvada Center), Ulysses Chapter 15 (Germinal Stage-Denver), Lost in Yonkers (Mizel Center) and Sleuth (Lake Dillon Theatre Company). His Off-Broadway credits include Circle in the Square, and three seasons as a stunt fighter with the Metropolitan Opera. He has appeared on The Cosby Show, Spin City and Daria, as well as in six films. Tom is from the busy local theatre family that includes cousin Paul Borrillo and his wife, actor Erica Sarzin-Borrillo.
His story: Tom broke his shoulder in May during a fall on a visit to Amsterdam. His emergency surgery there was botched, and his arm broke free. He had to fly home using special medical transport for an emergency second surgery. His Kaiser insurance does not cover the overseas operation or the flight home. Those specific expenses alone total about $8,000. His second surgery in the U.S., partially covered by insurance, has brought his remaining out-of-pocket expenses to nearly $15,000. When not performing, Tom is a bartender, but he won’t be able to return to work for several more months while he undergoes physical therapy.
How we will help: The Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors unanimously approved a $1,200 grant to help relieve Tom’s immediate financial burden. He later received $390 in targeted gifts from the community, bringing our overall support to $1,590.
A message from Tom: “I want to put out an enormous thank you to the Denver Actors Fund and everyone who makes it possible. The last 2 1/2 months, I have been through the ringer. It has been very touching to know there is a community of like-minded people out there who cared enough to create this foundation. Thank you to everyone involved. “Recovery Can Be An Overwhelming And Lonely, Boring Time.” (I even started watching Dance Moms for a while.) Thanks one more time. You all have really helped keep my chin up; my chicken-arm still needs a pulley.”
Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told.
