Among those who attended the 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival in Germany was Manteca High graduate Vincent Palo.

The 27-year-old in black-and-white tuxedo was among those who walked down the red carpet as the paparazzi took pictures of all the guests. Other pictures showed the 2001 Buffalo graduate with the director and cast of the movie “Cherry” starring Heather Graham and James Franco. The film, which had its world premier at the international festival, is the debut feature from writer/director Stephen Elliot.

“I have a small role in the feature film,” a humble Palo said while visiting his alma mater days before flying to Berlin over the weekend.

At Manteca High, he met with his former history teacher Nina Horton and with the class of his former theater-drama teacher Dawn Coyan on the stage of the Dorothy Mulvihill Performing Arts Theater.

Horton said Palo contacted her days before and let her know he was going to be in town, which prompted the invitation to visit the school and meet with Coyan and her drama class. Among other topics, Palo shared his experiences in theater arts as well as careers in the field of acting and production other than films. As an example, Palo said that the “Cherry” film is his first foray into movie acting. Prior to landing a small role in the movie, he earned a livelihood creating “corporate training videos called industrials,” he explained. He is still involved in that profession while waiting for his big break in acting.

Palo always knew what he wanted to do after high school and pursued it with single-mindedness.

“I trained independently after high school. I’ve studied in the studio program of the American Conservatory Theater, Second City, and The Theatre School at DePaul University,” he said.

Fresh from the past weekend’s international event in Berlin, Palo enthused, “The film festival was an amazing experience. The film premiered in the largest stage in Western Europe, Friedrichstadt Palast. It was a sold-out (with) 1,300 audience count.”

During his visit to Manteca High, he sheepishly admitted, “What I’ve always wanted to do originally is – I wanted to be a clown,” he said as he walked out the door of the school’s main office after shaking hands with the new Manteca High Principal Frank Gonzales.

Home these days for Palo is San Francisco, but he still has family living in The Family City including his mother Theresa Meyer, and his father Jurgen Meyer. His sister, Brittany Meyer, is also a graduate of Manteca High.