Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Laura Malagon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

As an actress and performer overall who was born and raised in Colombia I believe that with that said many people in the industry will typecast me into the most common stereotypes for Latinos, but I think we’re way more beyond the hot friend, the loud wife, the drug-dealer, the dance teacher, etc.. We come from a background on which we experiment so many things; tragedy, love, and happiness just as everybody else and I would love to go beyond roles that are only for latinos. I have worked since a very young age to not only have good skills for performing but also to get better at other accents in English for example, or other accents in Spanish, on learning more languages to have way more opportunities as I know this industry is also becoming more and more globalized and cultures go beyond typecasting. I hope one day Latino actors can be considered to play roles in period movies both in Spanish and English because I am sure that we have great capabilities even to change our voice to play them, where projects can be a hybrid of contemporary and latin dancing performances that go along with deep movies and that the magical realism that we have so present in our lives can be seen in the big screen as well.

Laura, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an artist, I am actress, dancer, singer, and performer, with experience in theatre and film, ballroom dances, afro and Latin rhythms, and contemporary as well. I have been pursuing an artistic career since I was 11, I came to New York to study acting in theatre and film at the Lee Strasberg Institute and of course looking for more opportunities as in Colombia the industry is not as big as here in the US.

I feel like my best version and my full self when I am dancing on my own or with my friends and family, I come from a family where being an extrovert was a necessity to survive the holidays and parties together so this performing essence has been with me my whole life. On the other hand, acting is a way for me to express and be able to act in ways that in my real life are harder to do, I feel free to express, to communicate, to put out the stuff that I have not allowed myself to feel, but of course in a creative and safe environment where I know I can play with it and also give as much as I can to my scene partners.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I am 25 years old and so far everything I have done, studied, traveled, and learned has been all done by myself. Its hard coming from a humble family, middle class with no artists in the family but since I was very young I knew this is what I wanted to do so I have worked nonstop to be able to afford my dreams and education and I believe that when one does all this sacrifice of investing so much of your time and money, leaving your country, your culture, begin a whole new life knowing all the responsibilities are yours, is when you realize that you are determined to get what you want and that this hard work will paid off one day in your career.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It might sound very philosophical but as Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”, I used to believe I knew it all or at least a lot when It came to dancing, to movements, to acting, to work, but the more I grow up, the more I know more people and their work ethic, and especially the more I learn in school and dance companies I started feeling bad or not trust in myself or what I knew but the main takeaways is that one had to be more humble and know there is so much more to improve and is always better to be open mind and let yourself feel and know new things without taking away the credit of the things that you already know and keep in mind that you are just getting better every day.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Laurodm21
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-malagon-818342316

Image Credits

Photographer:

Alejandro Portela