We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christian Camilo Diaz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christian Camilo below.

Christian Camilo, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents, God bless them, gave birth to me in Colombia, where at the time opportunities to thrive were not plentiful, they reflected on their own experiences and now with a new addition to their little family they decided to make an enormous change and moved across the world to London, England in search of a better life.
Arriving in a new land with little money in the wrong currency, not speaking the language and getting help from anyone who could spare anything but with hearts full of hope and a determination to move forward.
For years I witnessed them take leap of faith after leap of faith, working hard and tirelessly so that my brother and I could follow our dreams, to follow through no matter how impossible our goals may have seemed
They taught me the importance of perseverance, to always have hope and above all an unwavering belief in myself
These qualities have kept me moving forward in my pursuit of this career and I am forever grateful to them for instilling them in me so much they became second nature.
They definitely checked the box for getting it right
Gracias ma, Gracias pa

Christian Camilo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Christian Camilo Diaz, my story starts in Colombia, Pereira where I was born, we quickly moved to London, England where I was raised.
I remember being an incredibly shy child, if you spoke to me my reply would be to break down crying so it seems hilariously backward to follow a dream of performing in front of thousands if not millions of people (I know)
I was brought into the world of acting by a family member and I quickly fell in love, I found a passion that set my soul on fire, as a result my parents would take me to see a new movie every week and every time I left a screening my world would change
“I want to do that!” I would tell myself, I left feeling new, different and excited to do the same for others.
That’s what I feel we created this art form for, for connection, to really see ourselves and others, to transform our souls and minds through story telling.
As a proud transman I believe in the power of this craft to hold space for the representation of those who think they are alone and invisible to the world
My aim as an actor, as a creator and as a human being is always to be truthful and honest and to have the most fun possible while doing it
Especially by bringing stories to life

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

You must follow your own journey, there is no one way of doing it,
You will have people tell you especially as a young creative the “right” or “wrong” way to do things
We all begin not knowing and those with “more experience” will sometimes give you their unsolicited opinions even with the best intentions that could possibly put an end to your dreams if you let it
In my earlier years of training I was taken aside by the head of the acting department, he took me for a walk and told me that I would never make it as an actor and should instead stick to something more academic, something I could “actually do”
At that point I learnt something important – you must fight for your dream first and foremost on your own, the opinions of the “authority” around you are just that, opinions, that you choose to take or leave and only you have the power to let it make or break you
I’m proud of myself for not allowing those words to extinguish my fire.
Persistence is key, you cannot fail if you never stop trying.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The love of life around me is what I find most rewarding
After having attended the conservatory at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York I learnt through their motto of “growth as a human being and growth as an actor are synonymous” to become more aware of the life around me, the moments of beauty we can easily miss, the beauty in the strength of facing difficulties, of opening yourself up to the world in your most vulnerable state,
A mind, body and soul that sees life and I mean really SEES life.
The more in the moment I am, the more I grow as an artist
I don’t know what could be more rewarding than that

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @camilodiaz