We recently connected with Alexander Mendez and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alexander thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an actor, but I had terrible stage fright. I was always involved in talent shows singing songs of whatever I knew back then I participated in chorus where we would perform in front of all the parents. that was when I had my first solo at just 7 years old. we were singing down in Kokomo. I almost missed my queue because I was so scared to sing in front of everyone, but I closed my eyes and saying like I never sang before like there was no one else in the room just me. As a young man in his early 20s, I went to college and got a four year degree in business thinking that I was going to Become a project manager or an imagineer for Disney. I was involved in several businesses from retail to sales, but nothing really filled that void that lack of purpose. I went through a bit of a sad moment in my life, drifting from one job to another, not finding what I was looking for. Fulfillment and purpose. I wanted something similar to what I felt when I was in the army. I felt like I had purpose and I enjoyed what I did because I was good at it and I thought it was making a difference. One day, my wife and I decided to go to the movies, she knows it’s one of my favorite places in the world to be the movies just takes you to a whole Nother place where the laws of reality don’t apply. It’s a place for actors to manifest their dreams of one day seeing themselves on the big screen. Upon returning, I kept thinking about all the things I wanted to be in life and all the things I was. And then, after that day, something clicked in my head. It was a single moment of clarity. I was making some silly videos with my wife. We were replicating scenes from avengers infinity war. I am a huge nerd for Marvel and it’s always been my dream to be in a marvel film even if I was the good guy the bad guy or just the background I just wanted to be involved. I remember that feeling I had once the camera was on I was someone else in those few moments. Then after the editing of the video was done and we got to watch it, that feeling I had made my decision so simple. I love performing. I love, entertaining people telling my stories, my jokes, and crazy moments in my life. That feeling in front of the camera working with other people with so much talent made me feel like I was in a place where I belonged. I had the same feeling the first time I was in a movie and I got to see myself on the screen, and after the film was presented, they called upon all the actors involved and gave us a standing ovation in applause. It was such a beautiful moment, and since then I have continued on this path through the good and the bad because of my belief in God, the support of my wife and the belief in myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Puerto Rican and Dominican. I come from a poor family. I have three other siblings. I grew up with. I am the middle child. And if I’m being honest, I was probably the hardest one to raise. I grew up as a military brat, jumping from one state to another. My family moved around a lot, and so it was very hard for me to make friends because I could never stay in a place long enough to really maintain the relationship relationships. When I got into the business, I really had no idea of what I was doing. I never studied Acting or theater. I may have taken a few classes in high school just as a requirement but beyond that I had zero experience. Luckily my wife studied theater and showed me the ropes when it came to memorizing lines. She has so much patience with me because I had a lot of moments where I was my worst critic. I was so hard on myself in the beginning because I wanted to be great too fast in life I learned that there are many things that come with time time gives clarity, maturity, grace to the overall process. When my wife would go to work, I would be home studying lines from some of my favorite movies and TV shows just as a way to get my brain condition when it came to doing a full scene the coordination, the cadence, the tonality, and the intention. The first scene I ever tried to replicate came from one of my favorite TV shows growing up Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the episode when his father walks out on him and Will Smith breaks down to uncle Phil asking why he doesn’t want him anymore. That moment hit very hard for me because of my own relationship with my father, so I used that to bring all of that emotion into my own performance. From there, it was all about researching different platforms that other actors have used when it came to finding jobs whether it be active access casting network, backstage, IMDb and Facebook groups for independent filmmakers just to get my start. I set up accounts for everything and immediately started applying no matter what the job was no matter how much they were paying. The whole idea was that I was hungry for work and had enough tenacity to accept any job and see it through. My first job I ever got booked for was to play as a background for a show on Netflix called la firma This was a show about underground artists trying to perform in a competition in the hopes of being signed to a label by some of my favorite reggaeton artists like yandel raew Alejandro, tiny, Nicky Nicole and so on. It was the first time that I was so close to someone I only ever saw on TV. I was a little starstruck, but I kept my composure. I was one of the few who were selected to be in front of the camera at all times and react to the live performances. I guess they really liked my outfit or the type of energy I was providing. I worked 9 1/2 hours that day and I only made $50 but I didn’t care it wasn’t about the money it was about my start into a career that I have always dreamt of being in. As the years progress, the competition got harder and I had my fair share of moments of complacency, but I kept going one of my happiest moments came at another job where I was doing background for a film called, fly me to the moon during the two days I was there. There was a rumor that the stars of the film would be there. This would be my second time I would get to meet a huge celebrity. We were nine hours in at the Kennedy space Center here in Orlando, Florida. I was playing as a reporter capturing the moment that the Apollo 11 rocket took off into space. After the rocket took off and everyone reacted to that moment, we were all supposed to walk back to our cars and go home for the scene and we were supposed to mime meaning that all of our actions were supposed to have no sound. I didn’t understand why at the time until I listened closely and I heard two voices no more than 6 feet behind me after the Director said cut. I switched from my prop glasses to my real one, so I could see who is behind me in that moment my eyes grew so big because the two people that were behind me were Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum! I wanted to say something to them but I knew if I did, I could risk getting in trouble. I don’t know why, but I started doing the Carlton dance to draw their attention in and it worked. Channing Tatum started laughing when he saw me. It was just a moment I wanted. I wanted someone at that level to see me. It was such an amazing story and the stories thereafter just kept getting better. I got to be on episode two season two of Mayor of Kingstown just for a few moments. You can see me if you have Paramount+ and you go to that episode. You’ll see my face on the right it was a perfect stand in position. That was the first time I got to play as a prisoner. A lot of myself submissions were doing well, but I felt like I was being excluded from a lot of really good paying jobs simply because the exclusivity comes from having an agent. So research was a big thing trying to find who was going to be a good fit for me, but to be honest, I was willing to sign with anyone just to get my foot in the door. I signed with a few agencies back in the day not all of them were bad, but not all of them were great. I’ve had my fair share of disagreements as soon as the honeymoon phase was over. That’s when I learned one of the hardest truths of Acting is that it is always a business first. Sometimes people don’t care about your story only the results, and that opened my eyes and made me realize that I needed to be better in this career I needed to master the craft and understand what was being asked of me. This led me to taking my first Acting Class Meisner one this was where I was able to make all the mistakes I needed to so I could become the actor I was meant to be. But one class wasn’t enough. I started training myself on different monologues from every genre reading Eugene, O’Neill, Sam Shepherd, Arthur Miller, and so on I had become obsessed with Acting that’s what I felt it took. It wasn’t just about the desire to be an actor, but putting in the work I went through a point where my career had really slowed down due to life happening, and I built up a lot of stress and I put on a lot of weight. I think I was 200 pounds maybe more at the time what really got me out of this was making some life decisions with my wife and communicating all the things that I was feeling I bottled so much inside and I didn’t realize all the self-destruction that came with it. God and my wife got me out of my darkest moments and made me get back on track. I took the Gym more seriously and created my own diet plan. I took better care of myself, and I took myself serious as an actor, I said it with Pride. I am now 158 pounds, currently taking classes for Acting and theater. I have traveled to Europe and been exposed to so much out there. I have visited plays, cathedrals and museums for the love of the culture and appreciation as an artist, I even started drawing again and started to create my own portfolio, I taught myself digital art, and into a degree, I even have my own style acting. So much creativity and so much change has happened. And all of this took time I guess the hard truth was that I wasn’t ready for the big responsibilities the big roles, even though I wanted them. I have learned to respect the process because it evolves you so much. Your goals change. I am proud to say that I am an actor and now I am becoming a writer and an entrepreneur. I am writing my own scripts and ideas. I am creating my own designs and cartoons. I have even developed a prototype coloring book of some of my designs and created stories behind them. All of this is to say, I am an artist.

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

I am no stranger to dedication when it comes to pursuing my goals. I have had opportunities for roles that were states apart and back to back. I remember I booked a gig for a photo shoot in Atlanta. They wanted everyone there at about 7:30 in the morning but we didn’t get released until seven in the afternoon. I had a flight that same night at 9 PM to go to Philly for another gig Where I played as prisoner for the TV show mayor of Kingstown. Mind you in the scenario I was running on three hours of sleep and had to try to look my best for both projects as they were so close in call times. When I finally landed, it was about 3:30 in the morning. I checked into my hotel and I got to sleep for two more hours before I had to get up and take an Uber to the next location. My call time was at 6:30.Am. There was well over 500 of us for this episode. This episode was gonna take two days to film. As we loaded up on the bus, I had to leave behind everything so I couldn’t take any pictures like I wanted to. They had us all dress up in inmate uniform uniforms and stand outside in a huge line for hair and makeup. And guess what number I was I was number 500. I was at the very end of the line and I kept thinking to myself. They already started filming some of the scenes by the time I finish I might not even have a chance to get any camera time by the time it was my turn and we were four hours in standing outside in the sun the make up artists decided that they really wanted to be creative with me. They filled my arms full of tattoos, my neck, my face everything covered in tattoos my hair had a crazy style to it to make me look more intimidating. By the time we got to sit, I was able to get my first feature. All I had to do was walk in front of the camera then from there it was just a matter about timing for the next shot. The director wanted everyone on set to rush to a gated fence as a bus would appear bringing in new inmates. We were supposed to riot as a way of intimidating the new comers not realizing that in this episode the people in the bus were all of the gang leaders so as the gang leaders come out, everyone is supposed to become silent and they deliver their lines that was a moment. I never forgot. I was so hot and sweaty from standing outside for so many hours covered in fake tattoos and sunblock, running on less than five hours of sleep flying from Orlando to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Philly, but in that moment, I didn’t care I was putting in the work. I was doing exactly what I was meant to do. We recorded over 12 1/2 hours going on 13 hours worth of work doing different scenes that were supposed to take place day and night and I guess we did a really good job because after the Director called for everyone and announced that we do not have to show up for a day two but because we went over the time, he would still pay us for the extra day that was such a rewarding moment so the next day I just stayed in the hotel and scrubbed my arms, face and neck for hours trying to remove the fake tattoos. This was one of my many stories that show that it really does take a certain level of dedication to achieve the goals that you want to achieve. Sometimes when you’re pursuing projects like this, you have to take risks you have to invest in yourself sometimes you might not always break even but that’s just how things works. In the beginning. You have to take a little job. No one wants because you have to gain that experience, you have to build your portfolio. Sometimes you have to start from now to eventually become something people will remember. I kept thinking after we recorded that episode how long it would take for me to finally see myself on TV and after a couple of long waited months that moment finally happened and even though you see me for just a few moments at the very end of the episode that was enough, the bonus however, when you go to episode two season two before you even click to watch the episode, you just see an image of the episode and that image has me on the right hand side so for me, I will always be a part of that show now!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I had some goals and ideas going into this career. I would be lying if I said some of those goals changed. In the beginning, I just wanted to be an actor make no mistake. I still do. I wanna be great, but I learned when opportunities weren’t being presented to me. I had learned that sometimes you have to create your own opportunities if you sit there and wait for that one big role it may not ever come, but if you take all of the small rules, build your portfolio master the craft you’ll also learn that you never know who’s watching all of those people you were nice to all the good jobs you’ve done people talk and people will remember you. Whenever I wasn’t acting, I was taking classes and in between that I was drawing creating ideas writing stories. This changed a lot of of what my goals were in the beginning. I thought that Acting was just going to be it not realizing that I also had the desire to write and direct. I have so many stories and ideas that I’ve started to put pen to paper too, and I realized how much freedom comes with that I can create an entire universe based on my own ideas. A lot of of this started when I got back into drawing drawing really helped me get out of my darkest moments when Acting wasn’t going well for me and I wasn’t landing anything. I started teaching myself how to use digital art, and I started creating beautiful designs I even turned my designs into a Tshirt business and I actually made sales and it felt so good not because I was making money but because people were enjoying my art and it was that same artistic quality that I had that pushed me to try hard harder and Acting I wanted to quit so many times, but I felt like God, my wife and even parts of myself would not allow me to not when I put so much into it when I still have dreams about accepting an Oscar being in red carpet events, all of this couldn’t be for nothing drawing was a big catalyst for me because it made my brain start to get into the mindset of being creative, taking risks being provocative sometimes when you play it safe and you don’t take the risk you never really get that far. Sometimes you fall short being an artist requires risk and requires being provocative because that’s what gets people talking whether it’s good news or bad news people are still talking about you. And for the first time in my life, whether I was recognized for a commercial I did or a design I created or a story I told I was finally seen so many years of my life. I’ve always felt invisible and I remember the first moment someone walked up to me from the gym. I may have seen this person a few times and he says to me was that you on TV and of course I had to play it off like what are you talking about and then he shows me the commercial I did and I said proudly yes that was me. He asked me are you an actor and for the first time in my life, I said to the man proudly and confidently yes I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Renegaderegime.com
• Instagram: Alexander_l_mendez
• Facebook: Alex mendez
• Youtube: XanderMendez3

Image Credits

Yohanne Mwale Photography