We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrea Orta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

When I was completing my MFA in Acting, a teacher said to me don’t pursue this career unless there’s nothing else you can do. An actor himself, he explained how during a period where he wasn’t working much or landing gigs he sat down with a piece of paper and tried to write down any jobs he could do that weren’t acting. He jokingly retold that he came to the realisation that he wasn’t good at anything, so he’d have to make this path work. That teacher is still a successful working actor, and a part of many big named projects, so this story made me realise the truth in his anecdote.

Being in a creative field sucks in many ways, let’s be honest. As a newcomer it can mean instability and a lot of periods of waiting. I’ve definitely had low moments where I’ve wondered if I should get a regular job, or make a total career jump. But when I work on set or in theatre, it brings me a sense of joy and fulfilment that no other job could. I believe I thrive in creative environments, and what’s more is that I stand out. Perhaps there are other things I could do, but who’s to say it would be easier to build a “successful” career in those fields either? Where I excel and feel the most accomplished is when collaborating to tell stories. So I’ve come to terms with the fact that I HAVE to make my career as a creative work. Not try, but do. Ultimately, I’m a results person. So when auditions slow down, or work gets dry (which it will), I try to lead my own projects, go to classes, stay BUSY – because when I’m active and seeing growth, my happiness, confidence and inner-peace grows infinitely too.

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

My name’s Andrea Orta and I am a Venezuelan-British actress and writer based in Los Angeles. I was born in Venezuela but have lived abroad since I was 6, moving to Singapore, Switzerland, England, and now LA. I consider my multicultural upbringing to be a big factor for my curiosity and adaptability as a creative. Undoubtedly, my most defining passion is my love for performance. Throughout my life, I have cultivated a deep understanding of film, digital media and writing, as I believe that storytelling transcends all differences.

I took up ballet when I was 5, learning about the discipline and persistence needed behind the most seemingly effortless routines. As I grew older and began performing with the Susan Robinson School of Ballet, I realised that there was something special about live performance: Going on stage felt completely different every single time, as if we spontaneously created something captivating and new, despite the fact that nothing we did was achieved without with hours of practice. Watching the older students slave over their pointe routines, running off stage gracefully only to frantically rewrap a bandaged toe which had gotten battered, I saw that there is something incredibly beguiling about performance. It’s innately sad that most are unlikely to fully recognise the efforts – both emotional and physical – required to present these beautiful machinations. You spend relentless rehearsal periods transforming into a figure other to yourself, but in the end, the moment is fleeting. But this is also its charm. Performance is draining, intoxicating, and completely your own experience. Ballet soon took me into musical theatre, honing my dance skills and learning singing technique. Alongside musical theatre I dove into stage plays inside and outside of school, auditioning for and being accepted into the UK National Youth Theatre when I was 15. However, it wasn’t until I was a background artist for the 2018 hit film ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, that I shifted my focus onto film and television, falling in love with the movie magic of it all.

I have a BA in English from King’s College London, a 1-Year Acting Certificate from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London and an MFA in Acting for Film from the New York Film Academy. I am a native speaker in both English and Spanish and have professional experience in stage, commercial and film performance.

An accomplishment I’m most proud of is that I wrote, produced and acted in my own short film, ‘Pretty Bird’ last year. ‘Pretty Bird’ is a dystopian Sci Fi, about a woman isolated in an AI-controlled home. I’m very drawn to sardonic humour, psychological thrillers and Sci Fi, such as ‘Black Mirror’, ‘Ex Machina’ and ‘Love Death and Robots’, so ‘Pretty Bird’ was in a way a love letter to other works I’ve enjoyed before.

Most recently, I did a commercial for the PokémonGo video game and performed in various BuzzFeed videos garnering over 15 million views across their pages.

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

The transience of performance drew me into acting, but the empathy and vulnerability I found through it made the discipline completely indispensable. Acting in many ways is about a sense of play, curiosity and exploring, and my family says that I’ve always loved to perform and play. But most kids naturally have this, so I don’t want to act as if this was solely unique to me. I had so much fun being in my school theatre, hosting pretend shows at home and being the characters of Star Wars with my neighbours. But it wasn’t until I was around 11 years old that film and acting resonated with me for a larger reason than just being the centre of attention. I stumbled across Audrey Hepburn’s ‘Roman Holiday’, and felt inexplicably connected to this woman, despite never having been in love, much less experiencing the bittersweet sacrifice of love over duty that Hepburn’s character goes through. Yet something in this performance – released almost 60 years prior to me watching it that day – made me cry. The catharsis I felt after seeing this movie shook me. I couldn’t understand why, but I felt seen, understood, and less alone. This without a doubt is the most rewarding aspect of this career for me. I am an entertainer, and so my duty is to captivate my audience and make them feel. I hope to create art which makes someone lose themselves in those hours of entertainment, laugh and cry along, and remember what makes us all human.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m actually only now starting to build my own personal social media presence, so take all this advice with a grain of salt. But I do have a lot of experience with UGC and original content for Instagram and TikTok due to my time as a producer and actor at BuzzFeed and my work for the Movo Photo Group as a social media creator.

My main advice is that you really have to love the content you create. As influencers became all the rage, a lot of people underestimate how time consuming and annoying content creation actually is. A 15 second reel can take a lot of planning and shots let alone a 15 minute YouTube vlog. So whatever your brand or niche is, you should feel like it’s a hobby you enjoy not a chore. Do try to maintain a routine though, without burning yourself out. Even though you’re freelancing, discipline will show your viewers your consistency and effort. Striving for a genuine brand and content will draw audiences and is usually received better.

With this it’s also important to note that different platforms reward particular content. For example, TikTok has a very strict algorithm wherein you’re not really allowed to stray from the brand that worked for you. There’s always exceptions, but you’ll note that if you had multiple food videos blow up and then you switch to a comedic story time video it’ll likely flop. This is because TikTok specifically likes series, which is why when someone hits a specific format that works for them it’ll hit every time. Contrastingly, Instagram is slightly more flexible in the focus of your content, but of course rewards aesthetic visuals. Regardless, you should always strive to have some sense of continuity in your brand so your audience knows why to follow you and what to expect. This doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with the content you want to make, but keep in mind that this might push some people away.

Lastly, I’ll mention the tactic of “soft controversy”. This can be beneficial to get engagement at first, so you can add random or out of place elements to your videos, but if this is done too much you’ll probably start receiving mostly negative engagement that you seem forced or disingenuous. There’s ways to go about using this, but just always remember what you’re trying to achieve from your videos to feel the most fulfilled.

Other than that I say just do it! I’m guilty of this also, but stop thinking you’re going to start next week and seriously just do it. No one is going to judge you, because no one will care enough. And even if there are people being haters and it’s not in your head, are you really going to let random strangers who don’t want the best for you dictate whether you pursue a genuine interest or not? The internet can be hard to navigate, so just stay true to yourself and remember to take breaks and go outside!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @aandreaorta

Image Credits
Alonso Quintero Fregoso Garrett Williams Marcial Perea