We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Angel Rosario Jr. . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Angel below.
Alright, Angel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
As a kid, I was a big fan of professional wrestling. The WWE (then know as the World Wrestling Federation) was my escape from the real world, and I loved every minute of it. I saw how people gravitated toward the stars on TV, and saw the emotions that came out of the audience when their favorites won or lost, or just by their music hitting. I wanted to do that. So in 2012, I began training at Chicago Style Wrestling under the tutelage of Steve Boz, Doug Simmons, and Willie “The Bomb” Richardson. I had my first wrestling match 6 months in, and I was more hooked to performing in the ring than ever before. It felt AMAZING! However, at $20 a match the majority of the time, or sometimes for free, or maybe a little more, depending on the promoter, it wasn’t a living. So I started to work at a costume shop in Chicago to make ends meet. There, I had multiple customers come in and ask me if I was an actor. I would reply no every time, and every time, they would tell me to try it because I “look like The Rock.” I, then, decided to try it, and applied to be a background actor/extra on Chicago Fire. After that, the proverbial “acting bug” bit, and the rest is history. I wanted to do that FULL TIME. There no feeling like being in set. Seeing everything that goes on into making our favorites shoes or films…it’s magic.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a kid born and raised in Chicago, from Humboldt Park/Logan Square neighborhoods. I was born to Puerto Rican parents, who taught me faith and love at an earlier age, albeit under the Pentecostal doctrine. Yep! I’m a church boy! From my birth to age 20, I was in church 5 times a day, sometimes twice on Sunday. That was my life!
I had a pretty “normal” childhood, though it was a tough one. I was diagnosed with Alopecia at age 1, and was totally bald at age 4. You can imagine the bullying!
As an actor, my message is to show the world of Hollywood that I belong, and others like me, too. To get past “specific”, which is obvious, and let me/us tell the stories all the other performers do. It’s isn’t impossible to knock down barriers if you have the right tools to do so, and with my ambition and talent, I want to break said barriers, paving a way for others like me to do the same after I am gone.
I’m most proud of everything I’ve done. Cobra Kai, Power Book IV: Force, Law and Order: SVU, Mayans, Black Adam, etc. that’s just a resume, and I’m of course proud of everything I’ve been in. But mostly, it’s being able to tell stories, and to be an inspiration.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
For me, it’s memorization of lines, and having to be PERFECT in auditions and reads, as well as “playing the role.”
With Mornell Studious out of Atlanta, and Vagabond School of the Arts in Chicago, I was given the skills to be more confident in being ME in the audition. I am now able to show them who I am as opposed to playing the character. “Who is Angel?” That’s my question every time. Not to mention, being able to give them MY takes on the roles, trying to be different while still being what they are looking for. The Mornell Studios’ sandbox, if you will.
Additionally, learning the scripts and lines as opposed to being 100% memorized. If you are present, knowing what going on, and being you in all of your choices, you will be amazing. It’s a practice I use to this day.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
A fellow actor friend of mine, Tony Robinette, once described me as “never taking no for an answer.” When it comes to doing what I love, I can’t. Don’t get me wrong…there have plenty of times I’ve wanted to quit, tears and all. However, every time I’ve wanted to quit, I remember what I offer, what I can do, and why I started this in the first place! In the past, I’ve never finished anything I started out of fear for failure…now, though it stings heavily, I can’t wait to fail. Why? Because there’s always something to work on. If it isn’t this one, it’s the next one. Round and round we go…
This doesn’t end until I’m dead!
Contact Info:
- Website: IMDb.me/AngelRosarioJr
- Instagram: @angeleosariojr
- Twitter: @angedeusrex
Image Credits
Law and Order: SVU/NBC-Universal (looking at fire) Cobra Kai/Netflix (Sitting at a table) Power Book IV: Force/Starz (white shirt with tattoo over brow) Mayans/FX (green button up with white undershirt)