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

Arye , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’ve taken three big risks in my life, two that I was conscious about and one, well I was 11 so I don’t think I understood how big of a risk it was. First one was when I moved to the USA from Brazil where I am originally from at the age of 11 and a half. At the time I think it just felt like a fun trip, I don’t think I understood how BIG of a risk my mom was taking leaving my dad and brothers behind and jumping feet first into this journey- that originally was supposed to be one year only. We barely spoke English… well she did way more than I did. I only knew a few phrases. We didn’t know anyone here, we just came. No plan. To Florida, because that’s what we knew, and somehow she managed to find a house, get a job, enroll me in school and build a life from scratch. Second risk was when I moved from FL to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Again, much like my mom, it was an idea that came out of no where, and I just jumped. Didn’t know anyone in LA, just got on a plane and figured it out when I got here. And don’t get me wrong, it was NOT easy…but that’s another story. And lastly, was when I decided to quit my stable job as a financial advisor to pursue acting full time. Going from making a very cushy 6 figure salary to making… well let’s be real… very little…. was not easy. But being able to wake up every day and fully pursue what I’ve been doing since I was 4 years old made it all priceless. The bottom line is, taking risks isn’t easy, and there are many horror stories on all of these events, but at the end of the day it was all worth it. I truly believe in life you have to jump and trust that the net will appear.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started acting when I was 4 years old back in my home in Brazil. By the time I was 8-9yrs old, I was in a very famous show in Brazil but sadly because of it I started to get bullied a lot. So when I was 11yrs, my mom- who had always wanted to live in the USA- decided it was time for us to move. Once I was in the US, and after a few years that I needed to learn English, I started to get into Musical Theater where I stayed in for several years before moving to LA to go back to TV/Film. Since getting back to TV/Film I have done over 45 projects including roles in TV shows like “Workaholics”, “LA’s Finest” and “Family Time”, lead in films like “Garage Sale Killer” and “My Husbands Ex”, and most recently series regular roles on two Sony limited series: The first “Passport to Freedom” which is now streaming on Amazon and the second “Rio Connection”, which is currently available internationally and will be coming soon to the USA.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey is driven by my passion for story telling and desire to have it affect people’s lives the way it affected mine. I am sure I am not alone when I say that film and TV has helped me thru many dark periods of my life. I truly believe that is the power of art and story telling. And there’s nothing more beautiful then being able to positively change someone’s day/week/month after having watched a project I did. Stories can also help people feel seen and know that they are not alone in whatever struggles they are going thru. So that’s why I do what I do, in a continuous hope to make people laugh, and/or cry, but either way to help them know that things do get better and that they are not alone.

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

When I first moved to Los Angeles from FL, besides not knowing anyone, I also had some major financial struggles in the beginning. I mean LA living is NOT cheap! It took me a while to find my footing that first year, but what made it more difficult is getting dumped by my then boyfriend and losing my father all within a few weeks. Oh and a week before Xmas. Yeah, 2007 was not an easy year for me. Moving to LA started fun and adventurous, but the reality of the struggle of pursuing my dream caught up with me real quick. Loosing my dad was sudden and unexpected and the worst part is I didn’t have the money to fly home to Brasil to go to his funeral. So I never got to say goodbye to him, and that was very tough and it threw my life on a swirl for the next few years. Luckily I eventually found my footing again. As cheesy as that saying is, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, it is very true and that year taught me a lot of things, but most of all, it taught me how tough I am and that I can make it thru almost anything.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aryecampos.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/aryecampos
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/aryecampos
• Other: imdb.me/aryecampos

Image Credits
4 Headshots- Matt Kallish