We recently connected with Auriel Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Auriel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

As a child I was heavily involved in the performing arts. Saturday mornings were total chaos. My mom would chauffeur my sister and me around to dance class, piano lessons, and acting class. Her goal was to keep us busy on the weekends but the arts became something that was so engrained in me. My first love was tap dancing. I really excelled in class and it was something that brought me so much joy. I’ll be honest, as I got older my interests changed and my mom wasn’t the type to make us stick with something if we were no longer invested in it. I do sometimes look back and wish that I would’ve really pursued dance but especially tap. I was too young to understand what the future possibilities could be if I fostered that talent. I think also, as you’re getting older, insecurities of all different kinds start to set in. There was a period of time when I dropped all of my creative endeavors. I was transitioning into young adulthood and just trying to figure out myself in general. Something that I did stick with, however, just as an extracurricular, was theater. It was an opportunity to be social and expressive and I really loved it but hadn’t really considered making a career of it until high school.

I went on to attend Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts in Washington DC for theatre. I loved every single part of the craft. Lighting, set design, costuming, but acting was 100% my passion. But again, navigating high school, growing up and just learning who I am overall caused me to not take it as seriously as I should have. I attended college for TV production and enjoyed being behind the camera. Once I moved to California I dabbled in a few other industries before coming to the realization that I was deeply unfulfilled. Once the pandemic hit I started to record myself doing monologues from films and submitting audition tapes and boom- things just kind of took off from there. I’m in such a different space in my life and honestly I feel like I’m right on track. I think, at 31, I have the drive, patience, and discipline to pursue my career seriously and really make an impact. I don’t regret any choices and I think everything happens when it’s supposed to. I’m grateful for all of my experiences and there really isn’t a better time than the present.

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?

My name is Auriel Jones and I am an actor based in California. I wish there was a better term that I could think of, because acting is only a small portion of what I do in this industry, but it is my passion above everything else.

I graduated from the theatre program at Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts in my hometown of Washington DC, earned a BA in Television Production at Columbia College Chicago, and went on to move to California and pursue a career in film.

I’ve done print modeling for brands like Chipotle and Dr. Martens. I think I’m most proud of my Spring 2022 Dr. Martens campaign. That was a huge accomplishment for me. It was my first shoot with a major brand and it felt so surreal to see those pictures on their website and in the stores.

I’m a producer on three films, all of which will be premiering in 2025. I am also direction a short film this year. It is a beautiful coming out story and I think that it will truly resonate with a lot of people.

I love to immerse myself in every part of this industry. I love all of it and knowing as much as I can only makes me a better artist.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One narrative that I really had to work to let go of is that rejection means that I’m not good enough. Rejection is really redirection. There’s always something better coming.

I have sent in hundreds of audition tapes and done dozens of callbacks over the last few years. Although I may not have gotten the roles, the experience has been so good for me. It becomes like second nature to do my very best but have no expectations of the outcome. If I book the role I extremely grateful. If I don’t, I don’t give it a second thought. It really is the nature of the business and I love what I do so much that I really can’t imagine myself doing anything else.

I think having so much experience with rejection, as most actors do, made it 10 times easier for me to endure an experience that I had just this year. In January, I auditioned for a film and was casted as the lead. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to get the role to begin with and I had really forgotten about it until the director reached out to me almost a month later letting me know I got the part. I was so shocked, I actually remember the moment. I was flying back to LA from shooting another project out of state, and the director called me while I was at the airport. I really couldn’t believe it and I’m pretty sure I cried tears of joy. Every step leading up to meeting the rest of the cast I tried to do everything right. I was constantly breaking down my script, I had developed every aspect of my character that I could think of. I was in constant communication with the director sharing ideas and asking questions. Oddly enough, right before the first table read I was informed that one of the other leads had dropped out so I would be reading for their role and someone else would be reading for the role I was original casted for. Now…in this industry, especially the indie space, you have to be flexible. Things come up and things happen. I didn’t make a fuss about it. I was told a day or two before the first table read and I wasn’t going to see the new script until the day of. I just prepared myself to do the best I could with whatever I was given.

Well…not even a week after the first table read, I was told by the director that it was decided that I was being replaced by another actor, I was also told that comedy “wasn’t my lane” which I found surprising to hear since I’ve been studying comedy and improv for the past few years. Once I got the news, I gave myself a week to sulk about it, but I had to empower myself to let it go and keep moving forward. I’m not afraid of criticism and I didn’t take it personally. The opinions of others will never stop me from pursing my passion. I’m getting into an industry where criticism is a huge part of the journey to success. Also, with the rapid growth of social media culture, actors and artists are living in a glass house these days anyway. We’re always going to be subjected to criticism, judgement, all sorts of opinions. You really can’t let it stop you. Nowadays it just rolls off my shoulders.

I have a little mantra that I say to myself after a rejection. I tell myself “okay cool, I wonder what’s coming next because it has to be something better”. Not working on that project freed up my time to work on other things. I got booked as a lead for a horror short that will be going into production before the end of the year. I also connected with another incredible actor and writer, and I hopped onboard as the director of their film.

I’m grateful for these lessons, really. I’ve become more resilient, hopeful and mature as I progress in my career. Rejection is such a huge part of this business. A really amazing actor and filmmaker that I’ve worked with told me once that were are trying to make it in one of the most competitive sports there is, and that’s so true. I think it all comes down to this- how much do you really love it? I LOVE what I do and there’s nothing that can discourage me enough to give it up.

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

In my career I want to give people a voice and share stories that aren’t often told. Thats why I do what I do. Film is such a powerful tool. Through film, you have a platform to speak to the masses. I only want to be using that platform to say something meaningful.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/AurielPastel
• Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm12263838/