We recently connected with Christian Cruz and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christian 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?

My senior year of high school. It was at that time where I really needed to start thinking about what I wanted to do career wise after graduating. At this point I still didn’t know what I wanted to do but I remember being at home watching Iron Man, I can’t remember which one exactly, but seeing RDJ on screen I was thinking to myself how cool and fun it would be to be doing what you love at the highest level, full time and having so much fun doing what you do? That curiosity definitely sparked the idea of trying acting for the first time, which was also bizarre to think about for myself because I have always been extremely quiet all throughout school. So I called up my friend who was a part of the schools “Acting Ensemble” and he suggested to me to take the Acting Techniques class. I went to my school counselor and asked to switch electives for Acting Techniques. On the first day of that class, our teacher emphasized that this environment is and will be a very safe place to be yourself and free of judgment. Hearing that was extremely comforting and made me feel happy to be there. I ended up auditioning for the spring play which was gonna be my first and last audition of my time in high school, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. My friend went with and auditioned with me so that made me feel slightly less nervous, but walking into the theater with 30-50 other students was terrifying, the nerves definitely got to me. Right before my audition, The person before me made a choice to make a gesture during his read, and when it was my time to audition I ended up doing that exact same gesture. It was so embarrassing to think about after the fact. I ended up getting a callback, the director had me read one line and I was free to go in under 5 minutes. I thought I did something wrong and was not going go to get it. Later that week my friend who was cast as Atticus called me and told me I got the role of Dill / Charles Baker Harris. I was so happy. Doing that production was one of the best feelings I have ever had throughout my whole time in school. It was a bittersweet feeling working with everybody and the collaboritive and fun aspect of acting were big takeaways for me with the craft as a whole. I believe that moment definitely solidified/reinforced my choice of wanting to become an actor and wanting to pursue this path professionally.

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.

Hi, my name is Christian Cruz,and I am a Filipino-American actor. I started acting when I was in my senior year of high school (2014). I continued training going into my first year of community college. I wasn’t a big fan of the class, and questioned my love/passion for acting. I took a break, started working full time. But all throughout this time, there wasn’t a single day where I did not think about the idea of pursuing it to the point where I started having feelings of what if I don’t do this. I quit my job in 2019 and went back to school. This was the moment where I started to take acting very seriously and wanted to make this a career of mine. I went to Seattle Film Institute for my Bachelor’s in Film and certificate for acting for film. After graduating I signed with an agency and have been auditioning ever since. To this day I continue to put myself in classes where I can absorb as much information and techniques as possible and learn from everybody in class at all levels of the craft. Throughout the years I learned that being comfortable in my acting and being able to be myself apologetically in my work is what I am most proud of, what I bring to the table for future clients/productions, and what sets me apart from the others in this industry. We are told time and time again to take risks, and I think the “risk” people talk about is to be your whole self within the audition process and the role itself. There are so many people in this world and there is only one of you. The way you interpret a script is going to be something completely different from the next person. So please use that individuality and commit to it! Be you.

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

Putting my best work out into the world, we train and train and train just to get the opportunity to audition. To show casting directors what we can do, and then we may even be able to do that once we’re on a project. But to put good work out into the world that has an impact on people and have them feel a certain way about the art itself is such a good feeling, and it’s also the same reason I got into this, that same feeling when I watch something that has a big mpact on me I would want others to feel and get inspiration from as well.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

A lot of non creatives tend to use the phrase “overnight success” and I think what people don’t understand or fail to notice is how much work that person who achieved “overnight success” has put into their craft and how much they put themselves out there. Everyone only sees the end product, but never the journey, the process, it all takes to get to where we are at or where we want to be. As an actor the saying is true that around 99% of the things we audition for we do not book. In this industry it’s a marathon not a race, continue to put yourself out there and you will soon see the fruits of your labors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.christiancruzvo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiancruzvo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianacruz/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristianCruzVO