We recently connected with Dionna Diane and have shared our conversation below.
Dionna , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I’m naturally dramatic and theatrical, so initially, this wasn’t a taught skill. As a child, I regularly mimicked people. This is how it truly started, and I have always been very good at it. In elementary, I was in numerous plays, but I didn’t start taking acting classes until middle school. I’ve always wanted to be an actor, but I did not think this was something I could pursue because no one around me affirmed it and professional acting seemed like a far-fetched dream of the sorts. When I started taking acting classes in middle school, my love and knowledge for it continued to evolve and I began to understand it was a lot deeper than mimicking people. Knowing what I know now, reading acting books and taking classes from a young age would have drastically sped up my learning process.
When I realized I wanted to act as a kid, which was after my first play in the second grade, I should have ran to the library to get acting books and enrolled in classes at the tender age of seven years old. Thats’s when I should have done it! I should have started reading up on my craft then, but let’s be realistic. What seven year old is really going to start reading “The Mind of the Actor”, or any Lee Strasberg books, or anything by Stanislavski? Being exposed to these ideas at a young age would have definitely helped.
I have a general skill of being able to hyper-focus on things, which is actually extremely useful and essential when practicing my craft. A useful part of hyper-focusing is being able to study people. This means I’m able to hone in on their mannerisms, the way they speak, their accents, and the most minute details that make a person who they are. I develop this intense fixation on people in which I can channel to embodying the character I need to become. Also my ability to mimic and emulate people aids me in unlocking new levels in honing my craft.
The biggest obstacle that stood in the way of me learning more was myself. Younger me did not believe that I could do this because acting seemed like a crazy, wild dream and my inability to ask for help was also detrimental to my growth. I’m the eldest child and never asked my mom for much, so me studying so young would require me to ask my mom. Even though she is 100% supportive and would grant me the desires of my heart, I just didn’t like asking her for anything. She had other children to worry about, so I just sat there and watched Disney Channel and hoped I could be “That’s So Raven”.
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 Dionna Diane, and I am a honorary thespian. I began acting with my first play in the second grade. Acting is stitched into every fiber of my being. From job interviews to auditions, I take on a role to help me accomplish very regular or mundane tasks. I don’t favor a particular genre, however, there was a point in time where I preferred drama as my life became very serious, and I thought that’s all I could do. Now that I have progressed through that stage of my life, I have no preference and am open to a range of genres. I really enjoy action, thrillers, and still love doing melodramas. I’m also into comedy, but it depends on the script…I’m not about to be screaming “aaaaaoooo” or other catch phrases for the script. I need it to be natural and organic, like the comedic tone from Insecure. What sets me apart from others is I really enjoy the craft of acting. I’m sure other actors may have a similar outlook, but I do not look at acting as “Oh, I’m going to be this super big star!”. All of that is nice, but I see acting as a spiritual experience. The process of stepping into the shoes of someone else, channeling their energy, and moving as they would, captivates me. I find key pieces and aspects of that character that connects to my own personality, and fixate on those aspects to fully embody a character. I remove everything else about me and only focus on those similarities to become this new being. It’s definitely a spiritual experience for me.
I’m most proud of my ability to be resilient and persist. With the constant rejection you experience as an actor, I no longer let it occupy space in my mind. In the beginning of my career, it would effect me, but now, I’ll do an audition and forget that I did it the next day. It’s important for me to operate in that way to avoid the mental toll associated with the rejection. You have to remove and not attach yourself to certain things to maintain your peace. I’m also really proud of my role as the live action Odina, who is a superhero in the Konkrete Comics Universe. Also very proud and feeling accomplished with getting my first SAG role this year!
I want people to know that as far as my work is concerned, I take the craft seriously, but me as an individual, I am very unserious. I think I come off as austere, but I’m not. I’m a joke-sta!! I enjoy being witty and goofy and I’m not limited to acting. I direct, act, and write, but I still don’t take life too seriously. I can find the joke in everything and I love to laugh.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
As a kid, I wish I knew about summer programs and acting classes geared towards children and youth that revolved around theater and acting. I really wish I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and it was an attainable career choice. I’m sure that my mom would have had no problem putting me into those programs if I had known and expressed my dying interest to her. I also wish I knew more about theatrical literature as a youth because I was unaware that people were even writing books on acting, techniques, theories, and skills. I just wish I was exposed to more.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I started doing music video and song reviews on YouTube when I was in college, and that garnered a pretty good response and following. It was then when I realized YouTube required a lot of energy from me— I had to get ready to look presentable, map out content to discuss, sit down for the actual recording and have high energy, and edit my videos— especially because I’m a perfectionist. Because of that, I was on and off YouTube, until a few years ago when I returned. I was still doing reviews and reactions, but the inner child in me wanted to review the Queen of Rap, Nicki Minaj. I always got great feedback and a lot reviews for my Nicki Minaj reaction videos, and people gravitated towards that content. What they didn’t know is that I have been a super fan since I was 11 or 12 and used to get in trouble for listening to her at that age, but reviewing her content is how I gained a following on YouTube. As of recent, I had a feeling that people were not listening to Nicki Minaj’s lyrics as deeply as they should be. She would rap a bar full of double, triple, or even quadruple entendres, and I knew it was going over their heads. Nothing she says is ever one dimensional and is usually full of literary components that I know people were overlooking, so I had to step in. I was triggered when someone told me she couldn’t rap and she wasn’t that good, so I hopped on TikTok, which is satire by the way (I don’t even wear glasses) and started doing video breakdowns of Nicki’s verses. As soon as I started those, my TikTok exploded to what we see today! My advice to anyone seeking to build their social media presence is to do what you’re interested in. Don’t feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing because they’re getting views and attention. Do what you would like and what’s fun for you. In Frank Ocean’s iconic “Be Yourself”, we hear “Be yourself and know that that is good enough” because I had no intention of these videos blowing up the way they did when I made them. I literally made them to be a smart aleck in response to someone saying Nicki Minaj is not a good rapper. Regardless, this is me in real life. I break down her lyrics and I’m very unserious. I do not wear glasses, I don’t talk like a newscaster, I’m just being an actor in the midst of my lyric breakdowns and I am myself at the core! Do what you enjoy, have fun, and go in with no expectations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10215687/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dionnadiane/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dionnadiane
- Youtube: m.youtube.com/c/dionnadiane
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dionnadiane?lang=en
Image Credits
Jonathan Armour Ryan Stewart Onaji Rouse