We were lucky to catch up with Ellie Araiza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ellie, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

For the most part I am happy as an artist/creative, but I do often struggle with the lack of financial security given income can vary quite drastically from year to year. Though I’m currently very fortunate to make a living as a professional actor, it’s not something I feel I can ever take for granted. The recent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike is the perfect example of the kind of sudden instability one can experience as a professional creative. We can have a steady job for a little while but soon we are back to the drawing board, back to having to prove ourselves and fight for our worth again and again. Even without a strike at hand, writing and acting in Hollywood is a competitive field which is often driven by current trends that change from year to year and so much is out of your control. There can be so much out of your control as a creative. Often just when you get comfortable with what you have to offer, you have to pivot and learn a new way to market yourself. Not to mention, as an on-camera actor, you grow older and the types of roles you’re right for keep changing. Certainly, growing older opens new doors, but it also closes old ones just when you’d gotten comfortable. It’s like you’ve been selling a product for five years and now you have to pivot and sell an entirely different one. A creative career definitly keeps you high on your toes, constantly having to adapt and refine your skills and it demands a lot of you psychologically and emotionally, not just in order to do your job well, but also to survive the logistics of it.

Because of how challenging my career is, I’ve rather come to terms with the reality that just about every three months I will have an emotional breakdown and question my decision to pursue a career in the arts. In these moments, I do fantasize about having a “regular” job and wonder what it would be like to have a steady paycheck. But truth be told, I’ve come to accept that these “doubting” phases just come with the territory of my profession. When you choose a path that mostly unfolds in the dark, it’s only natural to wonder what it’s like to choose a path that gives you more visibility. No doubt that there are lot of pros to that kind of lifestyle. But then I often come back to the pros of my lifestyle. I feel very much in ownership of my own time and energy, very much like my own boss. Though of course I’m somewhat dependent on auditions and on production companies to hire me, I’ve also always been working on my own art and projects, which has provided me with a sense of empowerment and helped strengthen my point of view as an artist.

I also think that the skills you learn as a freelancer can serve you really well in life. You learn to deal with uncertainty and fear head on, and since life is full of change and insecurity, often you’re better prepared to handle it. People with regular jobs just have the luxury of illusion (a luxury I’ve often envied) but we, the artists, look truth square in the eye. And the truth is nobody has it all, and everything you have today could be gone tomorrow. I’d rather spend my time being true to who I am, that’s where what I contribute can be of most value. As artists we study humanity and relationships and we hold up a mirror for others to see both the ugly and the beautiful. Art can help us understand ourselves better, and I believe that we all need it.

At the end of the day, I always try to remind myself that pursuing art is a privilege. Having grown up in a third world country, I’ve seen first-hand that most people in the world have to struggle just to get their next meal or even a glass of water. If I just have to struggle for my next acting job, or to complete the next chapter in my book, I have it really good.

Ellie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I came to Los Angeles wide-eyed and full of dreams when I was just out of high school. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to work behind or in front of the camera, but I knew I loved movies and I just had to be a part of making them. As I stumbled my way through Hollywood and started taking acting classes, my parents words kept ringing in my ears. As early as I can remember they always called me “an actress at heart”. Soon enough my active imagination and ability to wear my emotions on my sleeve had me booking roles in short and feature films and I began to build my career as a professional actress.

I am especially lucky to be fully bilingual, given I was born and raised in Mexico with an American Mom, so I learned both Spanish and English at the same time. This skill proved to be incredibly helpful in the Commercial and Voiceover worlds, where I’ve had the pleasure to be represented by two of the top agencies in town, Coast To Coast and SBV Talent. A few years into hitting the pavement I also landed a recurring role on the FX show “The Bridge” and on the Marvel/FX show “Legion”. Most recently I worked on the Blumhouse film “Night Swim” directed by Bryce McGuire and starring Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon premiering in 2024.

Throughout my time working as an actress, I haven’t been able to let go of my “behind the scenes” dreams. I’ve written several screenplays and TV shows as well as dozens of songs and a one-woman show. I’m currently finishing a confessional book about my struggles finding love, which is what my one woman show was about.

I think no matter where life leads me, I will always be a creative at heart. I will always have the drive to share stories, to connect with others, and hopefully to inspire others to feel more deeply and not to fear strong emotions. For that is the gift art has given me.

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

For me, it’s the unexpected. It’s ironic really, because my initial attraction to being a creative was precisely the sense of control I had over crafting something. Whether creating a song, a performance or a story, I liked the sense of ownership over my voice and my imprint on the world. I liked the feeling of contributing something “I” made. However, 20 years into my professional creative journey, I now find that the most rewarding part of being an artist happens precisely in the moments when I surprise myself, when I release my grip and let things flow. I’ve discovered there is a kind of magic that happens in the “I don’t know” phase of creation. It’s a very uncomfortable place to be and, if I’m honest, I resist it with all my might. But given acting is my chosen profession, sooner or later it’s inevitable that I have to be vulnerable and face the unknown. When I am able to let go (or more often when I have no choice but to) I find I am much more present. During the creative process, when you allow yourself to navigate in darkness and just keep moving through, there is a kind of collaboration that happens with a creative energy that is much bigger than you. It’s so hard to trust it, but when you do, you can create things you’d never be able to create on your own by just muscling or trying to “make it happen”.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Perhaps something non-creatives don’t understand about those of us who are artistic, is that at least for me, being a creative is choice-less. It’s not something I endeavored to be and in fact, I’ve always struggled with being a creative. I very much suffer from the “resistance” that Steven Pressfield talks about in his book “The War Of Art”, and I often try to fight of my own creativity as I crave a sense of control and certainty. Believe me, if I could have severed the artistic part of me, I would have. I think I’d live a more peaceful and secure existence as an accountant or a banker. And if it were purely up to my logical side I would have had a more reasonable career with greater chances of success. But at the end of the day being creative, it’s just part of who I am whether I like it or not. I NEED to be creative. Like an athlete needs to move or like a mathematician needs to calculate. My artist brain is like a curious monkey that I have to let out of its cage to play and express and goof around, because if I keep it locked up without an outlet, it will rattle the cage and scream at me all day long. A creative mind needs to create. I always say I’m a nicer person when I’m writing. I’m a big believer in finding healthy ways to channel energy, because otherwise they tend to manifest in very unproductive ways. I find that on the days I give myself that space and time to play and let my imagination fly, I am a much happier person. And on the days that I don’t? Watch out!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elliearaiza.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elliearaiza/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elliearaiza
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliearaiza/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elliearaiza

Image Credits
Joanna Degeneres / Keli Squires Taylor / Marisilda Garcia