We were lucky to catch up with Emely De Paiva recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emely, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I used to wish I had started my creative career sooner. But the fact is, that I didn’t and that is perfectly fine. I wouldn’t be who I am had I taken a different route. I wouldn’t have all the experiences that I can draw from as an actor. In my “previous” life I worked as an Interior Designer and Project Manager. Interior Design is a creative profession in an itself and it helps me today when creating set pieces and doing scenic design, while having experience as a Project Manager prooved very helpful when producing a play.

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 act. sometimes I produce, write and direct.

I have always been creative, when I was younger my form of expression was painting, something that I still revisit. Later I worked as an Interior Designer, designing homes and bringing other peoples dreams to live. Then I became a project manager and designed the headquarters of a major Swiss recycling company – melting my organizational and creative skills together.

I then left it all behind and moved to New York City, after waiting out the hights of the pandemic, and started my studies at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Being an actor had been my earliest dream job as a child and I kept pushing it out of my thoughts and further into the future but I knew that I had to bring up the courage to put it all on one plate and just do it. So I left Switzerland, where I grew up, and moved to New York.

During my time at the Institue I met some wonderful, talented, dedicated and creative people with whom I still work. In 2022 Rohith Guttamidhi, Ermete de Boni and I founded our own theater company *The Chekhovians*.
Our first endeavour was *An Afternoon with Anton*, which premiered last December at The Players Theater in the West Village. It was an Afternoon with two of Chekhov’s short farces, *The Anniversary* and *Swan Song*.
Getting great feedback from our audience we decided to take the show on the road and in January 2023 we presented the show as *La Festa Del Cigno* in an almost sold out house in Chiavenna, IT, at the Societa Operaia, earning standing ovations.

This February I shot *In the Still of the Night*, which I wrote and directed. It’s the story of a woman who gets driven to the edge by nightly disturbances by her upstairs neighbor. This suspense thriller is a story I worked on for a while drawing inspiration from real life. In March it won *Best Short Thriller* at the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards in New York City.

I have acted in multiple short films these past two years. I want to highlight some of them.

I took on a supporting role in *The Porn Radio Show*, a hilarious mockumentary about a fictional radio station dedicated to porn. The creator of this film is Italian director Vincenzo de Sio and he has won multiple awards for this mockumentary.

Another supporting role I had the pleasure to bring to life was the one of Ellie in *One Last Sunrise* by Rohith Guttamidhi. The sun rises over New York as the lifes of a hitman, his victim and a woman seeking revenge collide when they all meet on a rooftop. This experimental short film has won multiple awards worldwide, on of them being Best Supporting Actress from the Durban International Short Film Festival.

Right now I am writing a one woman play and I am also working on the next production of *The Chekhovians*, which we will present to the world early September.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is to bring an idea, a vision to life. It is such a wonderful, fulfilling feeling, when you see something that started as a spark grow into a full production of a show or when you edit a film and it takes form and comes to life.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I hope to get to a point where I can share untold stories of people who might not be heard otherwise to a wide audience.

I also want to share the stories of the people who have shaped me, people who have inspired me and who guided me to be the person I am today. There are so many people whose shoulders I stand on and I want to share their stories and show their struggles and resilience. I hope to one day be able to pay them tribute in my art.

A story that I would like to share at this point: a while ago I helped an elderly lady carry her groceries and we started talking about what brought me to New York. When I told her I was here to be an actor she said this: *Never compromise your integrity*. Something to remember. Especially as an actor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emelydepaiva.wixsite.com/emely
• Instagram: emelydepaiva
• Other: The Chekhovians instagram: @thechekhovians

Image Credits
Rohith Guttamidhi – Emely Willisch – Molly Misek