We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Idalina Leandro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Idalina below.

Idalina , appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I was younger around 4 or 5, I wanted to be a singer! I would sing for my friends with my eyes closed because I was to shy to look at them.

My sister was 3 years older than me and wanted to be an actor and I followed her in that. I just wasn’t ready at that time. I had no confidence in myself. But I knew I always wanted to be in front of the camera.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A real interest in acting started in high school. I attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in grade 9 and majored n Drama and Musical Theatre. I had to leave because I lived too far and the commute to school was hard for me. Drama was the class I always did well in during those years but when I left High School , I started to take a hobby of mine to the next level, which was photography.

I always had a camera with me and decided to be a fashion photographer and that took me to Europe, London UK at first then, Paris. I put my acting aside and I spent a few years working as a photographers assistant for some of the top fashion photographers but my passion and love for film and acting was really what I wanted to do.

I met an American director there and he offered to let me direct his students in his acting studio, Film Acting Paris, but I ended up acting with them and people wanted me to be in her films. I then got an agent and started doing TV and film. After a year, I decided to go back to London where I studied with The Impulse Company and also had an agent and started doing commercials and short films.

I created my own production company and started making short films. I met my husband, who was the director of my films and we moved to Portugal. There I started directing a documentary about Female graffiti artists and became pregnant so my acting was once again out on hold.

We moved back to Toronto in 2011 and I continued production of my documentary, All She Wrote Anthology, and after 8 years stared acting again here in Toronto while also producing and directing another documentary called, An Open Conversation about pregnancy loss.

During the pandemic lockdowns I had to shut down production of my AOC and I started creating in different ways. I started exhibiting my photos on a vintage slide projector at a local gallery. The need for more content inspired a whole new art form and my passion for projection art was born.

Since then, my projection art has been necognized and my first show, Angular Translucence, was selected by BigArtTO to be exhibited in Toronto in November 2020 and a piece from my Entangled series was chosen for the virtual AGO- Portraits of resilience in 2021 and for the in gallery exhibit in 2022.

Most recently, my works from my Entangled collections were on exhibit in several galleries in Toronto throughout 2023.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me the most rewarding part of being an artist and creative is being able to let myself delve into a character or film and make it my own. Sometimes, it doesn’t always work out the way you plan it but just the whole process of being able to create is vital to me. I really need to love what I am doing and If people like what I do, it’s a bonus.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There is a particular book that I read over from time to time and its The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. It teaches you about the effects of how little daily actions can get you where you want to be.

The perfect quote from the book would be this:

‘Your philosophy creates your attitudes, which create your actions, which create your results, which create your life.’

Everyday I set aside a time to dedicate to things I want to improve in my life. Step by step. Little by little, it will come. Things don’t happen over night, but they also don’t happen if you don’t do anything about it. You are the creator of your life! Start creating!

Contact Info:

• Website: afilmcompany.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamidalinaleandro
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/idalina.leandropifaro
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/idalina-leandro-33706410

Image Credits
Headshots: Lindsay Macdonald and Hayley Andoff BTS: Adam Hornby and Howard Wan