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

Alright, Neva thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I am a full time Opera Singer from Florence, Italy. Spring 2022. I am singing in my hometown and I have a fulfilling career, I live close to my family and friends, I am content, but still something is missing and I don’t get what exactly. My grandmother Neva – yes I got my name from her – calls me to tell me we need to sign some papers to sell her childhood home in Los Angeles. As the only “artist” in the family I am the one who can go since I have not a steady job – she says. I laugh over the phone and say – sure, go on, book my tickets. A spark in my heart tells me it’s the right thing to do: to take this opportunity and stay longer to see how I like grandma’s town. She goes ahead, books my tickets and I find myself randomly living in LA for three months. Those three months completely changed my life: I joined a Meisner acting studio in Burbank under the guidance of Maria – who later on became my mentor, coach and one of my closest friend – fell in love with Cali’s mountains, hikes and sunsets and finding the piece which I was missing living in Italy. I was hooked up: I decided I was going to move to Cali. And that’s what I did.

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?

Ciao, I am Neva. I am Italian, born and raised between Rome and Florence. I am from a really creative / artistic family: mom is an architect and interior designer and dad a spaceship engineer. Quite a combo! I have been on stage since I can remember, always attending theatre productions in Florence while my mom was working. The first role I booked it was from a musical called “I have a dream”. I was 8. I have never stopped ever since. I moved forward in joining musical theatre. I use to play the drums and the piano as a kid and sing every possible genre. When I was about 16 I joined a musical company in Florence with whom I started traveling all over Italy and Europe in general with the most iconic musicals (Cats, Hair, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Footloose, etc). At the same time I consider myself a huge reader / writer and creator in general who is in awe with every creative form. I also love sounds and languages, so I decided to get a degree in linguistic in Florence. I moved to Paris and London to study the language and get the closest I could to the sound of the native speaker. I loved to immerse myself into the reality of every language I was studying, like characters. It was just another form of acting. From musical theatre I moved to classical theatre pieces and I started training as an Opera Singer. I studied as a Soprano for 5 years between Florence and Rome. Then life brought me to Los Angeles where I have been studying Opera at USC and now I am attending the TFT Acting for the camera program at UCLA. I am grateful for every step of the way which made me the person I am today. Moreover, I am so curious about what’s next.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson I had to unlearn is that the rule number one of this world is that there are no rules. And I love it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that every day could be a different day where you learn and discover something completely new and unexpected. I would not be able to do anything else.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neva_leoncini/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neva-leoncini-b38147269/
• Other: Imdb pro https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14678378/ Backstage https://www.backstage.com/u/neva-leoncini/