We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Luis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

It all began when I turned 20 and joined the Barrow Group Theater School in midtown Manhattan. I studied for about 2-3 years taking all sorts of acting classes. I even learned how to produced through my student showcase at the end of 2015. During my time there I learned the business both on and off the stage, it was an experience I took with me and supported my career till this day. I am very grateful and fortunate for those experiences because I believe that I have learned everything I needed to learn in its divine timing and everything happens when it is suppose to happen. I did want to start acting classes at 18, but it took me awhile to find the perfect acting school to attend and I honestly thought I was running out of time, but taking a step back, reflecting and looking at the bigger picture I think the process was specifically meant for me. Learning both sides of the business were essential in learning the craft because acting taught me how to be confident in front of others and producing taught me how to lead people, understand what it takes to curate a production and ultimately realizing passion is truly the driving force. Obstacles will always stand in the way or pop up in any type of work you do whether its art, corporate, non profit, sales, etc and for me some obstacles were my age, my sexuality, ethnicity, resources, and even sometimes, me. I believe I was my own obstacles most of the time due to self doubt, lack of confidence, comparing myself to others and even trusting in the wrong people during collaborations. However, learning to overcome all of this helped me learn more about myself, who I am as an artist and in my craft as I pushed through all of these obstacles along the way. Learning the craft is a journey not a destination and you have to learn, make mistakes and keep going.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Nick Luis and I am a native New Yorker who grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC. I am a gay and queer, husky, Latinx individual that currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with my partner, Jaime Pineiro and my fierce cat Shadow. I am proud to be a multi hyphenate creative artist; I am an actor, producer, writer and director for both theater and film, I have also modeled and stepped into a creative director role for several fashion photoshoots, I am a published poet, I have done make up for film, costuming for theater and I have a masters degree in Arts Administration from Baruch College. I have also had an opportunity to be a house manager for several Off Broadway shows, an assistant company manager for the musical Suffs, and was an associate producer to the Tony award winning musical Come From Away. My main goal in life is to learn as much as I can, learn how to use these different skills in other areas of my life and to teach others to help support them in anyway possible. I feel as though learning is evolving, helps you help others and as cliche as it may be – knowledge is power. My current agent Vilma Llaguno from DreamTeam Talent agency dropped this gem that changed my whole perspective; ” It is not who you know, but who knows you” which means what you know, the knowledge you bring and who knows you for it brings you to the next level wherever that may be on your path. I thrive on community, connecting with others, supporting other artists and coming together as a society to understand each other, especially through art and storytelling. I believe art is the bridge between people, their cultures and community, it aids in the development of understanding and loving one another so we can be a more progressive society. My motto is “have fun, but get it done” which is something that has worked well for me for many years because you have to have fun with what you are doing. Yes, sometimes it is so stressful getting a project off the ground or trying to get through the end, but being light hearted, pushing through and having fun makes it worth it at the end. I believe my kind persona, who also has clear boundaries, healthy expectations of myself and others and the caring energy I bring everywhere I go is what gives people a reason to want to work with me and sets me apart from everyone else.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to help people through art and storytelling. This happens even til this day, but I remember a fellow artist early on in my career that shared something truly vulnerable with me that really pushed me into a deeper understanding of people and how we each effect each other, for the most part, in beautiful ways. In my early days, I produced and starred in a play where one of the actors, after our weekend run, informed me that by me asking them to participate in the production actually saved them both professionally and personally and that they were extremely grateful for the opportunity and would never forget it this experience with me. Receiving that type of information and honor felt overwhelming at the time because I never thought that is something I had the ability to do and over the course of several years with each passion project I take on in my career I seem to effect and transcend people into their higher selves. I don’t know how I do it or why I have that “magic” to do such things, but I am aware of what it can do for people and to me that is extremely rewarding. Art is a human experience, it is all around us and it is something that can truly change us, but most importantly connect us in ways we never truly know. The ability to help others through art is why I truly love being an artist.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A big part of my story that helped me gained resilience is the 12 years of being homeless. From the age of 14 to 26 I truly never had a home to call home, although the people around me felt like home; friends, families and colleagues, that helped me through this part of my journey. I never had stability or a home to grow up in or a place to feel safe or sometimes a place to even sleep. For many years the couch, air mattress, a closet and even a shelter were places I called home. I lived in so many different places and saw so many different people and experienced so many different things that I matured really fast, but at the same time always kept a smile on my face and good energy within my inner core. I could not let all of this negatively affect who I was and change who I knew I was always meant to be. Please keep in mind that I had many moments throughout this chapter where I wanted to give up, spiral downward and there were many tearful nights. It was of course an unfortunate situation that was placed upon me as a child and I am sure others have had it worse than I did, but if it did not happen in my life I don’t think I would be were I am at today. This really made me become a fighter and a survivor to keep on going because it will get better. It keeps me grounded and humble during each level I rise too and helps me to continue to walk on my journey in a very graceful way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @mr.nickluis
• Facebook: Nick Luis
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/nick-luis-m-a-9a7bb21a3

Image Credits

Nick Luis, Emely Jimenez, Melissa Denize, Anthony Chatmon Photography and Margherita Andreani Photography