We were lucky to catch up with Paula Imana recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Paula thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was little I always felt a huge love and connection with art. I would perform for my family everytime there was a birthday, holiday or any celebration. But sometimes I didn’t need a reason to perform for them. I would just put a song and start dancing and singing. They were my first and most supportive audience and I was the happiest girl for being in front of them performing. My love for performing arts has always been there and it will always be. But there’s a specific moment in my life when I realized that something big and crazy was going on and I needed to do something about it. I’ve always been a massive fan of Harry Potter. I remember myself watching the first movie, for a million time, at home. And instead of sitting and watching the movie as any person would do it, I was standing up in front of the TV imagining that I was part of that magic world. Sometimes I would say the lines of the characters, which I knew very well, or I would create a character for myself so I could feel that they were my friends. This is what Harry Potter did to me, it made me fall in love with their magic world and with the fact of imagining myself in it. That’s why, as I said before, something big and crazy was going on, “crazy” because I felt like a crazy girl for having this thoughts and talking to a TV, and “big” because I knew it meant something very special and it was making me so happy. So that’s exactly when my heart felt that my path was going to be acting.

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?

My name is Paula Imana. I’m 28 years old. Born and raised in Lima, Peru. Since I was little I’ve always love the artistic world. I’ve performed for my family at home and in different events during my school years. I’m an eternal dreamer and this is what keeps me moving forward and fighting for what I love. I spent so many years of my life saying that I was going to be an actress and live in NYC, the city that I would see in every movie and the one that caught my heart since the first time I visited it. But sometimes you need to do more than just say or wish something, you need to DO something about it, make a decision and fight for it. So it was in 2021, when things were starting to go back to normal after Covid, that I decided to audition for the one year acting program of Leonardo Torres Vilar. He is a very well known actor and director in Peru. During that whole year I learned a lot about the Meisner Technique and read plays from Chejov, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill and Henrik Ibsen. But the most wonderful thing that happened to me was knowing that Leonardo was an alumni of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC. That big dream that I always talked about was feeling closer to me now. It was the moment to make that dream come true. So I got together with a friend that I met in my acting class and we both started our application. After several months we auditioned, got accepted and in September 1st of 2022 we were off to NYC.

Now here we are, graduated as an actress after two years of Conservatory Program in The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, full of excitement and passion for what is coming next. Even though I’m happy to work in any medium: film, tv and theater, my heart has a special spot for film. My love for movies is what brought me here today. Movies changed my life, taught me so many things that school never did and they became my best friends in moments of escape. I want to make audiences feel all that, give them wonderful stories that can make their day better after leaving the theater or turning off the tv. And if I can inspire them to fight for their dreams and to believe that no matter where you come from you can do anything if you work for it, then I would know that everything I did was worth it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the biggest reward of being an actress is doing what I love, what fills my heart and allows me to understand human behavior in so many different ways. While also entertaining, making people happy and allowing them to feel. As an audience member, my relationship with what is happening inside the screen or on the stage is so special. It’s the moment when I take a break from my own reality and immerse myself in a new one, feeling more human than ever. As an actress I have the opportunity to explore so many behaviors and emotions that I never thought I could. Being able to share them with the audience, walking together through the story and, once it is over, going home with a new learning about society or yourself is definitely what makes everything so worth it.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I always get inspiration from watching interviews of actors that I admire, listening to their journey and the struggles they need to face to be where they are now. Something that always impacts me is seeing how actors are also producers of their own projects, allowing them to fight for the stories they want to tell and be involved in every part of the process. At this moment, I’m starting a production company with 3 friends that graduated with me from AADA. Our love for the craft and our trust in each other made us get together to start this beautiful project. We write, record, perform and edit our own stories, then we share it in our social media and start getting visibility. What a better way to start your journey in this industry than by making your own path. There is no need to wait for things to happen, when you are the one that can make it happen. You just need to believe, surround yourself with passionate and hard working people and be willing to learn from everything that life puts you in the way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauimana/?hl=es-la
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paula.imana
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-ima%C3%B1a-408a281b7/