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

Rhea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When it comes to acting, I cannot stress enough the importance of training. I feel as if when people get too reliant on “natural ability” and don’t work that “muscle” that is their talent, you’re not putting yourself in the best position for success. You need to have craft especially to survive in environments where talent is essentially everywhere you look. You simply cannot “coast” and think you’re honestly going to have a career by being casual about your craft and business. I started my training in high school, I was lucky enough to have found what I wanted to do as a career path early in my youth but didn’t have the confidence to pursue it professionally until my early 20’s.

I don’t regret any of my timing because every year brought me more and more value, but if I could have sped up the process would be to have moved to LA sooner. Just so I could have learned the business side quicker than back in my much smaller market hometown.

Skills I think were most essential have to be would be listening, memorization, and willing to have resilience when rejection comes your way.

Obstacles that stood in my way, specifically would have to be personal issues I finally worked through in therapy. As artists we’re constantly our biggest critic and being able to wake up everyday and choose to even just like who are you are and stop the endless comparison is what hindered me from learning. I’m much better in that area of my life – thank god!

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.

Happy to elaborate more on my journey! I’m Rhea, I grew up in Seattle, WA and moved to Los Angeles May 2019 and haven’t looked back. The acting scene in Seattle is lovely and I love the theatre community there, as well as the tight knit film and TV productions but it didn’t give me what I found more so in LA. I needed the community that knew themselves well enough to be able to pursue this so deeply unapologetically and didn’t care about the external validation and whether they were going to become a household name or what have you.

I got lucky to be surrounded by teachers however back in hometown who always believed in me. I’m eternally grateful for their support and unwavering acknowledgment that I could have a shot at this career path. I’m very determined to not disappoint them.

My work as an actor is always in training and I’m always in pursuit of being the best at my craft and now I can finally say I don’t feel insecure about wanting to be at the top level. You should want that. You should want to be your best self at what you love to do, otherwise there’s a million other people who are happy to take your spot. I’d say don’t ever take any opportunity that comes your way for granted.

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

As an actor, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to help people accept certain truths. I love working on dramatic material mostly and being able to move people and allow them to feel and not be so guarded in a world that tells you to not feel your emotions is something I can’t express enough through words. We don’t go to the theatre to see “so and so” we go to the theatre to see ourselves. It’s a privilege to be an actor and I only want to be the best at what I do and show society what it means to be a fully authentic, living human being.

I love being an actor, I can’t imagine a world where this is not what I’m supposed to do.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

A time during my life when I had to pivot would be leaving behind a personal relationship that I thought would actually work out one day. This one particular life experience led me to acquire professional help and I started seeing a therapist and they helped me see a way out of this depression I was experiencing. I learned a lot about myself, what I had been conditioned through since childhood and having to unlearn a lot of negative aspects about myself. I’m extremely glad to have gotten on the other side of some pretty dark times but I’m just glad I was able to recognize the problem and not let it fester and prevent me from realizing my true potential.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Rhea.Tollefson

Image Credits

Brian Brown