Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rodney Roldan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rodney, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Since I was a child, I always had an interest in the creative field not even knowing what the field consisted of. I think all children have a level of creativity in them that coincides with their environment. At times, depending on our upbringing we tend to either strive to be one with that natural creativity or steer away from it. For most of my late teens and early twenties I wasn’t too heavily involved in the arts. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I decided pursue acting and filmmaking, something I knew inside of me was there and ready to come out.

Rodney, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born and raised in New York, NY. After high school, I joined the U.S. Navy where I served as an Electricians Mate on several sea going commands as well as shore duty for special detachments for ten years, rising to the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class. My service in the U.S Navy included two sea service deployments in the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas, and humanitarian operations in Ukraine and the Black Sea. After serving ten years active duty in the U.S. Navy, I joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Los Angeles, CA while pursuing a career in performing arts, which I began around 2004. I attended Defense Information School at Ft Meade, MD where I became a U.S. Army Broadcast Journalist and deployed to Afghanistan, as a field reporter for American Forces Network (AFN) Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. With regards to performing arts, I am currently a member of both professional acting unions; Screen Actors Guild-American Federation for Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors Equity Association (AEA). My education includes a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Communication and Web Media Design from the University of Maryland Global Campus, a Certificate of Completion of Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s 2 Year Conservatory Program in Performing Arts and am currently working on my PhD in Communications from Liberty University.

In 2015 I began working on a World War II documentary project, which sparked my interest in writing, narrating, and directing documentaries. Since then, I worked on several projects to include most recently, ‘Country and Courage, which is a feature-length documentary that looks at the history of Veteran’s Day, the experiences of U.S. Army veterans, veteran programs, and the works of William Shakespeare in relation to the mindset and trauma experienced by soldiers. I really enjoyed working on this project in that it not only opened me up to the issues around PTSD that many experience, but also made me realize that I myself also experienced some of the same trauma symptoms.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being an artist or someone in the creative field, there are several lessons that I have learned along the way that I feel are rewarding when it comes to my own personal growth. Some of those lessons include, never letting anyone place your creativity in a box, understanding that there will be a lot of sacrifice in this career field, such as financial, time with family and friends, and work commitments, and if you are going to produce your own work, have patience and take the time to live in each moment of the process. These are changing times in our society and the answer to a lot of the problems in society come from what we show our audiences through art. Art cannot exist without creativity having free rein.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Regarding my creative journey, I think there are several goals that are guiding me along the way. One involves producing and directing a documentary in relation to Veganism and the benefits of this lifestyle in helping society move away from the maltreatment of animals as well as the benefits to the natural environment. There are many different types of foods that are eaten around the world. When one sits and consumes food, very rarely in those moments are we told where, how, what it costs, and how other aspects of society were affected to get that item in our hands or on our plate. No foods are off limits to us, but it is up to us to put reasonable limits on the types of foods we eat, with taking into consideration other factors that are being affected. This is where Veganism and the approach taken to educate portions of the population about Veganism by way of a feature documentary comes in.

The project itself would be to not only visually represent what Veganism is, but also breakdown the issues with the maltreatment of animals, overproduction of livestock to feed the population, and how such actions affect the environment to include deforestation, the distinction of other species, and production of gases that affect the global climate. A portion of the documentary would also briefly look into the health benefits of a plant-based diet, although this would not be the primary focus as Veganism is more than a dietary change for personal reasons. It’s not just a lifestyle choice or an identity, but a form of activism toward social and political change
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Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.facebook.com/RodneyRoldanSAGAFTRA/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodneymroldan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodney.roldan.5
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodney-roldan-5900831a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MANUEL1977ist
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1956452/ Country and Courage Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/countryandcouragefilm

Image Credits
Main Photo – Veterans Administration Photoshoot Communicator Award of Distinction – Communicator Awards Silver Telly Award – Telly Awards Fatal Attraction TV Show Screenshots – TV One Endless Film Screenshot – Mary Coelho