We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rose Rosolino. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rose below.
Alright, Rose thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I’m a trans nonbinary voice artist in Los Angeles, and it’s lovely to meet you. Thanks for your interest in my story!
That story starts in New Jersey, where some of my earliest memories are of me parading about onstage, performing as the villain of many children’s theatre shows. Whether it was as the green and cackling Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz or as the disheveled and cruel Shockheaded Peter in circus productions of the German cautionary tales of the same name, I hit the ground running and thrived playing lovable bastards and unforgivable scumbags alike!
That magic of that delicious evil must have stuck, as I continued with the rest of my life in my craft of finding what ticked in the roles that many other quailed at. The journey led me to study musical theatre and opera as a teenager, commedia dell’arte and masked performance in Italy, stage acting and ancient theatre in undergrad, and, finally, film acting and voiceover in grad school out here in Los Angeles, where I’m still working today!
I’ve since found out that what my talents are best suited for is voice acting, so I’ve rigorously pursued my career in one of the most difficult fields to get that foot in the door: Hollywood. Oh boy. Though I’ve had a pretty solid success rate so far, all things considered, having appeared in a slew of short films, commercial spots, corporate and workplace industrials, and I’ve narrated a handful of audiobooks. You can find examples of all of these at the link below!
Through all of that, my love of finding the joy in all things sinister has never dulled and I hope to continue honing my craft of playing villains, antagonists, and the best of the worst!
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?
As a voice actor, I try to find dynamism in every character that I play: honing subtlety into the most brash, as much as finding moments of grandeur for the most demure. If I can find the delectably complex humanity of every role, while always staying true to what’s written in the script, then I consider my work a job respectably done. Squeezing as many colors of life out of each performance is something that I find the most challenging, and therefore the most rewarding, when it comes to antagonist roles.
Playing ‘evil’ is often seen as easy, resulting in many broad and lazy performances. We’ve seen plenty. My goal is to bring pathos, even if it’s entirely devoid of sympathy, to every person, creature, or entity that I get the chance to sink my teeth into. Crafting a character that feels lived in, that feels specific, is always my end goal.
I’ve never gone in for fortune cookie style wisdom when it comes to acting. Shrinking down our craft into a repeatable buzzwordy quip always seems to irk me … and yet the phrase “generality is the death of the actor” always gives me pause. It forces me to reflect on how I can do justice for every script I’m handed, from each botched audition read for a job I’ll never get, to hearing ‘action’ for a role I was born to play. Finding beauty and chaos in every character has become my greatest strength and my most persistent, nagging challenge.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Money. No surprise there, really. Pay artists for their work, for their time, for the expertise of their craft. The arts are often treated unseriously as a hobby, instead of as work. On a large scale, defunding arts from education, yet relying so heavily on the arts for both entertainment and education, slowly deprives us all of media literacy, creative integrity, and, ultimately, joy.
On a small scale, two things that you, yes you, can apply immediately to your daily life are money in the pockets of your local artists, obviously; but also to not treat as pipe dreams the aspirations of artists who confide their hopes in you. The best thing an artist can hear is specific followup questions about their work. Ask them not only what they hope to achieve, but how they plan to do so. Keeping dreams out of the lofty realm of ‘just dreams,’ while also not grinding those dreams down with brutally sarcastic wishes of ‘good luck’ with an accompanying eye roll, but instead finding that sweet spot of clear, actionable goals, just as you would for any other career path, is a future of money in artist’s pockets.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
In all honestly, I can say with my full chest that I’ve never once read a book on acting that was legitimately helpful long-term for the craft of acting. Some have very quotable tidbits, wee peals of wisdom scattered about for you to peck at like a hen, but they’re far and few between. Your time and, more importantly, your money are better served elsewhere. Acting is a physical craft, same as dancing or singing or painting, so reading about it is helpful, absolutely, but only to a very fine point. To learn how to act, get out there, on your feet, and do it. Practice your craft, whether it’s in an educational setting or by diving into the deep end of learning by doing and failing and doing and failing and doing again nonetheless!
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/rosevarietyshow
