We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yuli Zorrilla. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yuli below.

Yuli, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project thus far has been playing Theresa in “This Fool” on HULU. Latinos are not always given an authentic representation on television, but on this show I was given the opportunity to play a woman that is bold and unapologetically herself. She knows what she wants out of life especially for her daughter and that makes it really special. The energy on set, from the creators, to the writers, to the crew made for such a safe and wonderful environment. It was a joy and pleasure to work on a show where everyone wanted to be there, wanted to make something great and they all did it with kindness. Working on the show taught me what it is to work in community when you have a common goal, to make something people will love and that makes you want to give the best of yourself.

Yuli, 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?

At the age of 9 or 10 my mother put me in a theater class on the weekends and that’s when I caught the acting bug. I always knew I wanted to have a profession in the arts, I just didn’t know how or in what capacity I would pursue it. I danced from a young age everything from ballet to polish dancing but acting was never at the forefront. It was more of a hidden dream that I kept for myself and one I was scared to share with everyone around me. I was never the lead in school plays or participated in anything acting related and other than that class (that only lasted 4 weekends) I never talked about pursuing acting. My parents wanted me to go to college, so I did, I majored and graduated with a Political Science degree and the thought was that I would be a great lawyer. I laugh about it now when I think back, obviously I had other plans. I began taking acting classes at HB Studio in New York, that’s where I’m originally from. After a year and a half I moved to Los Angeles. When you’re young, naive and fearless everything seems like it’s “not a big deal.” So moving to LA and going after this dream of being in movies and being on television was in my mind a piece of cake. I think that’s probably what I’m most proud of. Being brave enough to go after this HUGE THING that no one knew I had a passion for, going for it not knowing if I would fail or succeed. I just closed my eyes and had faith that it would all work out.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Well first, I think everyone is creative in their own right. I think the way we go about showing our creativity is different. Some people build cars, create web sites, build homes and do so many other things that are also creative by nature. For the most part every profession has some form of a creative process whether we realize it or not. In my case, I feel that some who aren’t in “show business” don’t understand that whether you’re on screen for two seconds or you’re the lead throughout the show/film it takes the same amount of effort. As my career grows I’ll have someone say, “That’s it! You were there for a second!” But to attain those few seconds there was a lot of rejection, a lot of preparation, a lot of overall work and sometimes for reasons that the actor doesn’t know, your scene gets shortened or worse case scenario, cut all together but the work was still done. Statements like those minimize the effort that went into becoming this character. Even if what you saw was a few seconds of it. It’s like an iceberg, you only see the tip but there is so much underneath that no one sees. So although someone who is not an actor views it as small, to us it is an accumulation of years and years of hard work and sacrifices.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing your work alongside other creatives work come to life. At first it seems simple, it starts with a thought. Then the thought becomes words on paper and before you know it there is a whole production of people, each with their individual talent coming together to make something that will, hopefully, reach thousands of people. Everyone says it’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey, but when you get to see the final product of what you helped make, when it started as just an idea, there’s no better feeling!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm6347323?s=9cc58d56-af89-d1a5-f3c3-72140320062b&site_preference=normal
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yulidzorrilla/

Image Credits
Leah Huebner, took the headshot photo.