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Meet Alejandra Camacho

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandra Camacho.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in a small and colorful town in Mexico called Metepec. You may think Mexicans are all extroverts and party people but on the contrary, I was a shy and reserved kid, so I found theatre and dance classes to be the perfect way to let my introverted girl express herself. Then the more I dived in my classes the more I discovered that acting was finding myself in different characters. I decided I wanted to tell different perspectives of life through theatre and stories that I could relate to and make my characters be heard the way I wanted to be heard. I felt acting was my calling and decided to pursue a career in it.

Of course, like all actors have their own story, I have my very unique one too. It took me some time to get where I am today, because I found out that having a career in acting wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I encountered my first obstacle; my parents wanted me to study a “real” career after high school and then If I still wanted to, I could study acting after I finished college. Probably they thought the acting thing was some kind of a temporary craving. So, I went on and reluctantly got a BA in Communication and Media, with a minor in Theatre. Of course theatre had to be there! Communication was that career where I could be closer to what I was looking for, but I wasn’t 100% excited about it. At the end of the day, I must say most classes were fun and I learned very valuable things that nowadays I apply to the benefit of my art. I graduated college and I thought “This is my time now”. I saw that the American Musical and Dramatic Academy was holding in person auditions in Mexico City and I ran super excited to audition and I was admitted! I said, “Ok, now I have to find some scholarships and I’ll be ready to go” because the one the school was giving me was not enough, but, oh surprise! I couldn’t get any other scholarship. So, I guess my dream had to wait a little longer. I kept on studying and preparing myself, kept auditioning for other schools that could give me the economic support I needed at that moment. I trained at Casa Azul and F.AC.ES in the meantime, both in Mexico City. Time passed and somehow, my parents finally told me that if I still wanted, they could support me with my acting school. They must have seen how adamant I was about pursuing theatre that they finally gave in, so I auditioned and got accepted at AMDA again.

At last, the day that I had been waiting for arrived, but as soon as I got to the campus in LA, I got so scared that I wanted to go back! It was a very strange feeling; something I had been waiting for so long got me so scared! How could that be? I called my mom and started to cry, lol. She must have thought, “This crazy kiddo, what does she think, that after being so stubborn all these years she can go back, just like that? So, she told me “Alejandra, this is only the beginning, that feeling you have right now is going to go away as soon as your classes start, trust me”. Well, moms are like prophets! I listened to her, and this exact month turned out to be my 7th year anniversary in this country that has been very welcoming, and I am very thankful for it.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think that every path has its struggles. Mine was definitely the culture shock of moving from one country to another, and I think everybody who’s not from here gets what I am talking about. Probably some people have it more difficult or easier than others. For me, it wasn’t changing from Fahrenheit to Celsius or Kilometers to Miles, but I think it was having English as a second language. When you decide to take a path towards a dream, you imagine it a certain way. You think you have everything you need to get where you want to be but, when you start climbing that steep mountain; you realize that the shoes you brought weren’t perhaps very adequate or your legs didn’t have the resistance you needed to endure the way up. That happened to me. I thought I didn’t have an accent, lol. I thought when I was younger that repeating the phrases of my favorite TV shows in English and memorizing monologues made me sound like any other English-speaking person, or perhaps naively, I didn’t think accents exist or they were such a thing, I never thought about that. So, I got in my head after so much criticism from the teachers that it got frustrating because voice and speech are a huge part of acting and I wanted to sound perfect. With time I’ve learned that this is who I am and as long as I am understood, I don’t need to have the perfect American accent.

As a foreigner, there are so many things apart from not speaking the language perfectly that are difficult and one of those things is getting the right permit to stay and work in this country. There is so much paperwork that you just want to give up and go back home. But nothing in life is easy, and this is the path I chose to follow, so I took it with all its pros and cons. I got by my side really good people that are like angels to me. They have believed in my talent and my work ethic along the way, let me tell you, without them I wouldn’t be here. I will never finish to thank them enough.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am an actor in Film/TV and Theatre and also a professional Belly Dancer. I am a local hire in Los Angeles, New York and Mexico. As an actor, I play intelligent, kind and vulnerable roles with a sprinkle of sassiness. I love playing sassy, I must confess, haha. I am also starting to produce sketch comedy; I will give more info about that on my website soon.

Recently, I did a participation in Popsugar Fitness for a bellydance workout collaborating with my dear Meghan Ramsey and the lovely Leilah Isaac. I am starting my online Bellydance classes soon to keep everybody dancing during these hard times. Let me tell you, I love belly dancing! I grew up doing it! I got so into it and have so much passion for it that I even got certified with the Interamerican Confederation of Dance (CIAD) as a professional belly dancer and teacher. I’ve taken countless international workshops with the best dancers in the world. Bellydance and dance in general, are a huge part of my brand and my life. It allows me to give that extra spice to my characters. Your special skills define you, never give up on them.

I describe myself as a multifaceted artist; just as I love to act and have a passion for dance in general, I also love supporting artists. I created a blog called The Artists Square that promotes artists who dare to cross borders and make a difference through art. It highlights the work of creators who get uncomfortable by raising their voice to support underrepresented causes or subjects that not many of us dare to talk about. They go above and beyond and put their talent to the service of others.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I think I would have been more daring. I stopped doing things because I was afraid of what people could think about me. I would change that, caring less about others’ opinions. And I also think that I would have been more focused to reach my goals. When I was younger, I gave up on things that nowadays I wish I had the ability to do, like singing or gymnastics, lol. But I guess we can’t do everything.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Photographers: Danny Rodriguez, David Chimal. Dorothy Shi. People that appear next to me are Johnathan Lev and Jonathan Park D’Leon.

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