Today we’d like to introduce you to Ris Dorrego.
Hi Ris, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hey there! I’m Marisa, but you can call me Ris. I’m an actress turned cosplayer and content creator based out of the Valley. Born and raised in the Bay Area, I was an artistic firecracker from the start, always looking for ways to get out my creativity. I found a deep rooted passion and love for theatre when I was in middle school and from then on dedicated myself to acting. I began taking acting classes at 14 and then went on to later pursue my BFA in Acting. After a couple of years of training in New York I decided to move out to Los Angeles and have been here for the last 10 years. I have worked as an actor here over the years doing stage work in places such as The Shakespeare Center of LA and working in several short films. However, when the pandemic hit work in the industry became scarce and I began looking for other ways to get out my creativity while simultaneously being able to make a living. At that point I had already started finding my niche in the social media world with makeup art but the pandemic inspired me to push my content further and start cosplaying, something I had always wanted to try as an avid anime and comic book fan. I’m a firm believer that your adulthood is meant for you to find the things you that really love and that get you excited. I have been very lucky to get to do work that I’m passionate about and I think that that passion and the love I have for the content I create has really come through in my work. Not long after starting my cosplay journey I amassed a solid following and have been able to make social media my full time career. In truth I’m just a little girl living out her dreams of playing dress up for a living! Moving forward I’m excited to be getting back into acting after taking a few years off and applying the many skills my social media career has taught me in my acting career.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think the biggest challenge for any artist is not giving up. There are so many things working against you when you choose to pursue a creative career, from staying financially stable, to creative burn out and sometimes it feels like it would be much easier to pursue something else. I’ve had my own nagging moments of feeling like giving up or feeling like I’m wasting my time but in those moments I remind myself how fulfilled my art makes me. I remind myself of how lost I would feel if I didn’t get to have a creative life and suddenly those struggles and fears seem further away. I’ve learned throughout my life that nothing is linear and that it’s a much braver pursuit to take on every high and low thrown your way than it is to give up. Though I’ve struggled with getting in my own way in the past, I’ve had to learn how to not let fear of failure stop me from pushing myself artistically or pursuing my dreams.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I began working on my social media in my mid 20’s when I was going to so many auditions in which I was being asked about my follower count, which at the time was starting to be on casting directors’ minds. I remember thinking to myself ‘well I have the skill set but I need to be able to get in the room to show my talent.’ With that in mind I reached out to a friend who is well versed and very successful in social media so that I could get some tips on how to gain a small following and be able to have to something to say if a casting director asked me about it. What I hadn’t expected was with my friend’s tips along with me documenting a weight loss journey (I lost 80lbs in my 20’s!) on my social media I was able to garner a larger following than I had ever expected. Brands began reaching out about collaborations and that’s when I realized that creating content could be fun way to make money on the side, so I learned how to monetize my content. However, for a long time I felt very disconnected from content creation even with the success I was having because it began to feel like I was simply posting to post and because it was what I was supposed to do. I used to not be passionate about my content until one day I realized that doing social media would never be enjoyable or any fun for me if I wasn’t creating content for myself first, allowing myself to embrace my creativity and express myself artistically through that content. I started small by experimenting with makeup art then when the pandemic hit, I decided to push myself further and use the time to start cosplaying. That is when I truly gained the bulk of my success on social media. When I started doing makeup art and cosplay and being more authentic in what I was creating I came to realize what an amazing tool social media can be for artists and creatives. Taking that leap of faith and deciding to start posting content I truly cared about instead just worrying about my follower count not only helped me gain my social media career but also gave me a much healthier and happier relationship with social media. With that new found inspiration I continued working and dedicating my time to creating content and solidifying my online presence through consistent work and creating engaging content I’m passionate about. Content like segments such as #ristober, a Halloween series I do every year where I pick a spooky theme and cosplay a full week of characters related to said theme or #pickmylook where my followers can vote on a look for me to create and shoot. I’m very happy to now be at a point in my where I am able to be doing social media full time and I would have never guessed that something I originally did to help me with auditions would end up becoming a career but I’m so grateful that it did.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something a lot of people would be surprised to find out about me is that even though I’m incredibly outgoing and very social I love spending time on my own. I really enjoy taking myself out on solo dates to dinner or the movies or going to a bar by myself to journal and people watch or even going to a concert or Disneyland on my own. When I was first figuring out adulthood, I realized early on that there wouldn’t always be someone to come with me to the things I wanted to do, and I just never thought that was a good enough reason to miss out on experiences. Even when I went to Coachella with friends, I would wander off alone to see all the sets and artists I wanted to see, have the time of my life, and then return to my friends by the end of the day. I think it’s incredibly important in life to find comfort in solitude and be able to sit with yourself and enjoy your own company. Nurturing that has truly become one of my favorite things to do
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marisadorrego.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/risdorrego/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@risdorrego?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
Image Credits
Personal Photo was taken by Vanduncan Nathaniel Johnson Phillips (@vanduncanofficial)
The additional photos were all taken by me.
