Meet Dina Yarkina of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dina Yarkina.

Hi Dina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was 13 years old, my mom made me take an acting class. It wasn’t because she thought I had great potential to be in movies, or that I was extraordinarily artistic, no. It was because I was shy. In fact, I was so shy and scared of social interactions that it was hard for me to even talk to a shop assistant at a store, or to anyone I didn’t know, for that matter. You can imagine my shock when she told me I have to take an acting class. It was kind of an order, actually, I couldn’t say no.
So I did it. I took an acting class. And I hated it. The teacher made me do all these weird exercises that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. For instance, she had me imagine that my best friend is standing all the way on the other side of the street and then asked me to call for her so she could hear me, meaning I had to scream really loud for no particular reason. I couldn’t imagine doing something so outrageous at the time. So instead, I started crying and went home.
I can’t remember what made me go back a couple of days later and take another class. And then another, and one more. In a couple of weeks, I switched to group classes, and we started preparing for a performance. In another couple of weeks, we performed in front of a small audience that mostly consisted of parents. We didn’t really have a stage or much decoration, just us. My first performance consisted of reading poetry, and in my second and third performances, I played a witch with green hair. I didn’t notice how fast my love for the craft grew.
On my way home after our last performance, I had a realization: I want to be an actress! I have been obsessed with movies forever; everything about them interests me. Acting makes me feel so fulfilled and is really the only thing I am passionate about. So why not?
I kept taking acting classes, reading a lot of books on the craft, watching videos, and being absolutely delusional about moving to Los Angeles. Until I actually did move to Los Angeles to go to acting school! It was an absolute dream, being surrounded by people who are as insane as you are to pursue this career. I finally felt like I belonged. I spent 4 years getting my Bachelor’s degree in something my heart truly loves. Of course, I faced many challenges along the way, but they only proved how much I burn for the craft.
I am eternally grateful now that I get to do what I love professionally. Being on real sets, working with people who love this industry equally, collaborating with them to create something beautiful, being a part of a team. It is what I’ve always wanted.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Before I was an actor, I was a ballroom dancer for 10 years of my life. For the longest time, I thought that’s what I was going to do – dance. However, the more time passed, the more I realised that I wasn’t interested in pursuing it anymore. I no longer loved it. Quitting dance was one of the hardest but also one of the best decisions of my life. And I am forever grateful I had the courage to do it.
I was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine. I have always been very ambitious. Dreaming big, having a great imagination, in my mind, nothing can ever stop me from getting what I want. When I realised I wanted to pursue acting, my first thought, of course, was: “I’m gonna go to LA”. I didn’t realise how hard that would be—traveling that far away from home, alone, at the age of 17, away from my family, where no one speaks my language, to a completely different culture. I have never been more scared.
Except for when the full-scale invasion had started.
I was in my second semester, still 17, and lucky enough to be safe. I remember that day, February 24th, 2022, when my heart broke into pieces. My whole family, my friends, everyone I knew woke up that day hearing the sounds of explosions and the air raid signal. I couldn’t believe it. No one could. My family had to leave the city. I’ve never been more anxious about the safety of my loved ones. If something happened to them, I would’ve never known. It was terrifying. Still is.
Despite the war, I was still in college. I had classes to attend, assignments to turn in, lines to memorize, characters to work on, and rehearsals to go to. In my mind, none of it mattered, of course. When war happens, the way you think changes drastically. Your priorities shift, and you realise that the only thing that really matters is that your loved ones are alive and well. However, I couldn’t afford to miss class or not turn in my assignments. No matter how stressed and depressed I was, school was the only thing I had control over. And I couldn’t lose it.
So I focused on schoolwork. I dissolved myself in my characters so much that I truly believed I was them for short periods of time just so I could escape reality. One day, I convinced myself the war wasn’t real, and it all would disappear if I just woke up. I would dissociate just to get through the day.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
For the past half a year, I have been working on Vertical Short Dramas. One of my favourite projects I did recently is “When Love’s Sorrow Plays Again” on Reel Short, where I played Sabrina, the rich, mean girl who has beef with a 6-year old girl. It was a challenging character because of how different she is from me. Sabrina is very spoiled; she knows what she wants, and she always gets it. Her heart is closed off from kindness and real love, she often chooses violence and rage to express herself. Despite how unhinged Sabrina is, I had so much fun working on this project. Unlike my character, I love children, so working with Stephanie (the 6-year-old) was a dream. I had the best time on set, even though I had to act evil when they called action.
Another one of my projects I enjoyed filming was a horror short film, “Netflix and Chills” by ACM Official, that you can find on YouTube. When I first read the script, I was very intrigued by all the “magic” that was written in. I wasn’t sure how we were going to film it, I’ve never done anything like that before. Alex Magana, the director, did it all by himself. He wrote the script, did the lights, the camera work, the directing part, I was impressed by him. My favourite part of this short is when I turn into a pumpkin at the end!

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I was very lucky to have had incredible teachers along the way. One of them is Anthony Mark Barrow, who taught my “One Acts” class in my senior semester of college. His teaching methods were great and hepled me get on a different level of knowing my characters. His guidance taught me how to take control of the scene and make the performance much more real. Another teacher who has had a huge influence on me is Bridget Flanery. She taught my “Directing for Stage class,” which was definitely a challenging class to begin with, however, it taught me a lot about directing, which makes anyone a better actor. Both of these teachers had really high expectations of their students, they were “no bullshit” kind of teachers, which I really respect. Both those classes felt really intense, the material we worked on was often heavy and complex. I definitely learned a lot from them and am very grateful to have met them.

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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dina.yarkina