Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Aguilar.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a bonafide L.A. girl, born and raised in Los Angeles (in Santa Clarita). Because of being an Angeleno my entire life, it just makes sense I guess that I became an actress really young. I guess it comes with the territory when you live in Los Angeles that your kid, or a friend or family member’s kid, is a showbiz kid. And I was that kid. It also runs in the family, I kind of come from a showbiz family, as my aunt was a TV/Theatre actress now turned playwright, and my uncle was in a pretty popular L.A. rock band in the 80’s. But it wasn’t my parents who pushed me into acting, it was all entirely my choice. From the ages of 3 to 9, I did tap dance and jazz dance, but I was a very determined and ambitious kid, and told my mom and dad that I wasn’t happy doing dance anymore, and that I wanted to be an actress. I watched a lot of Nickelodeon shows at the time like “All That” and “The Amanda Show” and it just hit me that acting was what I was put on this earth for. I can’t explain it, I feel lucky I figured out my life’s purpose before my age became double-digits. So my mom pulled me out of dance classes and enrolled me in acting classes and met with talent agents. Daniel Hoff Agency then became my agent and represented me for 3 years, from when I was 10-13 years of age. I was 10 when I booked my first-ever gig, which was modeling for Stein-Mart stores. That was so fun for me. I just remember hating the dress Stein-Mart made me wear! Then I did a student film. Then when I was 11, I started doing TV commercials for Eggo Waffles, which became pretty popular and years later, people I have never even met talk about that commercial and ask me questions of what it was like filming it. Pretty crazy that kids all these years later remember it-and me! When I was 12 I started doing Theatre Workshops of musicals like Into the Woods, Bugsy Malone…etc. etc. When I was 16, I booked a TV pilot for Discovery Kids that was never filmed, because they decided to not use kids for the show when it went on the air the next year, so I was pretty bummed about that. When I was 17, I did a film called “Greed” that was on Netflix for a few years, where I play a selfish teenage girl who begs her dad to buy her a car, but he won’t, so my character ends up doing bad things to get herself a car…yeah it’s funny, haha. Friends of my parents voiced their concerns about having me in acting so young, they were probably afraid I was going to become another wacked-out, psycho child actor I suppose. Well I am definitely a weird girl, and proud of it! But otherwise I think I turned out well hopefully! My parents were always upfront that being in the acting business, I will get rejected a lot, and that it’s nothing personal, it’s just the way it is. They also stressed to me that it is very important I go to college. Which I did, I graduated from Concordia University-Irvine in 2013 with a BA in Speech Communication. But they are, and always have been, super supportive of my acting career from the very beginning as well. More recently, I’ve been on TV shows such as Excused! Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, and Supreme Justice with Judge Karen. I was also in a music video for the band Yellowcard, which was neat because everyone in my generation grew up listening to them. I did a stage reading for the play “Waiting Women” in Memphis, TN at the Women’s Theatre Festival of Memphis in 2015. I hosted an unreleased music documentary that included stars such as LLCoolJ. I have done voiceovers for various popular online cartoons, with each episode getting at least 1 million views. Last year, I filmed 2 awesome films, one called Blood Tulips which is still in post-production last I heard, and another film called Clickbait, where I have been nominated for Best Actress by the Genre Blast Film Festival. Clickbait has gotten really great reviews so far by many movie critics, I’m so excited for Clickbait to come out because I think it’s such a good film that will appeal to the millennial audience especially, since the movie centers around a character who is a vlogger. I did an immersive stage play “Monsters Come Out at Night” at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre back in April. I do sketch comedy, so I post my sketch comedy on my YouTube channel “Weird Brandi” and my Instagram @wildchildbrandicomedy, I love making people laugh and I feel comedy is def. my strength for sure.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When you’re an actress, there is no such thing as a smooth road. Or any career in the arts for that matter! One example is when I was 18, I was approached to do a film, I read the script and it was really bad, it was one of those trashy horror movies where all the women get nude for no reason. I have nothing against nudity in film, but the female characters in the script would get naked for no reason other than just that, being naked. It was just stupid, and I wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, and I knew I would never be taken seriously if I’m in a movie about zombie strippers where all the women take their clothes off all of a sudden. I passed on the script and the production company got very upset with me, telling me I’m never going to make it if I pass this film up. But I’m a person that when I say no, it’s NO. I feel they were trying to manipulate me because I was 18 and they assumed I was impressionable and stupid. So I think they were surprised too that I passed on the project, I love when people underestimate me and then I prove them wrong.
But a part of me was worried that I would never do another film again after passing up that film. I was, thankfully wrong. I don’t regret my decision on passing it up. At all. I do sketch comedy as well, so it can be hard to constantly come up with new material, I usually like to look at other sketches people are doing and it inspires ideas for me. I have a small fan base of my sketch comedy, but I have had people tell me I’m not funny, I try not to let it bother me though, you can’t make everyone happy. I understand my comedy is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Brandi Aguilar – what should we know?
I tell stories by acting them out, I aim to make people laugh at themselves and I enjoy shocking people.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Determination, networking, and studying the performances of great actors of today and the past.
Contact Info:
- Website: brandiaguilar.org
- Instagram: pixiebrandi and wildchildbrandicomedy
- Facebook: facebook.com/officialbrandiaguilar
- Twitter: brandiaguilar
Image Credit:
Headshot with blue shirt- Maria Tornberg
Pin-up photos- Miss Missy Photography
Picture with the book on the couch- from the upcoming movie Clickbait
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