Meet Aerrol Ampeloquio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aerrol Ampeloquio.

Aerrol, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I began acting during my senior year of high school in my hometown of Danbury, Connecticut. I had auditioned for the Spring Musical, “Footloose”, just for fun with some of my friends and somehow had landed the lead role of “Ren McCormack”. I pulled a full “High School Musical” situation and quit my sports to take on this role, and I loved it. During the time, I was going through some depression and had no idea where to express my emotions, but acting gave me an outlet for that. But it wasn’t until the opening show, where my eyes were fully opened to the effect of acting when a member of the audience came up to me and told me that the monologue I delivered helped him feel like he could get through the problems he was facing in his life. When he told me that, it opened my eyes to the possibility that putting yourself out there mentally and emotionally can help out other people face their personal issues without having to share any private information, and I thought that that was the most beautiful thing in the world.

After I graduated high school, I wanted to pursue a career in acting or the arts, but I talked with my family and decided to instead pursue a degree in Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During my time at Rensselaer, I had come to a realization that I still loved making people laugh and smile, whether it was in small friend groups or on a stage with my Filipino organization (Philippine American League) or my a cappella group (Duly Noted). Around my Junior year in college, I spoke with my parents about pursuing acting again and we agreed that I would finish my degree and then afterwards, I could go pursue my passion. So during school breaks, I did some extra roles to get a feel back for what it was like on a production set or I would take on any hosting gigs for other organizations on campus during the school year until I graduated from Rensselaer.

About six months after I graduated from college, I decided to pursue my passion for acting and moved to Los Angeles. At first, it was tough because I did not really know too many people and I also didn’t have a job. I worked a couple of different jobs and moved from couch to couch of friends or family that I met here in Los Angeles in order to save money and buy a car. After buying my car, I began Uber driving as well as working a regular desk job and was finally able to get an apartment after living in my car for a short amount of time. For about a year, I worked my desk job and drove Uber after I got off of work and had no idea where I was going with acting, but I was finally stable. I talked with my family, and they questioned what I was doing in Los Angeles if I wasn’t actively pursuing acting and I had no answer for them. So around the middle of 2019, I quit my job and decided to focus on acting.

When I quit my job, I honestly did not have a plan of how to pursue acting, but I knew that I at least wanted some acting experience so I decided to search for and enroll in an acting school or training center. I listened to a round table discussion that included Jim Carrey and one of the biggest pieces of advice I took from him in that video was something along the lines of; if you want to learn how to act, then take improv classes because that will teach you how to bullsh*t, and you can take that anywhere you go in life (I’m not sure if I’m allowed to swear, but if I’m not then replace bullsh*t with fake please). After hearing that, I decided to look up some improv schools/training centers and decided to take classes at The Second City Hollywood.

Fast forward to now, I am currently enrolled in the Acting Conservatory over at The Second City Hollywood and I love it. Over the course of a year, I have learned so much about acting and have networked with some amazing people. Earlier this year, I also created one short film and currently have two other short films in post-production, which I am very excited to share. Another thing that I created this past year was an acting resource group with about 30+ other actors. When COVID began, I realized that auditions were slowing down and had no idea where to find any resources. Then I heard from some of my other acting friends that they were going through the same type of issues. I decided to search through many resources and found that individuals like casting directors, producers, writers, talent agents were doing free online zoom webinars, Q&As, or meet and greets. I thought these were all great opportunities, so I decided to create an acting resource group with people who were pursuing acting that I’ve met over the course of the two years I’ve been in LA and send these opportunities to other actors. So far, it has been very fruitful and has at least kept me active and educated with auditions as well as what is going on within the entertainment industry.

I have also created a daily personal vlog where I check my progression towards my goals as well as see what I’m doing to help myself and see what I can improve on in my life. I hope to complete the Acting Conservatory with The Second City Hollywood by next year and will continue to make independent films while I am actively auditioning for roles. I also love collaborating with people and have been fortunate enough to have been asked to help out with different productions and projects over the past few months. I personally believe that if everybody can pursue something that they love, no matter what it is, in some capacity, whether it’s cleaning houses, to becoming an engineer, to pursuing acting, then we can all be happier people. The biggest thing that I’ve learned over the past two years is to do what makes you happy because if you truly enjoy it, then all the hardships feel like small speed bumps rather than impossible walls to climb. Sometimes we all just need some support and if I can help other people reach that happiness then I will definitely be in their corner doing what I can to help!

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?
It has not been a smooth road at all. In the previous question, I had talked about a few of the struggles. One of those struggles was figuring out how to get stable out here in Los Angeles. LA is not a cheap place to live, and not having a job was tough. Luckily, I had people who offered to help me out with at least a place to live for short periods of time while I got on my feet and I am very grateful to all those people. Without any of them, I probably would have moved back to Connecticut.

Another struggle was figuring out how to pursuing acting and entertainment. I realized very early on that it was not going to be an easy road, and I was fairly clueless as to how I could find auditions or even make my own ideas come to life. I have been fortunate enough to meet very key people in my life that I look up to as mentors who have been able to give me pointers and guide me in the direction of my goals. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that you are the only person stopping yourself, so even if you don’t have everything to make your dreams perfectly come to life, just do it because you will never know who will support and understand the messages that you are trying to deliver.

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, director, and writer. Amongst my network, I am known for creating an acting resource group and sharing resource opportunities to help other people working in the entertainment industry find ways to educate and network themselves. I am most proud of the work that I see other people in my acting resource group accomplish. It is amazing to see the people surrounding you doing great work and it’s a huge inspiration for me to strive towards my goals. I would say my ability to help other people reach their goals in a united effort is one of the characteristics that sets me apart from others.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career so far has been the creation of a short film that I currently have in post-production. It is a short film that I wrote and directed and the message resonates very deeply in my heart. The concept of the film is to see what it is like to walk a day in somebody else’s shoes and create an understanding for the hardships that other people have to face in their everyday lives, not just in the big controversial scenarios, but also in the daily micro aggressions that certain people have to deal with.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ayyyroll/
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJIKdKdKPjTNAHV8mNGGUZw?view_as=subscriber

Image Credit:
Austin Ampeloquio, Dianne Gan

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