Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeffrie Favianny. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Jeffrie Favianny is a Los Angeles-based actor, writer, dancer and choreographer. Originally from Honduras in Central America, he moved to California at the age of seven and quickly dove into academia and the arts. While his earlier focus mostly consisted of theatrical acting, he began to explore dance at the ripe age of 21 while in college to aid his acting. Soon after, he received a full scholarship to Ballet California for two intensive years, where the famous Prima Ballerina Misty Copeland trained (and he danced with). Since then, Jeffrie has also studied American Dance and Character Acting at Duke University studied Policy and ethics at Oxford University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of California, Berkeley. Currently, he is working on several projects including two independent student film TV-series titled “Who Among Us” in a principle role, as well as supporting role in a web series titled “Easton High”, alongside dance, fashion and short films.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A smooth road is rarely the best road, it’s the bumps and cracks that make the path beautiful. It says someone has been here. Suffice to say, the road to where I am today has not been easy but I wouldn’t want to give it up for anything else because it has added so much color and character into my life. Initially, I dealt with many external challenges, like being ridiculed for not knowing English when I first moved to America, bullied for not having “trendy” expensive clothes, and being ostracized for occupying spaces that were not conventionally meant for “Hispanics”. I recall when I first began my ballet training and a student approached me and said, ” I didn’t know Mexicans danced ballet”, even though I was Honduran. However, the bigger obstacles I’ve faced and continue to are the internal difficulties. The imposter syndrome that came when I first arrived at UC Berkeley, the crippling anxiety of studying the arts at prestigious universities like Oxford, UCLA and Duke. Even now, as an adult, I still have to shut the internal monologue that tells me I’m not enough. That’s why, as an artist, it’s so important for me to recognize these struggles and take care of myself first before I’m ready to share my art with the world.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I want to tell meaningful stories that connect with people. As a creative, it is hard for me to just imagine that I could only live one life, where I have to settle for one job and then work at that until I die (not to be too morbid). It is so immensely difficult to imagine that I should only be one thing, do one thing and that’s it. Therefore, I constantly seek to expand into new horizons and experience new things that scare and challenge me because I never just want to be known for one thing.
That’s why I joined the US Army when I was 21, to meet Jeffrie: The Soldier. That’s why I once read seven books in one week, one per day, to know Jeffrie: The reader. I once wrote a short novel to become Jeffrie: The Author. I take deep dives into policy, debate and tech to understand Jeffrie: The Academic. That’s why I designed an outfit to breathe life into Jeffrie: The Fashion Icon. I think you get the point. I want to be Jeffrie, the dancer, the writer, the actor…Jeffrie: The Artist.
I may not be different from others and that’s ok, I no longer seek to set myself apart from others. Instead, I consider my life a work of art, not because it’s glamorous or so pretentiously interesting, but because I feel real and present and so alive in the practice of creation. Creating the real is what I want, I want to tell real stories.
What does success mean to you?
Success is the process of actively carving out who YOU are and being at peace with what you discover. Imagine this, you are an archaeologist from birth. As years and years go by, you chip away at a personality and uncover hidden truths about yourself. At first, you may not like what you find, but there’s always more to dig through. Then, when you’ve finally excavated the total you and are at peace with it, this to me is success.
I’m still digging through who I am and what I want to be, but I’m at peace with what I discover each day. So, guess by my definition, I’m successful (a bit bias, I know).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jeffriefavianny.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffriefavianny/
Image Credits
Photographers: Jeffrie Favianny, Clare Snodgrass
