Meet Elizaul Santana

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizaul Santana.

Hi Elizaul, 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? 
I was born in Salem, MA. In elementary and Middle school, I realized I loved movies and TV, so I participated in my school plays. Once I got to 7th grade, I started to realize that there weren’t many people on TV or in movies that looked like me, so I stopped acting. I just went through the motions high school and then decided to take a traditional path of going to business school. While in college, I would take theatre classes to flirt with the idea of getting back into acting. By my junior year of college, I was getting over school but was not going to quit because I was in too deep and close to graduating. I began to transition all my classes online but would still have to go to campus for certain classes that weren’t available online. Once the pandemic got serious, all my classes became online, and I decided to move to New York because my girlfriend went to school there, and I did not want to be in Massachusetts anymore. While in New York, because there was nothing to do, I began to look into what it takes to become an actor and if it was even possible for someone to do with no connections or ties to the film industry. I found sites like backstage and actors access signed up, and began to audition. Once I booked my first short film, I was hooked, and I knew that I had to try to pursue this thing that kept coming to mind. Once 2020 ended I had to move back to Mass as I was graduating from Salem State University and had to recollect myself and decide what I wanted to do once I graduated. I stayed in Salem for 6 months before I decided to leave and come to LA in 2021. My girlfriend and I packed up all of our things from our Salem apartment in a car and drove across the country to get here. Once I got here, I had to find my footing, so I used my degree and worked for a business management firm and took acting classes until I eventually found remote work that gave me the flexibility to pursue acting full-time. 2023 became the first year I could do acting full-time, and now I am still actively auditioning and studying the craft. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road. Every time I felt any type of traction or movement, there has been a stop to it. For example, when I started acting 2020 covid restrictions made I hard to film anything and at one point stopped the industry. Then, in 2023, when I began to book more jobs, the industry shut down due to the writers and actor strikes. A big obstacle throughout my journey has been staying motivated because of the examples mentioned, but that is how I know that this is what I want and what I am going to do. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an Actor, mainly in tv and film. I am not known yet as a lot of the projects I have shot have yet to come out because I shot majority of them in 2023. I am most proud of just doing the work. The fact that I had the guts to leave my small town (physically and mentally) is something that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I guess that is what sets me apart from others, I think in today’s society it is hard to have a dream and really go after it. 

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Drive. In order to make it in this industry, you have to be driven and a little delusional in a good way. A lot of people think that acting is just like you audition, and if you get it, you’re good and out of here, when in reality, it is a lot of studying and learning everything and anything to help prepare yourself for whenever an audition or that time comes. You have to remain driven because there will be slow times or trying times, and you have to be able to use that time to better yourself and not give up. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizaul_santana?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr