Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriel.
Adriel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Adriel Bernal (b. May 14, 1997) is a proud transgender Mexican Latino artist, born and raised in Compton, California. The youngest of five siblings, he grew up in a vibrant household where his creativity and curiosity first took root. From an early age, Adriel had a strong sense of self, even before he had the words to express it. Though shy at first, he was drawn to storytelling, which eventually blossomed into a deep passion for acting and filmmaking.
After graduating from high school in 2015, he moved out of his parents’ home and entered adulthood with heart and hope, but not much stability. Between attending El Camino and Compton College, Adriel moved five times, often facing housing insecurity. Despite these challenges, he stayed committed to his goals and earned an AA in Theatre, a milestone that marked not just educational achievement but a declaration of independence and resilience.
In 2019, grief and depression led Adriel inward. Through therapy, spirituality, movement, and community support, he began to heal and reconnect with himself. That same year, he came to understand he was transgender, a truth that would shape the next chapter of his life. In 2020, during the global pandemic, he began hormone therapy (HRT), and in 2021, his Christmas gift was his top surgery. Both moments were life-affirming, powerful acts of becoming.
2023 brought one of his proudest creative breakthroughs: his directorial debut “Dear Nancy, Sincerely Addy,” a personal documentary exploring his transgender Latino experience. Adriel wrote, directed, and starred in the project, which went on to screen at festivals, place in the top three of a film contest, and receive its first distribution offer. It continues to reach new audiences, healing and connecting people through its honesty and vulnerability.
2024 proved to be one of the most difficult years yet, but also a great year for finding love. Adriel once again faced housing insecurity, moving between friends’ homes and living in uncertainty. It was humbling and disorienting, another crash course in survival under capitalism. Yet in that hardship, he leaned on community and recommitted to his artistic purpose, with the love and support of his partner. He calls that time painful, but also the beginning of something bigger.
In 2025, Adriel is honored to be a co-creator, co-directing and acting in a new project with his life partner, Elektra Armenta, a powerful trans Latina artist. Together, they wrote “LA E$trELLA,” a theatrical piece inspired by her life as a trans woman performer. The show will have a world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival during Pride Month, a timely celebration of trans joy and resistance. For Adriel, storytelling is not just art, it is survival, resistance, and liberation, especially in a time where BIPOC are attacked. His journey, marked by loss, trauma, transformation, and love, continues to shape the artist and person he is becoming. He believes healing is ongoing, joy is revolutionary, and everyone deserves to feel safe, seen, and inspired. Through film, theatre, and honest conversation, Adriel is building a world where that becomes possible.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. It’s been a very bumpy and sometimes heartbreaking road. But it’s also been a powerful one. I’ve faced housing insecurity on and off for years, and I’ve been on public assistance for most of my life. That’s what’s helped carry me through periods of unemployment and limited access to resources or opportunities. I often moved between couches, rented rooms, stayed with friends and family, and temporary spaces, while juggling survival and trying to hold onto my dreams. Financial instability made basic needs feel like luxuries. There were times I didn’t know how I’d pay rent or where I’d stay, and that kind of uncertainty takes a real toll on your spirit. Thankfully, I had a supportive partner and a vision for a better future.
Mental health has been another mountain. Grief, depression, and trauma lived with me for years. But I choose to heal. And that choice to grow through it became the most important, ongoing revolution of my life. I leaned into therapy, art, community care, and spirituality to help me reclaim my power. I faced long stretches of unemployment and days that blurred together. So much time yet never quite enough to do everything I carried in my heart. The world feels loud, fast, and unforgiving. But in the stillness, there was purpose. With the love and support of my partner, I returned to what grounds me most: my art. Together, we chose to pour ourselves into the stories that live within us, stories we believe can heal, inspire, and transform. Our creativity became resistance. Our work became a home.
Coming into my identity as a transgender Mexican Latino person added its own layers of difficulty in my community, where my people are getting unfairly targeted, murdered, and trying to kill and erase us. There is so much hate right now in the world on trans people being attacked, misgendering, discriminated against, isolated, and bullied in schools, and threatened in public spaces. It’s dehumanizing. And it adds more weight to what I was already carrying. There were moments I had to protest, speak up and fight for our rights, as an activist and someone who deeply cares about treating everyone with basic dignity.
The road hasn’t been smooth, but it’s been transformative. Every obstacle has taught me how to survive, how to create, and how to love myself in a world that often tells people like me we don’t belong. I’m proud to still be here telling my story on my own terms and I hope to keep creating change, inspiring others, and representing my communities for years to come.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At my core, I’m a storyteller, a filmmaker, writer, and actor who uses art as a tool for healing, truth-telling, and liberation. My work centers identity and transformation, with a deep focus on trans and queer narratives, especially those rooted in Latinx and BIPOC experiences.I specialize in personal, raw, emotionally honest stories that speak to resilience, community, and the power of becoming. I’m most proud of Dear Nancy, Sincerely Addy, my debut short documentary that shares my coming-out journey through my own lens. That project reminded me that storytelling isn’t just creative, it’s spiritual, political, and deeply personal. For me, it’s a lifeline for myself and others who may see themselves in my work.
Right now, I’m co-creating LA E$trELLA with my partner, Elektra Armenta, a bold, love-filled theater piece about a trans Latina performer’s life. It premieres this June at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, serving as both tribute and resistance. What sets me apart is that I don’t create to fit in, I create to break through. I’ve lived through instability, grief, joy, and rebirth, and I pour all of it into my art. Every story I tell is a step toward collective freedom.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The most important quality that’s led to my success is resilience and authenticity. Life has thrown a lot my way from financial and housing instability, discrimination, and uncertainty, but I’ve never let it stop me from dreaming, creating, or becoming. I’ve learned how to adapt, how to sit with pain, and still find beauty in life and a purpose. I also lead with heart, as I say “making art from the heart” with intention, love, and truth. Whether I’m writing, acting, or directing, I show up fully as myself, rooted in the experiences that shaped me and the communities that raised me. “I don’t just want to make something good, I want to make something amazing and real that moves people, and makes them feel seen and represented.” I’m not afraid to grow, to fall apart and rebuild, to keep going even when the world tries to overwhelm me. Doing the thing, showing up, being in community, and never giving up on your voice, writing and telling our own stories, sharing art and kindness with the world., doing what you love and makes you happy, that’s what success looks like to me, til you reach another milestone in life.
Pricing:
- LA E$trELLA Hollywood Fringe Festival
- $20
- PWYC
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/12027?tab=details
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_chico_addy/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VhHAzQrpWA
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/laestrellaproductions/
Image Credits
Jasten King
