Check Out Briana Hunt’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Briana Hunt.

Hi Briana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I don’t know exactly where to start. My story is extremely long. I’ve gone through so many things, but I guess I can start by saying I was born in Akron, Ohio in 1996. For anyone who knows Akron, you know it’s not the place you want to raise a child, especially at that time. We lived in Springfield Apartments, which were the projects. It was so bad, the police didn’t even come around if called. My mom worked nights as a nurse’s assistant, so my older brother would watch me almost every day. But at 3 years old, I already developed a mature sense of independence due to my circumstances. My mom was also in the Army for most of my life. She stayed in the reserve until I was about 10 to 11 years old, which was when she decided to become fully active.
I was about 4 years old when my mom decided to move us to California. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew I wasn’t upset at the idea of leaving. We moved to Los Angeles, specifically Thousand Oaks, which is a city in Ventura County. We lived with this guy named Michael, who I still know today. He was my first father figure. I never met my real father until September of 2025, so I always hoped I’d find someone to take his place. It was only a year before I was moving again. Michael and my mom broke up. She ended up meeting someone else named Marvin, who ended up becoming my step dad for 15 to 16 years. Michael still stayed in my life during all of this, which was amazing. He would fly me out to wherever he lived at and we’d go to Disneyland, Disneyworld, Universal Studios, and so many other places. But, it was only every so often. Maybe once a year. Then it slowly turned into every few years. Then, not much at all. But he was, and still is, a great person. We still talk every now and again.
Marvin, my mom, and I moved from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area. We lived in the city of Concord. During this time is when I discovered acting. It was something I really wanted to do because I thought it could help me escape from my actual life. I thought it could help me express the emotions and feelings my mother never let me express. But, I lived there for maybe 5 to 6 years before my mom became active in the Army. Once you become an active member, you have to live on an actual military base. So, my mom got assigned Fort Riley, Kansas. You have to know I was not excited for that move. It was so frustrating, because I had to leave everything behind. All of my friends. Connections. My dreams for acting and performing. Anything I built, got destroyed. So I had to start all over again on this military base in the middle of a state I never wanted to go to.

Surprisingly, Fort Riley wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I met so many kids from all over the world. Kids came from places like Japan, India, Russia, Italy, and different states in America. We all had to socialize and go to school together on this huge military base, where a car would share the road with a tank. I lived there for a total of 3 and a half years, from 11 to 14. I went through many emotional difficulties during this time. My mom went to Iraq. I was bullied by people I thought were my friends. People stole from me when they were at my house. They would talk about me behind my back. For reasons I never understood, but I understand now. It was a crazy time. All I wanted to do was move back to California to pursue my dreams, but life wasn’t letting me get there fast enough.
Once the 3 and a half years were over, my mom decided to go to South Korea. So Marvin and I moved back to Concord when it was time for my 9th grade year. It was strange coming back to the city I used to live in. All of the friends I made in elementary school didn’t remember me. And if they did, it wasn’t in a significant way. So I didn’t really have any friends. I was mostly alone for that entire year. Still, I always had the ambition to get myself back to Los Angeles. I wanted to act more than anything. And I always thought about it every single day.
When my mom returned from South Korea, she was assigned a new base to live at. By the grace of god, they gave her San Pedro, Los Angeles. I was so happy. Because after so many years of hoping and praying, I finally got the chance to move back to the city I needed and wanted to be in. However, Marvin and my mom were at the end of their marriage. They would always argue. There was always a problem. It was only a matter of time before it got to that point, so I didn’t even care anymore. I was focused on getting started with my dreams. I went to San Pedro High School for 10th and a small amount of 11th grade before my mom transferred me to Alexander Hamilton High School, which was a good hour away from where I lived, but they offered the Academy of Music and Performing Arts program. My mom wasn’t there for me emotionally, but she at least somewhat support my dreams, and I use the word somewhat loosely. She also enrolled me in the Conservatory of Fine Arts, which is housed at Cal State LA. During this time, I got lucky enough to find a background casting agency, so for a few months, I was either in school, in acting classes, or on set. My first experience on set was on the Nickelodeon show, Victorious. I was background on there maybe 3 to 4 times in total. But, it was extremely rewarding for me. I learned so much during that time.

Once I graduated high school, I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which is a private, two year acting conservatory. I also moved out of my mom’s house at this time because living with her was causing too much emotional stress. There’s so much trauma that I can’t discuss, but just know it was really really horrible. So getting out gave me so much peace. But, room mating with different people, especially grown men, wasn’t the ideal situation for me. Marvin, who was still in my life at the time, suggested that I move into his’s mother’s house. He had a room there that he wasn’t using. And he didn’t make me pay rent. So of course, I took that offer. However, his mom lived off of Hoover St in south central. If you know that area, you know it isn’t a place that’s easy to live in. I also got my license suspended because of unpaid tickets that I couldn’t afford, so I had to get around using the bus, the train, and my skateboard.
Right before I graduated from the conservatory, my life did an entire 180. I got jumped by my next door neighbors over a situation they started. Believe it or not, I asked someone to stop leaning on the car I was driving at the time because I didn’t know who they were. The car was also Marvin’s. They then, started to yell at me and threaten me. I don’t even know how it got to that point, but they ended up lying about the situation to someone else to get them to want to fight me. It was about an hour before I heard a bunch of women yelling at me through my window that I needed to come outside. I didn’t want to come out because I knew I couldn’t win a fight against 5 to 6 women. And these were women who were apart of gangs.
Marvin’s dad was home when this all took place. He didn’t want anyone damaging the car, so he asked me for the keys so he could move it across the street. As he was doing that, I snuck out of the house and went around the back side of it to make sure no one could see me. I then walked all the way down the street, crossed it, then walked on the opposing side back to where Marvin’s dad parked the car. I then got in the car and drove away, watching those women chase me in the rear view mirror. I realized as I was driving that I would have to eventually go back because I lived there, so I drove to Long Beach to pick up the only friend I had at the time. I called her and explained the situation. She was more than ready to come back with me because thankfully, she had my back. Two hours went by before I returned. Everyone had left except for two people. Those two people were family members to those women. I tried explaining to them what happened, but they didn’t even care to listen because they ended up calling the women to let them know I was back. As I was in the middle of explaining the situation to them, out of nowhere, one of the woman came at me and swung. I dodged the punch. And then, there were two women on me. And two women on my friend. We were both stuck in a fight. Somehow, my friend managed to get those two women to leave her alone and I managed to defend myself and got those two women off of me. I guess they assumed I couldn’t fight. They assumed wrong. When you’d think things couldn’t get worse, they do. They ended up calling the police on me and made up a whole story about how I attacked THEM. The police arrested me and took me to jail, but thankfully, my mom bailed me out 16 hours later. I never expected her to do that, but she did. From that point, I went to court for 4 months because of false charges. The trial got to the jury deliberation, but funny enough, those women who falsely accused me never showed up to court that day. All of the charges were dropped. Marvin didn’t believe me when I told him about what happened. He wasn’t there at the time. He was on vacation. When he came back, the neighbors told him their false story. I had already moved out of his room when he returned because who would want to live there after all of that? When I told him about everything and asked him what was going on, he said he didn’t know who to believe. The one person who I saw as a true father figure for over 15 years didn’t have my back. He wasn’t there for me. To the point where he didn’t even believe me. That hurt me terribly. It hurt me so badly, that I never spoke to him again.

I was room mating again for a while. I’d say a good 2 years went by before my mom called me asking if I’d be willing to move back in with her. I immediately said no because I was not going to relive that trauma. I couldn’t. I explained that to hear so clearly, but at the same time, I still felt bad because at the end of the day that’s my mom. Even after all of the bad things she did, I still had compassion. And also, she only listened to what she wanted to hear. So, she guilt tripped me into moving back in with her. The first year wasn’t so bad. It was around 2018, so a year before COVID hit. I was no where near where I wanted to be at in life. Acting seemed further and further away. I did end up as a background actor for a Fresh Empire commercial, and believe it or not, I met my now fiancee on that set, but of course I didn’t know it at the time.
Still, background work wasn’t enough to cover the bills I had, so finding a job was a must. I started at Toyota and sold cars. I hated it. It was only for three to four months, but that job was extremely depressing. No one really came to my location much, so it was super slow and also a bit toxic. The workers fought for a sale, and I didn’t like that energy so I eventually quit. After that, I ended up getting a job for Amazon. I was a delivery associate with them for over 5 years. I started with driving those super small, cow looking vans, to ending with driving a huge step van. That job is probably one of that hardest jobs I’ve ever done. Delivery people deserve much more credit than they receive. Imagine having to actively move for 8 to 10 hours straight, lifting over 20 boxes that each way 50 pounds, carrying heavy items up 4 to 5 flights of stairs, getting bit by dogs, getting injured with no pay, and dealing with the heavy rain, all while having to finish your entire 400 package route. That all has literally happened to me in one day while doing that job. So you can imagine how every day went. It was truly, unpredictable. However, the job ended up being a blessing because when COVID hit, I was still working. It was also an escape from my home life. My mom reverted back to her old ways and it started affecting my mental and emotional health. It got to the point where I contemplated harming myself because I really couldn’t handle it all. I know that’s a deep topic, but it’s something I don’t mind sharing because I managed to get through it regardless. I moved out of my mom’s apartment and I was so angry at myself because I knew I should have never done so in the first place. So, I started room mating AGAIN. At 27, I’m working at Amazon, room mating in some unkept apartment complex in Gardena, and yet, I still prayed for a day that I could chase my dreams. I prayed every single day. I prayed for a good man to come into my life. I prayed that I’d be able to pursue acting someday. I prayed that I’d have the strength to get through all of the terrible, dark thoughts I had. And finally, I got an answer. Remember how I said I met my fiancée on set of a Fresh Empire commercial? Well, we ended up exchanging socials that day. We followed each other for 5 years. We would sometimes have a small conversation, but it never got past that point. Until one day, it did. I love video games. I’ve played them since I was 3, thanks to my older brother. I currently play this game called Apex Legends. You can get online and play with anyone who has a PlayStation or Xbox account. So he invited me to play with him. And then, he asked me out on a date. And that was almost 3 years ago. We were only dating for 7 to 8 months before he moved me in with him. We now have a beautiful son named Nasir. He turns 1 on April 12th. We live in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. And I’m now, finally, after so much time and so much effort, acting again. I’m still in need of theatrical representation, but I have a commercial agent. I’ve worked on Buzzfeed’s Taste Wars. I played a role on Justice For The People with Judge Milian. I’ve received many auditions, and a few callbacks. I am truly, in the most blissful place. I never thought I’d get the chance to get this much peace and happiness in my life. But I did. And I have it. I will never stop performing. I will never stop acting. I will be on television and movies someday. I will be a successful actress one day. If I managed to get this far in my life after everything I’ve been through, that itself proves that nothing is impossible. Believe me when I say, you will see me succeed. No matter what. Just watch (:

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It was never smooth. Having to move from place to place and constantly have to rebuild something that gets broken down is hard. It was hard. Not having a mom be there for me emotionally or mentally was hard. Not knowing who my father was, was hard. I felt so alone. Because I was. But regardless of all of that, I never stopped believing in myself.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an actress. I’ve had numerous years of training and have been involved in the arts since I was 6, starting with piano and ballet. I’m not known for anything yet, but hopefully I will be sometime soon. I’m most proud of the fact that I ended up with a beautiful family even though I went through so much pain. I’m proud of the fact that I’m able to be genuine and love unconditionally. I’m also proud of the fact that I’m acting again. My energy is what sets me apart from others. I have a very grounded presence and I know exactly what I want and who I am.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory is when my older brother cleared the entire park for me. There were these teenagers hogging the swings, and I really wanted to use them. I asked them if I could, and they told me to leave. I remember telling them that the park is for everyone to use and they have no right to tell me no. They then called me names and insulted me. I told them I was going to tell my older brother what they said and they didn’t care. So when I came back with my brother and they say him, the ran away immediately. I then had the swings and the park area to myself. I felt so happy because my brother was there for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: _originalbri_
• Other: https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/public-profile/d24fdf78-d85b-11f0-8c4d-21fc9ce526c3

Image Credits
Headshot taken by Bradford Rogne Photography.