Today we’d like to introduce you to Yasmin Xavier.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m 22 years old, moved to the US when I was 16 to do an exchange program in Florida and ended up moving to LA after for college. I grew up being very passionate about the arts, always loved to sing, play the guitar, act, model, it was all very much part of my life and I always knew that would be the path that I would want to follow. Thankfully my parents always supported me with my career and never doubted me. Since I graduated college last year in February, I’ve been working and getting more experience, whether that be with hosting, acting, modeling or singing. I’ve worked on a couple of commercials since then, the new show Super Pumped on Param0unt+ for two months and had great coverage in it, I’m also a Portuguese News Anchor at Hollywire and have been doing a lot of freelancing for both acting and modeling. I’m a very social and friendly person, one of my favorite things about this industry is connecting with new creatives and learning new things about myself and other people. At AMDA where I got my bachelor’s degree, I was able to get great training and I’ve always been really determined to keep getting better as an artist, which really helped with how much I missed my family in all those six years that I’ve been here. During that time I definitely had ups and downs, but I feel like I know myself much better now and have grown so so much. It’s been a great journey.
Alright, 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?
I’ve definitely had struggles along the way. When I was in Florida I felt very disconnected from the people that I went to school with, it was probably the cultural shock at first and also feeling judged for being from Brazil and being a very open/friendly person. I missed my family and friends a lot that first year. Then during college, I majored in Musical Theatre and halfway through the program I realized I mostly wanted to do Acting and that Musical Theatre wasn’t really for me, which made me very insecure about my work and as a perfectionist, I never felt like I was good enough. I still wanted to get my degree in Musical Theatre considering it was already halfway there.
Then in 2018, my mom found out she had breast cancer, and that took a toll on me and my family. I was back in Brazil for the break that year and I remember how hard that was for me to see her like that. In the same year, just a couple of months later, I was very emotionally unstable, started gaining a lot of weight and distancing myself from my friends and family. I only started to feel better about six months later when I decided something had to change. After I graduated last year, I also had some problems with my OPT card that got lost in the mail twice, which limited the work that I was able to do and the jobs that I could get, not to mention I had to pay the application fee 3 times as well. Then my mom’s cancer came back last year, but this time we all took it differently, in a very positive, optimistic way. I’ve grown a lot as a person and as an artist with all of those experiences, and it completely changed my perspective on things.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a BFA in Musical Theatre/Acting, have had training in Improv, Scene Study, Acting for the Camera, Stage Combat, Voice-Over and more. I’ve been modeling for about eight years as well, having done mostly E-commerce, Beauty shoots and Portrait, Commercial and Editorial. I’m most proud of the short film I just recently did, a comedy/parody of the Batman, Super Pumped, my Hollywire job and also all of my modeling jobs here. I believe what sets me apart from others is my energy on set, my drive, the way I dedicate myself in everything I do and always give my best. I also see myself as a very genuine person who’s very transparent and loving with everyone I meet, I’ve been like that my whole life and when people acknowledge that it truly makes me happy because I want to make a positive impact in people’s lives.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like the most about LA is the diversity. I love meeting people from everywhere, with different hopes and dreams, who were raised different than me. I love that the artist industry is so big here and that I get to meet incredible people who loves this just as much as me. I believe what I like the least is the other side of the coin from that, I also get to meet a lot of superficial people who only care about status and money, people that aren’t genuine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yasminxavier87.wixsite.com/yaslacerdax
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yaslacerdax/
Image Credits
In order: – OYA ActiveWear (B.P Edwards Photographer) – Daz Alvaredo – Poth Molita Dou MUA and Photographer Atilla ATB Photo -Yessi Headshots – Photographer Alex Chik – Restless Creative Shoot
