Daily Inspiration: Meet Jovanna Vidal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jovanna Vidal.

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?
Thank you for this opportunity to share my story of following my dreams! So I am an actor, host and voiceover artist living and loving Los Angeles!!

I also love everything ‘New’!!

That is…

New Experiences, New Places, New Ideas and of course…

New Adventures!

So that is how it all started!! I really DO thrive on doing and seeing new things, learning, and growing!!

I also love to help others and add a smile to someone’s day!!

I for certain attribute these strong Jovanna traits to my amazing family!!

They Rock & They ARE My Rock!!

Where I’m from: I was born, raised, and schooled mostly in New York & New Jersey. I feel so verrry blessed to carry with me my rich Dominican culture and all the life-changing lessons from living in some of the most amazing cities like New York, Santo Domingo, London, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles just to name the bigger ones!! ‘Cause you probably never heard of Skamakowa, WA… Yup, I knew it…lol;) Truth be told, neither had I before a serendipitous three months adventure right on the breathtaking Columbia River!

I am grateful to my small town experiences for which without I would NOT be the Jovanna I am today! My one (literally!) square mile town where I went to middle/high school and which I credit for making me a ‘Jersey girl at heart’ keeps me grounded throughout. I had that small-town feel with the NY Greenwich Village as my after-school playground (literally!)

My wishes and desires are simple…

Yet my vision and encounters are vast and varied!!

Where I started: I attended Pace University in N.Y. It was there that I realized my love of the business world and pursued a major in International Marketing and Advertising. I was also bound and determined to study abroad and ultimately chose London as my host city. Further adventures had me backpacking through Edinburgh, Dublin, Bath, Paris, Rome, Florence, Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich and another 1/2 a dozen cities on my meager little student budget…What can I say? I’m resourceful;)

It was after my fourth internship in two years at MasterCard International and while in London that I received my offer to join the Fortune 100 company as a Media Specialist upon graduation. It was sooo hard to part with my once in a lifetime European experience and even harder to get a Visa to stay in London!! Experiencing a great deal of reverse culture shock, I returned back to the States to graduate Magna Cum Laude and quickly entered my ‘real’ adult years!!

It was a really exciting time at MasterCard as the Priceless Campaign was being unveiled and becoming a huge award-winning and pop-culture phenomenon. I loved being behind the scenes, working alongside some of THE most fantastic and brilliant minds in Advertising, creating and bringing the memorable Priceless commercials for you all to see!!

By the age of 23, I was promoted to Media Manager, managing MasterCard’s almost $270 MILLION (yes! million) dollar media budget!! It was a (killer;) challenge I would later look back and appreciate. However, the desire to be IN FRONT of the camera was becoming stronger every minute of every day. And presented with the extremely difficult crossroads to leave security, stability, comfort, ease, fun, and an amazzzing group of people who I had grown so close to and loved, oh and of course not to mention my entire afreakingmazzzing family, friends and the fantastic city of New York (ok super long-run-on but mannn was it a hard decision for me!!;)

I Decided My Life’s GOAL:

To Live MY Life With No REGRETS…

The decision was made!!

I was leaving MasterCard…

I was leaving NY, too!!

Yikes!!!! lol;)

Where I went: Somehow stars aligned and I packed up, with zero clue as to how and what would unfold. I packed only what I could fit in my little two seater convertible, drove to Virginia where I put my car and myself on Amtrak’s Auto Train heading to Sanford, FL.

The stars continued to align, faith-filled and fate proved, I drove into steamy Miami Beach one day later!!

My strategy you might ask?

I told myself: Just say “Hi” and see what happens…

ONLY in MIAMI!!

My strategy worked!!!!

Within three days, I had two jobs and a fantastic studio 1/2 a block from the ocean!!

Which was where I was first ‘spotted’ to do my first music video on a yacht with (ironically;) a British singer/performer named Joshua…

ONLY in MIAMI!!

My strategy worked…again and again!!

I could share story after story but it was clear that my dream of being in front of the camera and performing live was fast becoming a reality!! From Univision Red Carpets to trips to some of the most pristine Caribbean islands, to travel shows, did I mention that I sooo wanted to have Brooke Burke’s travel schedule and visit all those different cultures around the World!?!

I was living and loving this life farrr more than I could have ever dreamed!!

So What Happened?

Like so many performers, artists, dancers, actors – the time comes when you set your sights on what else is out there? I began to outgrow the tiny island and began to dream of Hollywood!! That’s what happened…lol;)

So here I was again, at another crossroads!!

Do I stay in a market I know and love where people now know and seek me?

Or…

Do I try to go for yet another new adventure?

I Drew Upon My Life’s MANTRA Again…

No REGRETS REMEMBER?

To Live MY Life With No REGRETS…

Where Did I GO This Time?

I packed my now much larger Toyota truck and headed West! I stopped along the way in some great cities I’d long wanted to visit; New Orleans, San Antonio, Denver, Scottsdale – gosh, driving cross country is SUCH a BLAST!! I’ve done it now 4 Times!!

I was checking off another bucket list item!!

Seven days and 3000 miles later, I had made it!! BURBANK, CALIFORNIA…

I had signed up for a weekend intensive for actors which I was pushing myself to make for the 7AM start time, which I did…thank you very much;)

I’ll never forget the first time riding in that Holiday Inn Burbank glass elevator and seeing the snow-capped mountains in the distance!! Mountains?? I had never seen anything like it!! I was in LOVEEEE!!!

I can honestly say that LA has been THE most challenging market for me to crack, although it has also been the ABSOLUTE most thrilling and character-building experience of my life!! I most definitely did not have the easy transition I had in Miami as far as setting up shop!!

The year was 2009 and the Great Recession had taken hold…

I did my apartment and job searches overnight at the 24hr Denny’s in Santa Monica. The free wifi and ample coffee refills saved me. It was in this exact Denny’s where I first learned to drink coffee actually so that I can then get to the gym at 5am when it opened to get my workout and shower. Well, I’d be off to see apartments aimlessly driving the most inefficient routes across town during the most awful traffic times no less.

After too many hours without sleep, I would then finally get a few hours sleep, at best, in my car! I would try to park at the beach to watch and wake up to the ocean so take that for awesome…lol;) It was close to a month before I felt what it was like to sleep in a bed again!! And that wasn’t even my own apartment or a real bed for that matter!! It was a studio share sleeping on a pull-out futon in the living room…futon surfing, I suppose;)

Although, shhh, I don’t think my mom and dad and My Tita (grandma…RIP; ) never really knew the real reality of it all…

Well, let’s FFW…

We all have these stories…lol;)

Where Am I Now You Ask?

Twelve years in Los Angeles!! I knowww…sooo WILD!! LA is a city I love FARRR beyond my wildest expectations! My path has led me to stumble upon THE most amazing friends, mentors, teachers, advisers, agents, all still supporting my dream!! It’s such a thrill and a tremendous blessing to have a team that believes in me to this day!!

It’s also such an amazzzing feeling to be in the commercial world again!! In front of the camera that is…I soooo love it!! I know most television viewers FFW past commercials but that is just not the case with me!! I do…I love watching and especially LOVE being part of these fantastic little 30 second stories that can make us smile, laugh, cry or, wait for it…think…lol;)

I also had the great privilege to manage John Sudol’s Center for the Language of the Face. An absolute life and career-changing experience alongside John Sudol’s brilliant and unique work and ginormous contribution to the acting craft. It has forever changed me and I’ve witnessed ~ first hand ~ the thousands of students, both actors and non-actors, who have transformed because of his work!! HUGE Fan always;)

John’s book “Acting: Face to Face”, a Bestseller on Amazon, now reaches actors and professionals worldwide. Touring with the book was an extraordinary opportunity with incredible lessons in organization, coordination, strategy and follow-up. And cherry on top? “Acting: Face to Face” was featured on Forbes.com as “One of the best books on leadership…” I boast so much because this genius work has the capacity to alter how we interact with each other in our businesses and our everyday worlds. And why I am extremely honored to have been credited as a Contributing Editor!!

I also feel SO privileged to be recurring in Dhar Mann’s motivational and moral teaching videos that have garnered over 22 BILLION total views. It has helped me tremendously in meeting so many of our followers around the World when I go Live on social media. It is one of my most favorite things to do is to talk and share my own lessons!! This is why my YouTube Channel was created and how it originated. My channel is called the “Scenic Route with Jovanna” because I create videos about my acting journey and what I’ve learned in hopes that I can help others overcome some of the difficult challenges we inevitably will encounter!! I share my experiences and my own struggles with frustration, anxiety even depression several years ago and how I’ve overcome them. So I haven’t always been naturally happy and I went to GREAT lengths to get to the other side of it. I truly credit and am forever grateful to the meditation practice I learned over seven years ago for changing and up-leveling my entire life!!!

I also met my now husband of just a few months here in LA!! Yes!! We just got married over the 4th of July weekend after living together five years in a small 120 sq. foot studio and just got even closer as a couple during quarantine mandates!! We moved into our home, renovated the house and planned our wedding in just two months!! IT was BONKERS!! And it has been AMAZING!!

And then, just two weeks after our wedding, I started filming God & Salsa, the feature film that was postponed in 2020 and which I played the lead. YES, it has been an absolute whirlwind these past few months!! And no, I wouldn’t change it for the World!!!! I am FINALLY feeling just SOOO aligned and on purpose and excited to be working on upcoming projects!!

Where Am I Going?

Can you see how I can get sooo very excited looking forward to all the amazingly, unbelievable experiences I just know await me on this journey of mine!?!?

Looking ahead, I’ve always wanted to incorporate my love for the camera with my biggest dream of traveling around the globe because I am just so very fascinated by different cultures and ways of living. I want to ultimately experience ALL the exotic destinations you see in Conde Nast Traveler write-ups and magazines!! Howeverrr…until the World and travel can open back up safely, my husband and I would love to buy a really cool RV and do some more road trips around the US in the meantime and share all our adventures;)

I also ABSOLUTELY revel in my alone time!! I love to read and write and learn!!! I am a forever student of life and it is in these private moments where my dreams and new ideas form and present themselves to me!! I just love that!!

We’ll have to see as the industry morphs into our developing new normal to see what happens for me along the perpetual twists and turns of these wacky waters of show business!! Tho I’m excited!! We shall soon see which road less traveled I will choose to embark on next;)

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?
Jajajaaa NOT a smooth road at ALL!! I touched on many of my struggles as I shared my story of living in my car when I first moved to LA because this is a really expensive city for an actor. It was extremely challenging to find an apartment in my budget and the sort of jobs an actor would seek were scarce and hard to come by!! I was moving every couple of weeks because I was doing short-term rentals because I was traveling for work opportunities I still had and couldn’t commit to any of the areas/apartments I was seeing. And this wasn’t my first rodeo either!! I’d made big city moves several times at this point and LA was STILL the most challenging for me to set up shop!! That really surprised me at the time however now living here this many years, I’ve seen and heard it countless times…which makes me EVEN MORE proud to still be in LA after so many years!!!

I also struggled with debilitating fear, frustration, anxiety and was even depressed for years. I wish I could say it was only because of my lack of forward movement in my acting career that prompted these struggles however they were present long before I became an actor. They just deepened after the reality and challenges of being an actor in LA got more difficult.

I remember waking up sad and empty and at a loss each and every single day for months and months!! That’s even if I woke up because ALL I WANTED TO DO was sleep to avoid feelings the sadness!! I was SO frustrated with being frustrated that it was a snowball effect and I just got deeper and further into the rabbit hole. I was miserable and unhappy and saw no point in anything especially my life or reason for being here doing what I was doing. I know I’ve had dark thoughts and was in a VERY dark place. I just wanted answers and it didn’t matter where I turned I just kept getting more unanswered questions!! I remember 2013 to 2015 being my darkest years. So the hopelessness lasted two years if not longer:(

It was in the fall of 2015 when I finally decided I needed a break from LA and we moved out of the house we were living in and I took an opportunity to air b&b around the country for six months. I just wanted to live a simpler life so I had chapters in cities that were seeing some growth in their respective entertainment industries to see if I wanted to move to New Orleans or Atlanta or the PNW. I was really at that point of just wanting to throw in the towel in LA!!

It was EXACTLY what I needed at that time. I just needed to remember why I had set out on this journey and I soon realized I wanted to continue to pursue my acting in LA!! I returned back refreshed and dove back into pursuing my on-camera career. It was TOUGH tho!! If you are not in this city and you leave for any stretch of time, I’ve found that it’s like starting ALL OVER when you return!! Even if it’s only a few months. That’s how fast this industry was moving THEN!! And now with all the technology we have at our fingertips it is INFINITELY faster!!!

However, I must admit, one of my biggest hurdles was the struggle with the industry telling me to just be myself!!

I was so resistant to that because I was so lost that I didn’t know who I was or wanted to be anymore!! I would just get more confused whenever I got the note “Just be yourself” in acting classes or auditions. It was like no, you want a mother of 2, who dresses a certain way, who needs/shops for the product the audition is for, who has to say words she would never say and you want me to be myself?! I couldn’t wrap my brain around being myself in those auditions when I am single, with no kids and wouldn’t behave the way characters in these, let’s say slice of life commercials, are behaving. How can that be being myself?? Lol:)

I had to really step away from it all to come back to decide who I wanted to become next. I recognized that I was just at another crossroads and I had to step into the next version of myself!!

EVERYTHING has eased since that moment!! It was when I took that journey again within and stopped trying to find it in another city that I was able to move past SO MANY of the barriers that had been holding me back or hostage or stuck or actually all of the above. It has and continues to be SUCH an INCREDIBLE journey of self-exploration and self-discovery!! And for that alone, I am SOOO grateful I’ve learned to tune into what my heart is pulling me to do versus listening to my head which is what I did for so long!!

Acting in Los Angeles, or any creative pursuit I imagine, as much as we LOVE ITTT, is a mammoth of an undertaking!! It’s been INCREDIBLY challenging tho wildly interesting and truly satisfying!! So no, it has not been a smooth road whatsoever…lol;)

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Again, I am an actor, host, and voiceover artist.

I specialize in human emotion and subtle to extreme facial expressions. I studied for five years with John Sudol who is the master teacher of how we communicate our thoughts and feelings without saying a word.

So often, we hear that acting is reacting. And so often, those reactions don’t carry words. I was and am FASCINATED by people, human behavior and psychology. I became certified in reading micro-expressions and taught other actors at the John Sudol Acting Studio how to create real, authentic emotions and reveal them on their face on-demand. Because as actors, that’s what we have to do.

If the director wants a certain expression or reaction at a certain point in the story or at any given time, we, as on-camera actors don’t get the preparation or rehearsal time that stage actors get. And on stage, you don’t really focus as much on the face because of the sheer reality of distance that the audience often sits at. Frankly, you can hardly see facial expressions from the 20th row.

As tv/film actors, you can guarantee that the camera is going to be, and in many cases, VERY close to the face. And having the ability to modulate what you are expressing depending on what kind of shot it is, whether a medium or extreme close-up, has been a HUGE advantage for me in my work.

I can play with a director, give them options and do so on-demand. Which is SO FUN!! THAT has been not only a career-changing skill but also life-changing!! I am SO grateful to John Sudol for this work!! I’ve worked with literally thousands of actors who when we did our initial alignment baseline test, you couldn’t see a difference between sad or happy or even anger for that matter!! They all would read the same on-camera and it is often because of our cultural do’s and dont’s. For the ladies, it is often, be polite and don’t show anger and for the guys, it’s often thought they are weak if they cry in front of others. Old school, I know, but enough conditioning to NOT display these emotions in public and we lose the ability to create them when it IS necessary as an actor for a character or role. And then layer in whether you are an introvert or extrovert, and it just gets even more challenging for the actor. I just find it SO FASCINATING in life. And to be able to have that understanding and foundation has just been incredible for me as a performer.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Ohhh goshhhh!! For me, I think it has been – jump in and then “I’ll figure it out somehow”!! Also showing up and keeping going!! So often, I’d go to seminars or workshops and SO many actors wouldn’t show up!! So just showing up EVEN when I had a valid reason not to has shown me how big of a component that is in staying in it!! I think my big risks and wish to follow my heart have been HUGE for me!! Like I’ve mentioned, I really just don’t want to look back and wonder what could have been had I just “________ fill in the blank”. So often, I will do THAT blank thing just so that I don’t have that moment of regret later in life!! That does not mean I don’t have any regrets, I just don’t want to have many more….lol;) And that’s what I encourage others along the way to do!! To follow YOUR heart, your dreams, your gut, your inner gps…it knows the way!!! It’s been an AMAZINGLY gratififying way to live for me on my journey;)

Contact Info:

• Email: jo@thisisjovanna.com
• Website: www.thisisjovanna.com
• Instagram: @thisisjovanna
• Facebook: @thisisjovanna
• Twitter: @thisisjovanna
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/thisisjovanna
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jovanna-vidal

Image Credits:
Oscar Guzman; Arturo Cordero: Miguel Hernandez