Hollywood’s Hidden Gems

Simon Cai

I view my path to cinematography as a continuous exploration in the dazzling world of art. Growing up in a musical family in Shanghai, the early contact of classical music and instruments cultivated my curiosity for other art forms. I embarked on my visual journey when I, at five, first pressed the shutter of a Nikon film camera. With a background of music and photography, the way floating notes and melodies forming into phrases and movements with legato and staccato inspired me to make visual arts that can flow like music; and rather than only capturing moments, I started my endeavor of creating moments that are able to last and resonate with my audience. Those experiences eventually encouraged me to pursue a filmmaking major, first in Boston and in LA. Read more>>

Darnel Beasley

My story is all about determination because I’ve always known the great gifts this world has to offer. Every gift has been presented as an opportunity first. It has been up to me to decipher great opportunities from good opportunities. I’ve always known I wanted to be great so there was only left one option in this case. Read more>>

Andy Garcia

My earliest memory ever is watching 2002’s Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire in an AMC theater with my family, I believe. I had to be about only three years old. Growing up as a kid, more movies stuck to me such as a few Arnold Schwarzenegger movies my dad would love to watch, like Predator & Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Other movies I would have to bring up is Alien versus Predator & Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Read more>>

Mary Scholz

I could talk my way around my childhood, etc., but what really got me here was getting scammed when I was 22. I had grown up completely in love with the arts. Expression from within that moved outwards – I was fascinated by mediums that seemed to reach people emotionally. Dance, painting, theatre….but music was always my top priority, my deepest love, from my earliest memories. Singing, to be the most specific, but music as a whole. I think I was always teeing myself up to be a singer/songwriter, from my obsession with song lyrics to the poetry I would write and the songs I would make up before ever learning an instrument that I could accompany myself with. But I loved so many other methods of performance, so I pursued those, too. Read more>>

Sam Lukowski

I don’t really understand why these kinds of questions get asked. The more an Audience knows about an actor’s personal life, the less likely they are to accept the illusion of character in the story. I mean, that’s more of a spoiler than telling someone the ending. The Audience is paying good money to be entertained – and it’s all dependent on the power of suggestion – so I’m not really sure how to ever answer this question. Denzel Washington said it better: “An actor should be good – not known”. I agree with him. My origin story is boring: I started auditioning as a kid and I never stopped. Sometimes I get lucky and book work, other times I pay my bills by working different day jobs. That’s really all there is to it. I’m lucky to be here and I appreciate every opportunity. Read more>>

Sarah Summers

From the young age of five, my Dad asked me “What do you wanna be when you grow up?” To which I replied with the utmost confidence “FAMOUS!” – and thus a lifelong passion for acting, writing, singing and overall performing started. I was born in Southern California to a singer/actress Mother and writer/musician Father so the path of being an artist was not out of the norm. Growing up, I split my time between Long Beach with my dad and Costa Mesa with my mom. Read more>>

Holly Owen

It was March 2020, and I was living in New Orleans when everything shut down. I went from being really busy – decorating Airbnb’s, having an active social life, riding in a Mardi Gras krewe – to being out of work and going out of my mind. Right around the same time, things imploded with the guy I had been seeing, and I felt like I had nothing. Nothing but time. Read more>>

Alejandro Belmonte

I started this acting journey in Mexico City at the Method Actors Workshop, where I studied for two years and later began my acting career at Argos Casazul, which is one of the most prestigious acting schools in my country when I was in school I started working in theater and making short films. After graduating came the movie “How Am I not going to love you” which premiered in Mexico and the United States and where I got my first leading role since then I have not stopped working. But since I was a child I know that I was born an actor and I feel very happy that I dedicate myself to doing what I like. This love for my profession is what has brought me to this point in my life and has more than 60 credits on IMDb. Read more>>

Anasuya Engel

I grew up in Los Angeles, at age ten I decided I was going to be a fashion designer, and after graduating high school, I went to Otis School of Art and Design and got my BFA, majoring in fashion design. After that, I worked as a designer for over 20 years. I had worked as a women’s wear designer from small, independently owned companies to large corporations, finally starting a kid’s clothing of my own after my daughter was born in 2010. I had the business (called Peas and Queues) for almost ten years, but when the pandemic hit, many of my wholesale customers closed down, and a friend of mine who is a real estate agent was looking for an assistant. I decided to have a complete pandemic career change and dive full force into a career I had always thought about. I had been following for years my friends who have been in real estate, also often going to open houses I ran across, just out of curiosity, and keeping tabs on all flips in my area… wishing I could have done it myself. Now I have been working as a realtor for over two years. Read more>>

Esteban Gutierrez

My LA journey began in 2015 when I left New York City and moved to Los Angeles. I worked for all the best pizzerias in Los Angeles and encountered incredible people who provided me with this opportunity eight years later. A friend and mentor from Los Angeles called me in August of 2021 to inform me that he had stumbled upon an opportunity that was tailor-made for me. He stated that Jam Master J’s daughter was opening a New York-style pizzeria in Los Angeles and was searching for a real New York pizzaman to represent the business. Things moved swiftly after he made the introduction; on September 19th, I packed up and moved to Los Angeles! I assumed the position of “chief chef” and began to draft my menu; on September 29, we opened for business. This incredible endeavor, however, would be short-lived. Read more>>

Brittany Charlotte Smith

Ever since I could remember, I loved performing. Some of my earliest memories are on a stage at a recital doing very amateur jazz. To be fair – I was 2, so my hand-eye coordination was quite a novice. After that, I begged my parents to put me in every singing and dancing class which led me to musical theatre. I loved it so much ended up going to college for it! Being able to act, sing and dance with an ensemble of people is absolutely magical. I started doing that professionally out of college. I did a few plays and musicals and eventually found my way to film and tv.  Read more>>

Daniel Abramovici

I was born in Israel and moved to Toronto at age five, where I grew up. My dream as a kid was to move to LA and work in the film industry, not knowing what role exactly but knowing that I wanted to be around a lot of creativity. Growing up, I was fortunate to have parents who exposed me to many music and art forms. The older I got, I gravitated toward visual arts. I had, for as long as I can remember, always kept a sketchbook and painted. My interests grew very specifically in fine art painting, film, and animation. I studied illustration and computer animation at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Read more>>

Andrew Haan

I am an artist, designer, and muralist based in Los Angeles, CA. Originally from Michigan, I have always been inspired to create. After graduating with a degree in graphic design, I spent a year working in marketing before deciding that the corporate cubicle wasn’t where I wanted to be. And after two years of grad school along with some serious questioning, I decided to ditch what I thought I needed to do in order to pursue my passion — ART. Read more>>