Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristina Cerda.
Hi Cristina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley. When I was in high school I took theater and dance class. From that moment on, I fell in love with the art of acting and the entertainment industry. After high school I went to Cal State Northridge University as a full-time student and studied Psychology. I never really felt like I was fulfilled in my choice of study, therefore I was always looking for the enjoyment that I felt from acting. So after being in college for two years, I decided to take a few acting classes at the TVI Actor Studio on Ventura Blvd. I signed up for a course where I did a commercial class, soap opera class, and a scene study class. But back then I could not afford to take more classes and I didn’t really know how to break in with head shots and an acting résumé and I used to remember that I used to record my acting scenes with a VHS tape to study from it. I ended up getting a full-time job at a landscape company as a receptionist and decided I was unhappy with that so, I joined the Marines at 25 . I ended deploying to Afghanistan in 2011 . I finished my enlistment after my four year contract and decided to marry a Marine three months before my enlistment ended. He got orders to be stationed in Okinawa, Japan for three years so I went with him. l decided to go back to school and I took online classes from abroad. I was able to get my bachelors degree from Cal State Northridge in Psychology while I was living in Japan. In 2018, I moved back to Los Angeles, Ca and I still had the acting bug and decided to follow my dreams half way through my thirties. I decided to get my masters in acting for film from New York film academy. I’d always wanted to do acting and when I found out that New York film Academy took the G.I. bill from the military. I decided to study acting. In 2019 I began my year and a half MFA program and graduated in May 2020. Covid hit halfway through our last semester And we had to finish via online after that I took a year off from school because of Covid and I was also going through a divorce. Finally in April 2021 after I got vaccinated I decided to begin working in the entertainment industry. I began doing background in commercials and basically signing up for anything on Casting Networks, Actors Access and Casting Frontier. I’ve been working as an actor for the last four years now I’ve done a commercial for target, the law brothers, which is a regional commercial and a few short films that I have gotten credit for on IMDb. In 2022 I decided to go behind the camera and work as a production assistant to become a more well rounded person in the entertainment industry. I fell in love with being a PA for mainly commercials and still photography. I’ve met so many people and have been able to work and being a PA has led me to so many opportunities within the entertainment industry that have helped me in my career. I continue to do background and PA work as my main gigs, but I decided to focus a little more on my acting career and have wanted to go back to studying acting. I’m also part of a wonderful organization called Veterans and Media Entertainment that helps veterans within the entertainment industry make connections. Learn from each other they offer workshops and it’s a great community to be a part of. They have helped me so much I owe so much to them. I have also worked as a second A.D. a couple of times.. I’ve also worked with some celebrities that I can’t really mention or I don’t think I can mention due to the NDA‘s that I signed. But my career within this industry has been very rewarding.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Going through my divorce and Covid were hard, but nothing is like the struggle I’m going through now. Well, my brother passed away in January of this year and that has been the real struggle I’ve been feeling so far. He was also an actor and I’ve honestly been trying to keep going for him. I want to make him proud.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m most proud of the commercials I’ve been in. I also helped my friends who are filmmakers with their short film. They made me the AD on it and it was very much a learning experience. Also knowing that I’ve worked certain celebrities.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I would say take it one day at a time and really network. Any job offered to you within the entertainment industry is a good job. You never know who you are going to meet. There is no small jobs. I wish I would have networked more in film school. I was so focused on my classes and passing that I didn’t really socialize with anyone, but my fellow students within my cohort. They are like my brothers and sisters now. We are all very close. Rose is one of them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://CristinaCerda.com
- Instagram: @cristina_cerda1
