Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Nierenberg.
Hi Diane, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The dream of becoming an actress started at a very young age. In my family, I am the youngest of three, and my siblings are very much apart from me in age, plus I didn’t have many friends growing up so I spent my childhood pretty alone, watching movies and dreaming of being part of them. Lord of the Rings was a revelation for me. I am originally from Spain, and there the industry is much smaller, so I used to beat myself up thinking that I would get nowhere if I tried getting into acting, but my soul was always craving to do something artistic, so I tried everything under the sun from singing (I even had an emo band) to photography.
It was when I finally moved to Los Angeles that the thoughts became more serious. I studied cinematography in a small school in Hollywood in 2017, and that is when I produced my first short being here in the US. I remember the emotion I felt when I was showing my family the result, but even after that, I would beat myself up thinking that I would get nowhere. It took a little courage to finally decide that acting and possibly directing were going to be what I wanted to do the rest of my life, but dreams don’t come true if you don’t try, and that is what pushed me to be where I am today.
I have learned from wonderful teachers such as Lesly Khan & Co and Doug Warhit and I believe that an actor should always be in search of knowledge and tools to improve and not fall behind, but I have also learned from each of the roles I have played in my career, and that is the wonderful gift we get in this profession, you get to know yourself more through others. I love characters like Maria in my recent short “A Knock at the Door” because these characters pushed me to access parts of myself that I was scared of, like being vulnerable.
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?
Being an actor is not easy, but it is rewarding. I always joke with one of my best friends who happens to be an actress in Spain, that our life is a constant roller coaster. One day you are absolutely ecstatic because you book the role you wanted and then after that you are depressed for a week because your auditions don’t go anywhere. You have to be prepared to book a small percentage of the roles you audition for, because there are tons of actors out there, and not booking doesn’t mean that you are not good enough, it just means that someone else fits that part better. I don’t like when on interviews or when they talk about A-listers, they make it sound like getting up there is easy and they just one day show up out of nowhere and book the role that makes them famous. It does not work like that. Behind every successful actor, there is a ton of rejection, a lot of effort, and a dream that makes them wake up every day and say, “Today might be the day” but there are a lot of those days until THE day comes. I always say that my best advice for every actor is that you need to take every no as an opportunity to learn, not as a failure.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In my career so far I have worked in dramas, thrillers, romantic comedies… a little bit of everything. My favorite projects are always those that allow me to go deep into the characters and the psychology of them. Last year, I worked on an Indie project called Xanadu Hellfire and I loved the fact that Justin, the director, allowed me to choose how my character was going to be dressed and even the type of makeup I was going to wear because it helped me create the story behind Nemesis (my role) and it was a beautiful experience. I believe that Justin is working on “Witches of the Wasteland” the second part of this movie, and my character would have a bigger role so I can’t wait to learn more about her. I am also putting a lot of time lately into directing, and I am absolutely enjoying every moment of it. Right now I am working on an Indie thriller written and produced by Ryan Willer called “The Serenade Charade”. Ryan approached me and offered to direct this film and when I read the script I had to say yes. I love films that make you think and believe me, this is one of them. Also, we have a dream team, our cast and crew is amazing so I can’t wait to proudly show everybody what we are working on.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Not sure if this comes as a surprise to anybody but I am an absolute nerd, I am definitely proud of it, and it is basically part of my personality. My favorite things when I am not acting are watching anime, reading manga, and playing videogames, and I guess that translates into my work because my favorite film genres are Fantasy and Sci-Fi, and if I could work on those my whole life, I would be more than happy, but as a professional, you have to try absolutely everything before you get typecast (joking) I also loved cosplaying since I was really young, and it is fun to cosplay those characters that you dream of playing one day in your career, like when you are little and you play dress up and role-play with friends. I think we (actors) are just those kids that never get tired of dressing up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dianenierenberg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diane.nier/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13116423/
