Life & Work with Gabriella Wisdom of Van nuys

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriella Wisdom.

Gabriella, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up on a farm in Oklahoma, I was raised with strict cult like religious views, which included wearing skirts down to my ankle, and being homeschooled, so as to be removed from the world as much as possible, no television or secular music, limited reading materials, and being preached at to be a servant to those around me, but especially the husband I would one day have. That last part especially did not sit well with me. I have a bit of a I can do it myself stubborn streak, being the oldest of eight kids growing up as the de facto third parent, made me a natural leader, and I started to question the things I was being taught. On occasion, my parents would break and we would get a TV mostly so my dad could watch golf but when my parents were gone, I would spend all my time watching the movies, my parents deemed okay and whatever was on, a lot of daytime TV, and gossip girl, 90210, and my favorite America’s next top model. I was so curious about the world outside my little bubble.

When I was 14 I started working at Chick-fil-A, a wonderful escape from my home life and my first chance to be a part of the world in a way that I chose, I worked at Sooner mall in Norman, Oklahoma for about five years, I met my first boyfriend there, and ultimately learned a lot of life lessons, I was in a tumultuous relationship until I was about 21, Turns out ‘serve your man forever no matter what’ wasn’t great dating advice. Who knew?”
When my boss gave me the opportunity to move with him and his family to Texas and open a new store, I jumped at starting a new chapter of my life, I spent a couple years there very empty and didn’t make any real connections outside of the people in my store. I am of the belief that homeschooling your children does a huge disservice to them if you do not equally socialize them at a young age which I was not, and sometimes I can find it very difficult in social settings to pick up cues and to maintain connections, it’s a struggle I still have to this day.
During my eighth year at Chick-fil-a, I realized my drive for financial security didn’t fill the lifelong emptiness I felt, the survival mode I had always been in started to change, and I started to question a lot of the things in my life, in retrospect, my frontal lobe was just fully developing. It was during this time that I had transferred stores, my new boss who was much younger saw me working 65 hours a week and basically killing myself set me down one day and asked me why I did it. I was confused, in my mind I did it because it’s what I’ve always done and saving a certain amount of money every month made me breathe easier.
I remember distinctly everything about that moment, he said yes, but what are your goals? Your dreams? What are you gonna do with it all? Out of nowhere I started to tear up and I realized at 24 I had no goals or dreams, this moment was so pivotal to my story, no one had ever dared me to want more or so directly pointed out the what I had wasn’t enough. While on this thought process of searching for more in life, someone reached out to me about modeling for them, I eagerly jumped at it and realized that I loved being in front of a camera a lot, the fact that it was something very taboo in my childhood probably played a small part in. Very quickly, I started to gain a small reputation in the Photography community in Texas, for the first time I had friends, I was being creative, and I had started to think about what else I could do with my life.
When I signed my first modeling agency, it was on the caveat that I would also try acting, I eagerly agreed because I wanted the representation. When my agent told me that she’d picked out an acting class for me to take, I was absolutely terrified. I’ve had no intentions of actually going through with that part of it, being the people pleaser that I was back then I reluctantly decided to attend, it was extremely outside of my comfort zone. The class mostly focused on improv, and I soon realized that I was a bit of a natural, especially when it came to the emotional part of it. Showing emotion in my family was something we did alone and felt really embarrassed if it was seen by anyone else. crying in front of people being able to actually show anger was so foreign to me but liberating at the same time. I quickly fall in love with the idea of it.
I started taking regular trips out to California to see a boyfriend I had at the time, I remember I’d walk around Hollywood and daydream that I could actually live here and go after these kinds of things, until one day I just did.
I was the general manager of the Chick-fil-a. I was working at the time, which was a very comfortable job, I had bought a house a few years before, I quickly sold everything I couldn’t fit in a U-Haul, and before I knew it, my daydream was my reality. I thought the need to go all in, no back up plan, just fully go for it. The only problem was once I got here. I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or how to accomplish the things that I came here to do.
The first six months were the hardest the boyfriend I had first had upon arriving, didn’t take our break up well and started stalking me, which led to me feeling like I couldn’t leave my house. There was a very upsetting night in which he broken after threatening to kill me, which led to police presence and an agreement that his family would come take him back to their home state for some psychological evaluations. I felt the survival mode switched back on, and I slipped into a catatonic state. Here I was in this new city where I didn’t really know anybody, I didn’t want to be seen as a failure, I told very few people back home what it happened as I tried to deal with the repercussions myself.
It felt like for a while. I forgot why I moved here, and I was simply existing, with the money I had made from selling my house. I was able to take a reprieve from work, but without any structure to my life, I simply stayed in bed most days.
I started doing background work in the hopes that I would be discovered, a lot of of my resources came for meeting other people doing the same and letting me know about Backstage and Actors Access and how to audition. I think it’s important to note. I had never even had an acting audition before I moved to Los Angeles. I just wildly decided that’s what I wanted to do. Looking back now the thought makes me smile.
I got picked up for a major supporting role on a movie. It was unpaid, but I felt like I was on my way,
A few years of auditioning here and there, but never even having the idea to see crowd agent because who would want somebody with so little acting experience?
Right here, is where I’d like to give my first advice to anyone reading, immediately seek out an acting agent, someone somewhere will help you out, get into an acting class.
During this time, I had no rhyme or reason with my acting I just picked the projects I felt were the most similar to the characters I wanted to play, I had no idea how to memorize a script, I had never taken an acting class besides the one improv class in Texas.
I had an audition for project, and as I felt like Instagram was my biggest resource, I followed the director of the project, I didn’t end up booking that one, but a few months may be a year later I heard from the director, unbeknownst to me, he had remembered my audition, and wanted to see me for a part in his new movie I was incredibly elated and trying my best to play it cool.
Ky kenyon was that director, and that movie turned into ‘Wilting Rose’, shameless plug it is about to be on Amazon prime and I know we would both be happy for you to go check it out.
This experience was the most eye-opening I had ever had, I got to be on site for a month in Pennsylvania, I got the chance to immerse myself in the world of my character, it really cemented that this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Growing up and to this day, movies were such a huge way for me to escape moments that felt overwhelming for me, I have a standing date with the AMC every Tuesday, and it’s my two hours a week that I am not me that my brain turns off and I get to be in another world, to think one day that I get to be a part of somebody else’s other world and to help them escape from whatever might be going on in their life for just a moment makes me feel like in a way I’m giving back to the people that did that for me.
I am currently with an amazing manager, and having made it through Covid and the strikes I feel confident about the future. I appreciate all the auditions that I do get, even though I will admit it is probably my least favorite part of the process. I am hopeful that this is just the beginning of my story. my partner and I have recently started to accumulate our own tools and cameras needed to shoot our own projects, and the world feels full of potential.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Alot of self doubt, I had to overcome a lot of childhood trauma.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m most proud of just being here, doing this in spite of everything we’ve been through over the last couple of years in the industry with the strikes and Covid.
I also have train stones and it’s something that I really hope to use as much as possible in projects going forward.
I’m really excited and proud of my project wilting Rose.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
The first time I’ve ever gone to a movie theater before my parents joined the church that would later dictate every thing we did in our lives. They let me and my brother use a wishbone to see who would pick the movie and I won and I picked 101 Dalmatians the animated one of course I’m a 90s baby. I don’t remember the movie that well, but I have one memory of being in the theater and sitting close to the front and just looking up at that big screen and being an off of everything.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lil_bit_of_wisdom?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits
I will have to see the photos I selected first before I remember who took them. Please get back to me on this matter.