Meet Adrian Elizondo of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrian Elizondo.

Hi Adrian, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m an actor/writer/producer, but I didn’t even start pursuing any of that until I’d already been living in LA for two years. I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a film degree and started behind the scenes as a production assistant—first on various film sets, then for a television production executive at Warner Bros., and eventually on the original George Lopez show.

Meanwhile, I was taking acting classes secretly because I was too embarrassed to admit that acting was what I actually wanted to do. I’d clock out of work on Tuesday evenings then drive an hour in traffic to scene study class in West Hollywood. I’d spend many a late night seeing shows at The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade and eventually ended up training at both places.

At some point, I finally said to myself, “Alright, quit playing,” and went all in on the whole acting thing. Since then, it’s been a mix of real wins—TV, film, theater, commercials—and also a healthy amount of getting knocked around. Definitely had my fair share of “ouchies” but turns out that’s just part of the deal. Not just in my career but in life.

Performing improv and sketch is where I really fell in love with storytelling. That led me to The Moth, where I somehow won first place on my first try and made it to the GrandSLAM finals. Didn’t win the finals, but I was on cloud nine on that stage and more importantly– I realized I wanted to tell my own stories!

So I wrote and performed my one-man show, Baby Boy, which won some awards at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and was selected as one of eleven shows (out of hundreds) to compete for an off-Broadway run. I didn’t win that either but by then I was hooked. I just kept writing, creating, and chasing the idea that one of these days one of these scripts of mine might eventually pay off that UT degree.

When the industry slowed down and work got scarce, I teamed up with my business partner, Sara Oliveri, and we built Joycademy LLC —a kids media company centered around original entertainment which includes our YouTube series “Joycademy”(currently in-development). In the process, we’ve been lucky to collaborate with some heavy hitting pros, and now we’ve just released our first single, “Donde Está la Biblioteca?”, on April 16th.

It’s available on all music streaming platforms and available for purchase on iTunes now—so go have a listen to it. Seriously. It’s a bop. The whole family will enjoy it.

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?
Heck no. Not even close to smooth. The actor’s life (any artist’s life really) can be tough for almost all of us, and it’s nearly impossible to come out of it without a few scars.

Beyond the cliché (but very real) experience of hearing “no” far more than “yes,” there have also been times where I’ve heard “yes,” booked a TV or commercial spot, and then ended up getting cut or written out. I remember the first time it happened—I laid on my couch and cried. You work so hard and finally taste a win, only to have it taken away. It felt like those dreams where you’re holding a fat wad of cash and then you wake up holding nothing. At the time, I felt like a failure, but I eventually learned that so much of this business is out of your hands and not personal—even when it feels deeply personal. I mean we’re literally selling ourselves—our face, our voice, our body—so of course it hits hard. And ironically, we train to be just that– more sensitive, more open and emotionally available… so when we feel it, we really feel it.

There are also the stretches where work just slows down. In my time in LA, I’ve gone through two strikes and a pandemic, on top of a noticeable shift in how many jobs are out there. During those periods, staying creative and resilient is everything. For me, that meant leaning more into dance—I found a real love for flamenco and even got to perform and make a little money doing it. Staying active creatively, in any form, is paramount for an artist.

And then there’s life. A few months ago, I lost my big sister, DJ, after a six-year battle with cancer. That completely knocked me to the ground. The momentum had really been building with our kids series, and suddenly everything took a back seat as I went back to Texas to be with my family and say goodbye to my first best friend. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and some days it still is. I’d take a million rejections over that kind of loss.

Coming back to LA, it took time to find my rhythm again—getting back into writing, recording, dancing, working out, all the things that keep you grounded and moving forward. But little by little, I found my flow again and just like Stella, I got my groove back.

And I think all of it—the ups, the setbacks, the loss—has really solidified the heart behind what we’re creating now with Joycademy. Our show is about finding joy, even in a world where sometimes joy is hard to see. So in a strange way, the struggles didn’t just challenge me—they helped define the message.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been a character actor my whole career, and it’s been quite the ride. I’ve had a lot of fun playing characters that are funny, offbeat, sinister, goofy, scumbaggy—or sometimes all of the above at once. I never imagined I’d end up co-creating and starring in a live-action kids show about joy—if you told me that in my 20s, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But here I am, and I couldn’t be happier.

Looking back, it actually makes sense. I’ve done children’s theater as a member of Story Pirates and spent a number of years behind the scenes as a stand-in on various kids TV sitcoms. Being on set that much, you start to absorb everything—how shows are built, how stories are shaped, how to land a joke. A lot of that came through osmosis, along with the relationships I built working with different crews. All of it has been incredibly useful in what I’m doing now.

I’m proud of the work I’ve booked as an actor. With all the hustle of in-person auditions and self-tapes, headshots, submission platforms, searching for representation, workshops, and showcases—actually landing jobs feels hard-earned and triumphant. But I’m especially proud of the things I’ve created myself, both independently and in collaboration with other artists—short films, scripts, my one-man show, and now… Joycademy.

I’m very proud of what Sara and I are building with Joycademy. We’re currently developing a live-action children’s show that blends music, dance, comedy, and puppetry, inspired by the colorful programming I grew up on in the ’80s and ’90s—the kind that felt human, a little magical, hopeful, and fun, without being overly chaotic or overstimulating.

We’re building everything independently from the ground up—scripts, characters, and the entire visual world. We’re currently in the process of writing, recording music and shaping the world of the show, and we’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with incredibly talented artists across music, puppetry, wardrobe, and design. It’s been exciting, a little wild at times, but it allows us to be very intentional about what we’re putting out there.

What sets me apart personally is how I turn real-life experiences into storytelling. Even the tougher or more uncomfortable moments have a way of becoming crowd favorites among friends, because I find the humor in them and bring out the humanity in a way people can connect to. That same perspective is what I bring into Joycademy.

I think what sets us apart with Joycademy is that this isn’t just entertainment for us—it’s personal. A lot of the heart behind the show comes from real-life experiences and this belief that joy isn’t something you just stumble into—it’s something you can choose to look for, even when things aren’t perfect.

At the end of the day, we just want to create something that makes kids—and honestly adults too—smile, laugh, dance, and sing. Something they can look forward to. Something that helps them see light in the world. And if we can help someone find a little more joy—even on a tough day—then we’ve done our job.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
A lot of my favorite childhood memories are tied to my late big sister, DJ. I’m the youngest of five, but we were the closest in age—just three years apart—so we shared a lot of those formative moments together.

Looking back, so much of what we did revolved around watching TV and movies and then turning around and re-enacting scenes and making up our own silly versions of things. We were always creating—especially parody songs. One that always sticks with me is when we were very young, we took “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany and turned it into “I Think We’re Flying,” singing from the point of view of birds soaring through the sky. Completely random, totally unnecessary… and very us.

Since she’s passed, it’s funny—it’s not always the big, recent memories that hit me the hardest. It’s the little things. Hearing an old song we used to love, or even something as simple as an old Nickelodeon jingle like “Nick-nick-nick-nick-nick-nick-nick-nick… Nick-e-lo-de-ooon!” can stop me in my tracks. Those moments bring me right back to being kids together.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrelizondo/
• Other: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/joycademy/dnde-est-la-biblioteca