Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Rose Wiesel.
Hi Alex Rose, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began my acting career in community musical theatre in my hometown of San Diego, California. I attended the conservatory at AMDA College of the Performing Arts where is I am now an adjunct professor in their acting faculty department. At AMDA, I created a course for graduating seniors called, The Audition Paradigm. Combining career preparation and audition techniques to ready young actors for the professional world (a course I wished I had in college). After graduating from AMDA, I attended The New School University, NY where I received my BFA in Musical Theatre and California State University, Northridge, where I received my MA in Theatre Studies. I quickly developed a love for TV work when I was pulled from a stand in job on Disney’s So Random to a principal contact day-player throughout the show’s first season. From this experience, I continued to work in TV on shows like Brat’s Hotel Du Loone, CBS’ Two and a Half Men and CW’s Hart of Dixie. I am also well versed in the comedy world. I have worked on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Chelsea Lately, After Lately, Showtime’s House of Lies, and many TV commercials. I have performed at every improv comedy theatre in Los Angeles and am a founding member of the first all-female house team at iO West, Pumps Comedy. I have traveled nationally and internationally with Pumps and been a part of house teams at The Second City, Nerdist, ACME and iO as well. I am a graduate of iO, UCB and The Groundlings. I have done dubbing work for Netflix and work as a guest host on QVC. With all that said, I am most proud of my ability to build a life while working as an actor. To be able to start a family, build a home and feel financially stable while pursuing my artistic dreams is a joy I hope and love to share with all my students.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think there are always struggles along the way. Two of the biggest ones for me were two times I felt I would leave LA. I started my education in musical theatre (I’m also 5’9″ and especially at age 19, looked like I should be a great dancer – I’m not) when the Broadway dreams didn’t pan out, I thought maybe I’d try something else and applied for an internship to train dolphins in Hawaii. I still regret not doing that because it still, to this day, sounds like it would be an incredible experience. I also, like many artists, went through a pretty solid slump where I wasn’t booking anything. I had came off a string of nice jobs and then didn’t work for YEARS (on anything!) I felt like maybe it was time to pack it up. I had a friend of a friend at a comedy show, when I was explaining how I think it was time for me to leave LA, tell me not to. He said it in such a wise way that I felt like, wow, maybe he’s right. Next week I ended up booking the Brat show ‘Hotel Du Loone’ which was the catalyst for me staying in LA and a beautiful work experience.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a teaching artist. I still work and audition as an actor but teach students at the college level (and beyond) as well. I hate the adage or idea of a “struggling artist” or to be a true artist you have to hit rock bottom, only eat Top Ramen or live in a dingy apartment with three roommates till you make it. That hasn’t been true for my career and I don’t think it needs to be true for anyone who doesn’t want that. If that lifestyle is your choice, fantastic. But I never wanted to sacrifice my quality of life for my art and I don’t think anyone who doesn’t want to needs to. Does it take a heck of a lot of hard work? Yes. Does it take saying yes or taking on more jobs outside of what you really want to be doing? Sure. Is that worth it? To me, 100%. Being a professional artist for the past 15+ years has always felt like a roller coaster, but being able to provide consistency for myself both financially and emotionally is what I believe has allowed me to sustain in the industry.
How do you think about happiness?
I love creature comforts. Simple things that make me feel secure. My family, my pets, my home, visiting my childhood home and eating at my favorite restaurants in San Diego (a good San Diego shrimp burrito!), an iced coffee, a walk on the beach, cooking a meal from scratch, taking a dance class at the gym. The little simple things I think are what bring me the most joy in life. Do I love to travel and do more extravagant things, of course, but I think at my core, looking around and feeling like “wow, I love the life I have and helped create for myself” brings me the most happiness.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.imdb.me/alexrosewiesel
- Instagram: @alexrose720
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/actressalexrosewiesel/
- Twitter: @alexrosewiesel
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/alexrose720
- Other: www.alexcoachesactors.com
Image Credits:
Dog – Mila, rescued from Animal Resuce Mission Cat – Neptune, covid Resuce Pumps Improv Team (pictured is Julia Mack, Kathrynn Cobbs-DiGenovia and Ramona Czernekova) Brat’s Hotel Du Loone (pictured is Cody DiGerolamo and Peche)
