Today we’d like to introduce you to Diego Parada.
Diego, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
VHS tapes started it all or at least some of it. I must have been around five years old when me and my brother discovered what felt like a treasure chest full of hours of entertainment. It was a stack of old VHS tapes at my grandma’s house in Tijuana Baja California, Mexico, my hometown. Some of the tapes had Bugs Bunny or Silly Symphonies cartoons recorded on them. However, the one we would play the most had Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. I remember watching it over and over again, mesmerized at how this funny tramp could make me laugh without saying a single word. I don’t know for certain if he was the reason I decided to pursue an acting career since always, but he was definitely influential in a big way.
Another theory on why I decided to pursue acting is that as kid, I learned “adult” jokes that I didn’t even understand myself. What I did understand was that my family laughed when I would tell them free of consequences at family gatherings. Then of course there was also Cantinflas. The comedian that Chaplin himself once called “the greatest comedian alive”. Growing up in Mexico, his movies were somehow always in the background on the TV. Both of their films are so full of heart and humor that it is impossible to deny that it is what my writer DNA is comprised of. So yes, at some point I decided that I wanted to write my own stuff too, just like both of them did. Once I finished high school, I decided to officially move to the US of A. I attended community college in San Diego where I started making short films with my brother, who has undeniably been an integral part of every little step I have made towards becoming a filmmaker.
I use the word filmmaker because over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of resorting to create and produce my own work to make sure I keep myself busy. Most of the time that just means that I persuade people to perform in my sketches with equipment held together with gaff tape. I love it. As cliché as it may sound, it is what makes me enjoy the journey and what keeps me from worrying too much about the destination. After San Diego, me and my brother transferred to CAL STATE LONG BEACH and after graduating, we made the move to Los Angeles. I feel incredibly lucky that I have people like him in my life that I can rely on as I attempt to climb the mountain that is a career in this industry. I’ve always admired self-made people that defy all odds and are able to break into the business, but in my case, I know that it will take a village, a village of Mexicans that happen to be my family. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Any success that I’ve had has in some way or another been thanks to their support. I mean, most of this mess did start with those very influential VHS tapes at my grandma’s house. But to be fair to my grandma, my mom and dad did also buy us the Star Wars trilogy on VHS at a very impressionable age, and that did a lot of damage too.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life has definitely made me want to get in the fetal position in the corner of my room many times. God knows that migrating to a new country innately brings with it many challenges, and when you add the inevitable failures that come with following your dreams, one can easily be overwhelmed. That is why I try to accept this as part of the process. Try being the operative word in that sentence. It’s always easier said than done. I know that I have learned many life lessons thanks to my failures and or obstacles, but those lessons wouldn’t be possible without my family and friends who provide a support system that cheers me on when the going gets rough.
Luckily these experiences are also useful for the creative mind. From a writing point of view, I think it is important to write about all of my experiences. Even the painful ones. I choose to write them with a sense of humor. Because to me laughing at our vulnerabilities plants a seed of hope in us. It reminds us that we’re not alone. We laugh because we recognize the humanity in each other, no matter where we come from. That’s why I write for humor, heart, and heritage.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I like to consider myself an actor and writer first. However, as I mentioned before, over the years I’ve found myself having to wear the director and producer hat. In fact, right now I’m in the middle of producing, directing, acting and writing on a webseries called ALUX. Most of it is out on my youtube channel called Funnycabana. It’s a lot of hats to wear for one person but I’m really enjoying the process and it has been really fun to make a sci-fi about Mayan mythology.
Most recently, I was awarded the Emerging Content Creator Scholarship for the Latino Media Fest 2020. A Festival organized by NALIP that celebrates Latino Filmmakers. In the past, I’ve also done other webseries and a few short films, one of which became an official selection of the Hollywood Shorts Fest and the Mammoth Film Festival. I’ve also been fortunate to appear on ABC’s Modern Family and done V.O. work for ADULT SWIM’S Mike Tyson Mysteries and in a couple of mini-series for NETFLIX. Aside from that, I’ve also been lucky to be in a few national commercials. Also, I got my improv fix at GROUNDLINGS where after many years, I became A SUNDAY COMPANY cast member.
My future plans are to keep working on my acting and filmmaking goals. I would love to be the next superhero in an action movie. Maybe the next Villain in a Bond movie. Or at least the next guy that the superhero rescues when the villain throws him from a tall building. That would be amazing. In the meantime, I plan to finish my webseries (ALUX), continue to work on my writing by revising pilots I’ve written, and then maybe after that, start working on a feature film that will most likely have zero budget but a lot of Huevos. I have nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, so as long as the powers at be and the universe above me allow it, I will continue to create and tell stories.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One time when I was still in college my car broke down on the freeway. The tow truck came to pick me and my car up. I started talking to the driver. In Spanish. He asked me what I did and I told him I was studying acting because my dream was to become an actor. I’ll always remember what he responded to me saying that. It’s something that my own parents have always tried to instilled in me but for some reason, sometimes some messages don’t really resonate until you hear them from a stranger. He said, “you are already living the dream” He went on to say that every step of the way in my career is the dream coming true, that it’s happening every day I pursue it. There’s something special about an older Mexican stranger imparting wisdom that really latches on to the heart.
That is why I couldn’t pick one moment that I consider my proudest. I try to approach every project I work on, no matter the scale, with the same amount of hard work and excitement. For example, one time for a commercial, they had to put peanut butter on my face so that a dog could lick it, several times. It was honestly a great day at work. I would be lying if I said that there haven’t been a few projects that put me over the moon because of their magnitude, but if I only found joy in those few instances, the life that happens in between would be quite dull. I try to celebrate the little wins and the big wins equally. The only difference is that with the big wins, I might buy myself a collectible Star Wars toy. Maybe two.
Contact Info:
- Website: yesdiegoparada.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yesdiegoparada/?hl=en
- Other: bit.ly/aluxseries
Image Credit:
Carlos Parada
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