Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikaela Grace Rios.
Mikaela Grace, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m the youngest of four kids with a sixteen year age gap between my oldest sister and I. Sometimes, I feel like I grew up with two sets of parents; my mom and dad, and my oldest sisters! My sisters raised my brother and I just as much as my parents did and I’m so grateful for that. I grew up with the best parents (I know a lot of people probably say that, but mine were truly the best!) They allowed me to be my most authentic self and never tried to tame that person. They raised me to be strong and confident, to have an opinion, and to use my voice whenever I have the chance. My parents are the embodiment of love! They have supported every endeavor I have chosen to pursue. When I decided that I wanted to be an actor, they did as much as they could to support me.
The support came at me full force when I was four years old. I was in my first play and I had one line. A big fat cat ate a big fat rat. That one line quite literally changed my life. I don’t remember what the show was about nor do I remember any other lines, but I will always remember the line about the fat cat. I fell in love with rehearsals, getting my hair and makeup done, having a moment with the entire cast and crew before the curtains went up, the feeling of spotlights on my face, and the crowd cheering as we took our final bows. On the car ride home that night, I told my dad that I was going to be an actor and the only thing that came out of his mouth was a loving “Okay.” What my dad said was so simple, but my four years old mind saw it as approval to do it. As I got older, it became way more apparent that my parents supported my dream.
My dad drove to countless auditions (most of the time, I didn’t get a role) and rehearsals, no matter how early in the morning he had to wake up or how late at night I got done in the theatre. My mom spent so much time and money making me costumes that made me feel confident in roles. My parents were at every show front and center cheering me on. My dad was a musician and he understood the arts and whenever I felt like giving up he would encourage me to keep going. I truly believe that having parents that were supportive of my dream is what made this crazy dream of mine possible. I spent the next 14 years working as hard as I could to be the best performer that I could be. In 2017 I was accepted to my dream college, AMDA College of the Performing Arts, to pursue my BFA in acting and I’ve been there since June of 2018. It felt like everything in my life was falling into place.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think anything in life worth having is ever a smooth road. I have a quote up in my room that I’ve lived by since I was 15 years old. “If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy” – T. Harv Eker. My dad showed me this quote when I was really struggling as an artist and it always stuck with me. To answer the question, no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. As an artist, I’ve been lucky to have cool opportunities, but I have had a lot of life circumstances happen and those will always affect your ability to perform to your fullest potential. In the past five and half years, I’ve had plenty of trials and tribulations. I had my own battles and battles as a family to overcome. I was sexually assaulted on my high school campus and I could have easily let that break me, but I was determined to overcome it and I did. I’m very grateful to have had an amazing support system through it all. I know that a lot of sexual assault survivors aren’t as lucky. So I shared my story and continue to tell my story to anyone that will listen in the hopes that it will inspire them to find light in the darkest of times!
Being away from my family has also been really hard. I’m lucky because they are in Southern California and a quick train ride away, but it’s still hard. We are an incredibly tight family. I went from seeing them every single day to only seeing them on the weekends that I’m not busy, which isn’t a lot. I feel like I’m missing out on big and sometimes small family events. I’m so grateful that we live in a day and age with social media because even when I miss events, I can still see my nieces and nephews grow up!
A huge challenge has been my decision to not take summers off and power through my BFA. I decided that I was going to get my degree as quickly as possible and that meant taking classes during the summer semester. I have been constantly on the go with very few days off since June of 2018. It hasn’t always been easy. There have been so many moments of stress and burn out, but I continue to do so because I can’t imagine taking a break from my craft. It’s stressful but in the best way possible.
I think the biggest challenge I dealt with as a person and an artist was the death of my Dad. I had just moved to LA and was ready for an amazing new chapter in my life when he passed away completely unexpectedly. He supported me the most as an artist and without him here, I found myself questioning everything about who I was as an artist. I became incredibly depressed and anxious. Some days it was a battle to get out of bed, let alone get to class. I lost my passion for performing and there have been so many times when I thought about throwing in the towel and moving back home and finding a new career. But I don’t. I stay. I get up on the hardest days and fight through the grief and sadness and go to class. I learn and I grow because it’s what my dad would want! Everything I do in life is in his honor and I hope to make him proud!
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I graduate college in a little over ten months and I can’t wait to have that piece of paper to show for all my hard work. When it comes to future plans, I’m trying hard to make such a strict plan. I’m trying to make an outline for what I want out of life. If I make a plan it will make me anxious. After I graduate, I want to spend time on making a career out of acting and making my name in the industry. I had an amazing theatre teacher, Mrs. Herrera, my sophomore year of high school and she had so much faith in me and supported all of her students in such an amazing way. She never gave up on me and was the biggest light in my life. She changed so many lives that school year. Because of that, I want to teach theatre in some capacity. My biggest goal for the future is to open and run my own theatre. I would love to act and perform for the rest of my life, but if I can teach students and change their lives through the arts, then that is the ultimate career!
Contact Info:
- Phone: 909-347-2360
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikaelagracerios/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqtCswF0NVxIFu4d7P6TQQw
Image Credit:
Joe Hubbard Photography; Elyssia Maysee; Trinity Grow
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