Meet Scarlett Carlee J.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scarlett Carlee J.

Scarlett, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Acting has been a great passion of mine ever since I was a little girl. However, coming from an Asian family that prefers stable profession careers, I never thought about pursuing acting a profession. I kept acting as a serious hobby and extracurricular activity until I graduated from college.

After college, I soon felt the pressure to adult better. Then I told myself:” that’s it, no more acting and performing from now on.” Shortly after starting a professional career, I met a wedding/portrait photographer at an event and strumbled into the modeling world by chance. I started by shooting fun social media content with the photographer, test shooting for some other photographers prior to their projects, supporting my photographer and model friends at their events, meetups and etc…

Little by little, I got to know a whole network of people, and doors started to open up for me. Makeup artist and photographers started to include in their projects, and I eventually had the opportunities to work with independent filmmakers on their production and even publications. The modeling experience made me realized how much I missed having a creative outlet and motivated to get back into acting. This time, my friends and family supported me and decided to give my creativity a shot.

As of right now, I am training as a commercial/film actor and am currently working a short film coming up. I also started to share my experience on Instagram, so I can share my experience and the things I learned with other up and coming actors/models.

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?
The experience hasn’t been easy, to be honest. When I first started modeling, I judged myself very harshly and always compared myself to others. I started to feel down a lot of times because I felt that I wasn’t as experienced, talented, or attractive as other people.

Then I realized that I model because I enjoy creating content and telling stories through the camera lenses, and I should not make my creative outlet a burden for mood. After changing up my mindset, I find myself more relaxed at photoshoots, and my work also became more of my own. I am still learning and experimenting with modeling techniques. But now, instead of constantly comparing myself to others, I am more focused on self-growth and what I can bring to the contents.

As for acting, the ongoing struggle is my professional career and acting career balance. I didn’t want to completely give up my professional career because it is very hard to make a living as an actress. Having a traditional job, on the other hand, doesn’t give me enough flexibility to go on auditions and work on my projects. I am currently still figuring out ways to balance the two.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Growing up as a short Asian girl. I never thought I would be acting/modeling in front of the camera. There wasn’t a lot of Asian representation in mainstream media when I was growing up. Size and height inclusion for models also only started recently. I think what set me apart is that I don’t necessarily fit into the traditional media box, yet I am creating content and project that come from my unique perspective. I want to represent Asians and tell our story on the screen and show that you don’t have to look a certain way to produce quality work.

What were you like growing up?
I have always been very independent growing up. I moved around a lot and lived in five different countries throughout my life. Every time I moved to a new place, I was shy at first when I was still getting used to a new city and new people but became very outgoing and cheerful once I started to make new friends.

Moving around has also made me super interested in learning about different culture and language. I saved most of my money to travel, and as of right now I have been to 14 countries total and am planning to visit more.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarlett_carlee/

Image Credit:
Johnathan Cruz Photography, Lucky Frog Photograhy, Alex Morehouse, Scoot Sapp Photo, Antonio E Lewis, Albert C

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