Today we’d like to introduce you to Tea Wagner.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tea. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in Vienna, Austria where I started acting, singing, dancing and performing in Musicals from a young age on. I started acting professionally when I was around 14, then moved to Los Angeles to study acting in 2016 and have since then starred in leading roles in various films, short films, TV shows, commercials and much more. Back in Vienna, I played the role of Clara in the Fantasy Saga “Wienerland” and some of the short films I’m really proud of include “Blue” (available on Amazon Prime), CryptTV’s Horror film “Knave” or “Killer From Space” which screened at the Hollyshorts Film Festival. My feature film “The Chicken Party” in which I play the role of crazy Sarah has won numerous awards at many film festivals and my leading role of Emily on the popular web-series “Vamps Next Door” is a fan favorite as well. I also sang the title songs and voiced the lead character Gani for the german version of the hugely popular kids show “Tayo the little Bus”. I spent the past year back in Europe, tried out living in London for a while and filmed for the Bollywood Blockbuster “Jawaani Jaaneman” where I played alongside India’s most famous actors Saif Ali Khan. The movie just screened all around the world so I really enjoyed watching it here in LA as well! I also filmed for the german ZDF classic “Tonio & Julia” so watch out for my episode to air sometime this spring!
Next to acting music is my biggest passion and I released my first single “Pink Paradise” in 2018 as well as a EDM collaboration with Dr.Joos called “By My Side” which reached Nr.1 on Spinnin Records Talent Pool. I have secretly been working on a lot of music all year and am currently getting ready to release everything super soon! I write and compose all my songs myself and also tried out producing for some of the songs on my upcoming album! The next song I’m gonna be releasing is a collaboration with two rappers from my hometown called “Andiamo” – it will be out in a couple of weeks and after that I’m ready to hit you with a bunch of singles and music videos!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh my god it has never been a smooth road and it never will be! In this business you have to constantly be working, even if you’re not actively working you have to be working on yourself! You can never get your hopes up too high because let’s face it 90% of your auditions you won’t book but if you get crushed over every single one of them it will really break you down mentally. You have to be on alert 24/7 for an opportunity to come up and your career has to ALWAYS come first. It is a long way for people to actually take you seriously. It’s hard to get an agent without having any material but you won’t get any jobs without an agent so a lot of it is a vicious circle that you have to break in first.
It’s hard to build yourself a career and it never really gets easier, you have to constantly be grinding and hustling. People only ever see the fun side of it, all the glitter and glam and they think “I want to be part of that” but they’re often not prepared for all the rejection, hard work and challenges that come with it. I think the hardest part for me is the uncertainty – you never know when you’re next job is going to be and you have no idea where this road is taking you which can be super scary but at the same time kind of freeing and exciting if you look at it from another point of view.
With music the same thing – at the beginning of your career no one will really take you seriously and it’s a long way up for you to prove yourself! But once people realize your talent and potential and start wanting to work with you everything just starts falling in place! There will always be people that don’t believe in you but you have to be your own biggest supporter and shut out all the noise that doesn’t serve you!
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I guess what sets me apart from others when it comes to acting is my quirky, bubbly personality and comedic timing? I’ve always loved sitcoms and I also look a lot younger than I actually am so they like to cast me as a teenager! I’m also what they call a “triple threat” meaning I act, sing and dance plus my language abilities, I’m bilingual in German and English but I also speak really good Korean actually, some basic Spanish and a little of Slovak, Japanese and I would say Latin but that’s a dead language haha.
For music, I have kind of my own style but I don’t want to spoil too much yet! Since I listen to a lot of music from all over the world I think I take a lot of inspiration not only from American pop, European pop but also Asian pop music actually. I’ve been listening to a lot of K-pop for a decade so I think I inevitably unconsciously took some inspiration from their unique flow, unpredictable music styles, crazy performances and colorful music videos paired with my European roots of the music I grew up with and popular American music such as Ariana Grande who is one of the people I look up to the most.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My mom honestly deserves the most credit for my success! She’s the one who has always believed in me and supported me unconditionally from the very first second on. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for my parents. But I’ve been super lucky to meet a lot of amazing human beings that have been of huge support down the road. The very first one being Jeanette McCarthy, my acting coach and mentor when I just started out. She was an actress from LA who just moved to Vienna and I was a little girl who wanted to learn acting so I was her very first student and without her my life would’ve gone SO differently. She taught me everything about the industry plus helped me get rid of my accent at a young age so that I sounded fully American before I moved here. I keep on meeting so many amazing creatives that all benefit from helping each other out and all we wanna do is make some art so I love how we’re all getting together to create!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.teawagner.com
- Email: teabbtv@gmail.com
- Instagram: @tea.belle
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5823982/
Image Credit:
Joanna Degeneres
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