Today we’d like to introduce you to Yumarie Morales.
Yumarie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was a little kid, I distinctly remember sitting at my vanity and staring into the three-way mirror, pretending I was either in a movie, on TV, or being interviewed about being in a movie or on TV. It’s crazy that I have so many vivid childhood memories of playing make-believe in a parallel universe where I was the star, in and out of dramatic sequences or hamming it up for the “viewer”. Growing up as an only child and moving every couple of years, I adjusted to solitude by creating a world where something was always happening — and I shined as your favorite protagonist in the midst of it all.
My Puerto Rican dad, who joined the Army, met and married my Panamanian mom in the ’80s. They divorced when I was really young, and my mom actually went on to enlist and serve in the Army, as well. Growing up with a single mom and seeing how hard she worked — not only as a woman in a male-dominated career but also as a Spanish-speaking immigrant and a woman of color — I had an exemplary model of strength, courage, and pride from a young age. I genuinely believe she is the root of my inspiration when it comes to following and pursuing my dreams.
Out of all the time I spent in childhood pretending I was on TV, I never seriously pursued the performing arts until my last two years of high school. Sure, I had had a few opportunities while growing up to participate in school performances and assemblies. But because of my insecurities, I never really pursued performing seriously.
No one in the movies, or on TV, ever really looked like me. And when they did, they were never the main characters. It wasn’t until my junior year in high school (as the new kid yet again) that I was able to lean into my desire to perform thanks to a very encouraging choir director. After hearing me sing, he urged me to audition for the fall musical “Guys & Dolls”. The rest is history.
I had to overcome a lot to get to where I am today. I went to a predominantly white college in a very conservative town. I was overlooked a lot, and I wasn’t encouraged as fervently by my professors as other students were — the students who had been exposed to theatre very early in life, with parents who supported their artistic endeavors. But I don’t blame my parents, upbringing, or faculty for the obstacles in my career. On the contrary, I share them because I’ve been the main support system for myself through it all. Had it not been for me championing my career and myself — pushing and preserving through so much — I don’t think I would’ve achieved everything I have today.
Over the years, I realized how important it was to do small things every day that impacted my career in big ways in the long run. Slowly but surely, I started seeing the results of all the work I had put in: One commercial booking led to several. One reading turned into a series of theatre performances. One small film led to one feature after another. I joined the union, got healthcare (!), and I’m building my credits. I consider myself a work in progress, but I’m certainly living the dream.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
During my last semester of college, I was given an opportunity to sign with a talent agent in Los Angeles. I sold half of my belongings that very summer, and I packed the other half into my Mitsubishi Lancer and headed west. Every “transplant” knows exactly what the first six months in LA look like. Couch surfing, overdraft fees, PARKING TICKETS, job after job after job…It’s not easy. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. I made it a point to spin failures into opportunities for growth.
In the middle of that hurricane, I was also struggling with a secret: I had an eating disorder. I was contending with bulimia while grappling with the pain of rejection as an actor (and no actor is excluded from that journey). I was single-handedly destroying myself from the inside out. It took a lot of reflection, a lot of support, and a lot of therapy to start my recovery. I’m humbled to say that I am six years “sober” today.
Once I hit my stride with my recovery, I was able to get more serious about my career. I started to invest in myself. I took classes weekly, taking care to seek out different classes with different coaches. I signed up for workshops, and I made connections. I opened myself up to my peers and got involved in smaller projects within this community I was engaging in. I started to carefully curate my path.
Has it been a smooth road? Of course not. But the bumps have made it interesting. I came to think of turbulence as temporary, and that’s important when you’re pursuing a career where nothing is guaranteed. There is no blueprint; There’s no rhyme or reason for what happens to you as an actor. All you can have for certain is faith in yourself. When I first moved here, I invested a lot of time in trying to figure out how other people had made it — and I realized quickly that our success in life is uniquely ours. We simply cannot compare our journeys. We can, however, encourage and support our peers and lift up our community while working on ourselves. My coach Doug Warhit once said, “When the tide raises, all boats rise,” — and I genuinely believe that.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My bread and butter has most definitely been in commercial work. Most recently, you may have seen me pop up in an Uber Eats commercial and in a few weeks, I’ll be starring in a major car campaign. I think my unique features really set me apart from other actors. I’m somewhat ethnically ambiguous, but I’m immediately read as a woman of color. I don’t like to put myself into any one category when identifying my race because I don’t fit into a box. My experiences — as an Army brat, of growing up next to people of all cultures, of living overseas and abroad — have molded me into who I am and how I present.
Can I code switch? Yes. Don’t you have to as a performer?! I am Panamanian, and I am Puerto Rican. Having very rich relationships with both of those cultures makes for a very different understanding of my own “Latinidad.” The color of my skin and my features represent another part of my identity. As Hollywood continues to broaden its perspective of diversity, I’m seeing myself much more included in a lot of storylines. And as I’ve done more film work, I have had the platform to be able to bring my identity into different types of narratives and finally represent people who look like me.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Good question. Upon brief reflection, I think no; I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I think the fact that you can’t go back and change your past forces you to embrace life “a las buenas o a las malas”. You may have heard this once or twice, but everything happens for a reason. And I genuinely believe my life has been on track purposefully. Do I believe that things could have worked out more favorably for me had I buckled down, worked a little bit smarter, hustled a little bit harder? YES.
But I also feel that the way in which things played out allowed me to learn and develop on my own timeline. I really appreciate that timeline for helping me to refine my persona and for making me stronger — more sure of myself and of what I bring to the table.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.me/YumarieMorales
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/yumariesafari
- Other: ispottv.com/yumariemorales
Image Credit:
Casey James Knight, Brittany Okabe
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