Rising Stars: Meet Andrew Perez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Perez.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am an actor who grew up in Petaluma, CA. I always knew I wanted to act, and I started doing plays at Cinnabar Theatre and A.C.T. Young Conservatory in San Francisco. At eighteen, I moved to Chicago for six years to study theatre at Northwestern University & The School at Steppenwolf and work onstage at Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Steep & various storefront Chicago theatres.

I studied playwrighting at Northwestern and staged three new plays: an original adaptation of “A Clockwork Orange” which received a CIRA grant; my first play, “Spiderman Versus Batman”; and an original one-man show based on a year of research and interviews about legendary German actor Klaus Kinski. I moved to Los Angeles in 2007 and have been steadily involved in theatre and independent film primarily, favorite theatre roles include playing Darren in needtheater’s “Mercury Fur”, which was directed by Dado and received a 2009 L.A, Ovation-nomination for Acting Ensemble; “The Tension Experience” & “One Day Die”, two groundbreaking immersive theatre plays directed by horror film director and immersive theatre visionary Darren Bousman; and playing Klaus again in the original one man play I wrote in 2017, “The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski,’ which received a 2018 L.A. Ovation-nomination for Lead Actor in a Play and had an on-and-off two years run which culminated at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a centerpiece for the Ashland Independent Film Festival.

In the world of film, I wrote, produced, and starred in a feature film called “Bastards y Diablos” which was shot entirely in Colombia (where my parents immigrated from). I was inspired to tell a personal story about family, forgiveness, adventure, identity – and to show the true Colombia that I had discovered throughout my life, which contrasted so dramatically from the stories I’d heard in American press growing up. “Bastards” was directed by one of my childhood friends, A.D. Freese – with a crew of 6 Americans journeying to Colombia for 35 days on credit cards – and it ultimately made its premiere in competition at the 2015 LA Film Festival, then had a wonderfully-received film festival run here in the U.S. before getting a national theatrical release from Cine Colombia in 2018. It’s now on Amazon worldwide. A.D. Freese and I are deep into writing the follow-up film, which we hope to shoot in Port Townsend, Washington. Look for me in the upcoming FX series “The Old Man” in 2021.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’d say one of the biggest struggles was the transition from Chicago to LA. Saying goodbye to such an inspiring and tight theatre community was difficult; finding my footing out in L.A. wasn’t smooth, I think of LA as a beautiful place, but it’s also distracting and it’s very much a Choose Your Own Adventure destination. It can be a place of lonely stagnation and it can be a constant adventure and it depends on what you curate for yourself. I also found it important to cling to my artistic values and integrity – to build a fence in my heart around the things that I found beautiful and true about theatre & acting… and to keep meditating. It’s easy to be influenced by the value systems of others here in this industry; and I’ve found it rewarding to remind myself why I do what I do and what I truly care about.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an actor who creates his own projects, and I think one thing that sets me apart is my risk-taking. I’ve noticed that many of my favorite roles are because an outside-of-the-box project doing something new found me at the right time and I dove in. I feel this way about the immersive theatre I’ve done with Darren Lyn Bousman, and I’m als0 thinking of “My Scientology Movie”, the Louis Theroux BBC documentary feature that hired me as an actor to play David Miscavige as coached by high-level former Scientologists. The BBC came to LA and held auditions, and once we started working together they started steering the film even more towards the re-enactments as a way of capturing a truth they couldn’t uncover otherwise (the Church was unwilling to participate.) I think I end up in projects that are slightly bonkers in their risk-taking and I think because I’m a balls-to-the-wall actor who commits 100%, there are reasons for that. And I’m proud to be a vessel for the visions that want to rattle the status quo.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I deeply care about what I do, I work very hard, and I enjoy every time I get the chance to act.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: andrewperezactor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewperez3d/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrewPerez3D
• Other: https://www.bastardsydiablos.com/

Image Credits
Bastards photo: AD Freese Headshot: Paul Smith Red carpet: Stephanie Nese Rooftop: Darren Lyn Bouseman, from “Alone Land” music video Blonde black and white: Matthew Freese Cigarette Black and white: Lisa Francesca Gallo 7 – skip Final black and white: Peter Grigsby