Rising Stars: Meet Gavin Velez of Burbank

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gavin Velez.

Hi Gavin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I moved to Southern California for college like so many other students wanting to move to a larger city to learn and advance in life. Academic life and a strenuous daily schedule was the perfect enrichment for me. I studies Communication Studies while also pursuing a BFA in acting and was enrolled in the honors college at my university. That rigorous school schedule gave way to a pre-pandemic actors life of taking any and all auditions I could find and driving hours to be in casting rooms for minutes at a time. Throughout that time pursuing all manner of classes, experiences, and casting calls I always held a job or two to pay for what I thought was expensive living at the time. Little did I know that my five-person two-bedroom apartment and my $650 per month rent was the lowest I’d ever pay in LA. A life of busy academia and friends became a life of running around LA working, meeting people, trying a lot of new things and failing often, and trying to maintain ties with a dwindling number of pals who slowly drifted to the far reaches of SoCal and beyond to their new lives. Now I live with my amazing partner of many years, our cat, and my continued schedule of trying new things. I still work where I can and put myself out there in new ways each year as a performer, filmmaker, and recently a producer.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been numerous obstacles along my road to the career I have now. The biggest and most persistent is self-doubt. Ask any creative and they will echo some version of the same, unless you are someone who might hire us. In that case, we have 110% confidence that we are perfect and able.

Other than the demons inside, the biggest obstacles are in carving out a life for yourself where you can have space to reflect and create without being fully burnt out or worse. I have known many who work so hard at chasing a quick path to success that in 5 or 6 years they could not even fathom trying another casting or meeting another “fake friend” to get the next gig. I followed some paths like that and had a low point two years after graduating where I felt listless. No friends to rely on, no money in the bank, no stability in any part of my life. I wouldn’t call this struggle the way that my professors warned me about in college. I feel that there is a popular narrative of the struggling actor/artist that really needs a reality check. My reality was, I felt shitty, lonely, tired, and like there was no way to get where I wanted without feeling that way for YEARS. Luckily, I decided to keep pursuing my friends and my partner and my family just as passionately I had pursued my acting career. Guess what? A few years later I have a life full of trustworthy friends and loved ones who got my back. Also, so many jobs came my way because I was around and able to be open enough to others that they remembered me.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an actor first. It’s been an obsession and something I love doing since I was little. Live performing is the biggest high, but filmed work has the biggest impact and reach. That is the reason why I have jumped into film work on all sides while pursuing acting. I feel that there is a great possibility to reach people.

Those who have cast me, know me for a few specialties. The first is a form of dramatic performance I would label as The Outcast. A guy who has a lot going on behind the eyes. Someone lacking confidence or who is going through a transformation. This describes about 75% of my lead acting roles so far, and it’s a sweet spot for me. On stage, I am known to be a great Straight Man, someone who can react perfectly to the weird and hilarious world around him. I love this role because it is the perspective of the audience, I am given the task to show them how they ought to feel about the batshit situation that is at hand. I perform a monthly sketch comedy show with great team of actors and I know they trust me with this role.

As a filmmaker, I am a task-oriented king of logistics. I have worked as a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd AD on T.V. and Web Series and feel so cozy telling everyone to speed the fuck up with a friendly wink. I feel super comfortable with the soft authority to get things done because at the end of the day everyone wants to have an amazing shoot day and so someone has to be that guy/gal.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My sketch team is a great support to me creatively. Whoops! is our name, and we work out of The Pack Theater LA in Los Feliz. My team and the theater community inspires me to make things on my own that are big concepts. They give such life to the simplest of ideas in such a good way.

My family and my partner Shannon deserve a lot of credit in my confidence to move ahead with such an unstable career path. They remind me of what is important to me and build me up. Also they make me laugh and are truly far funnier than any comedians I work with (sorry guys) because they know my heart and what buttons to tap.

Success to me is measured in artistic contentment but also a sense that an individual moment or showcase went well. Stepping off stage after a show with people you trust is a fantastic feeling. Knowing we made entertainment together for friends and strangers is the feeling that I am seeking. Money and success are not a perfect pair in my experience, but I’ll probably change that answer later on when I got a bigger bag.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gavinvelez.com
• Instagram: @gavin.velez
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-velez/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thegreatgavsby
• Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm8934335/

Image Credits
mpm photography

mher vahakn photography