Rising Stars: Meet Gerardo Navarro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerardo Navarro.

Hi Gerardo, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m from Los Angeles, born and raised. I grew up around storytellers and artists, not those on flashy stages or in big Hollywood movies but in my abuelita’s small living room in South Central, screaming, laughing, and yelling over games of lotería and music blasting on the speakers. Quite literally as long as I can remember, I have been an observer and admirer of life and all its intricate details. I believe that is what inspired and still inspires my passion for the arts. I always loved to dance, and there wasn’t hardly a moment where you wouldn’t find me singing. I would turn the TV to the “music channels” which were just a collection of dark screens acting as a radio. I would shut off all of the lights and just let my body move to the music… that could go on for hours. Every time American Idol was on the TV, I dreamed of being up there. In the first grade, my teacher, the incredible Dr. Purcell, introduced my parents to the 24th Street Theatre’s after-school program where my love for acting began. The program met once a week after school to play games, create skits, and have fun off the streets. I had never looked forward to something more.

In elementary, I had created my own short TV series starring me and my two little brothers. That drive to tell stories only grew; it was then cemented in high school when I participated in the National August Wilson Monologue Competition, which was a life-changing experience. I competed regionally here in LA and was then given an opportunity to compete in New York at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway, where I was named the First Place National Winner. That year, by some crazy chance, a documentary would be filmed capturing the experience. I soon after auditioned for schools and was accepted to the prestigious Carnegie Mellon School of Drama on a full ride; I could not thank God enough for such a blessing. My freshman year of college, the documentary was chosen to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and would soon become a Netflix Original, where it is now streamable. It was an experience that I am incredibly blessed to have been a part of. I recently graduated in May of 2023, and I am now back home in LA. I am endlessly grateful for my experience and all the ways in which I’ve grown, but most importantly, I am glad to be back home with family and in the city I call home. I’ve been blessed to work on a couple of projects and have been working on some writing of my own, which I look forward to sharing when the time comes. I like to say that it is still only the beginning of my story… so I look forward to what is in store.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t quite say that it has been a smooth road. I have been incredibly blessed, but those blessings were only made possible when met with hard work and dedication. In high school, I would spend my evenings after school in the Downtown Central Library reading plays, finding monologues, and discovering new playwrights. I would spend my lunches and breaks at school memorizing speeches and meeting with teachers to work on the material. I truly loved doing it, but I do sometimes think back and wonder where all that drive came from. I say that only because I had no one to follow the footsteps of. My parents didn’t know half of the programs I was applying myself to or even that I was competing to perform on Broadway until I had been awarded the trip. It was never meant as a way of keeping them out of my decisions but rather I knew they wouldn’t understand. This industry and world is almost like a foreign language to a life of work and living that they know, and it is so different from the world I grew up in. The expectations for what a little Mexican boy from South Central could be in his lifetime were minimal and limited, yet I was determined enough that I had chosen to ignore them. However, I would learn that attending college would bring its own challenges.

Being the only Chicano in the entire program took a bigger toll on me than I’d anticipated, especially coming from LA. I was now in Pennsylvania, on the other side of the country, and I felt I had no home. The amount of Latino voices and stories that filled the spaces that I was now inhabiting was incredibly scarce and isolating. For the first time, I had truly realized how much my home and surroundings influenced my art, creativity, and the stories I aimed to tell. I would soon find out that none of that existed in Pittsburgh and that I was stepping into a world that had no space for me or my voice. It felt useless, and it seemed like no one understood what I felt. I realized that those who could even slightly begin to understand were hundreds of miles away, back in South Central. It ate at me so much so that I contemplated stopping school there. I was becoming a stranger to the world I knew back home and was a stranger to the world I was now in— which felt so wrong because not only was I becoming so distant from the very voices that I worked so hard to uplift and celebrate but it didn’t seem like I was even in a space where they’d be received. I had to remind myself I was there for a reason.

In a college of predominantly white faculty and student body, my culture and identity was contained only in what one could comprehend or expect; I was incomprehensible, and the only way I could get through was by being unapologetically so. It was both incredibly intimidating and equally motivating. If there was no room for me there, I had to make room. I realized that I had to take my education into my own hands and unapologetically advocate for all that I was and all that I came from. If it meant that the next kid like me had a space to explore and be understood, then it would all be worth it. I had to claim the space as my own and make room for my voice to be heard.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Yes, of course. I am an actor, writer, and director. You can catch a snippet of my acting work in the Netflix Original documentary “Giving Voice”. Aside, some of the recent roles that I have had the pleasure of playing have been ‘Miguel’ in the premiere of “The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano” at the New Hazlett Theatre (which was accepted and presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Woyzeck in Woyzeck by Georg Büchner at Carnegie Mellon. Woyzeck was an incredibly rewarding production that indeed pushed me to some very challenging places, both physically and mentally. I most recently played Papi in the play “Simona’s Search” which has to be one of the most special productions I’ve ever been a part of. “Simona’s Search” was produced and directed by my good friend Carolina Campos, and it couldn’t have been a safer and more personal space.

When she first approached me with the role, I was incredibly intimidated by it, and I couldn’t see myself executing it— so… as scary as it was, I was immediately up for the challenge! The show focuses on three characters and explores generational trauma within the Latin community. I will never forget the tether and exchange of energy that Carolina and I experienced while performing that work, and I still miss it today. I wrote a short play in 2019 titled “LATIN SOUL” which I also directed and premiered at CMU’s Playground Festival. I am currently completing some early drafts of my first full-length play, which is currently titled “The Shadows of ’92”. This new work takes place in early 1992 and follows a couple of young men in South Central LA as they navigate their young adulthood amidst the loss of their bestfriend. I’m very excited to share it with the world and plan to hold a first reading of the text soon. This last summer, I wrote, shot, and directed my very first short film titled “Elina”, in collaboration with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. I have been sending it around to a couple of festivals and hope to be able to share it online soon as well. I am currently working on another script that I look forward to sharing more about soon!

I think with all of my work, I am incredibly inspired and driven to uplift my community and shed light on all its beauty. I am determined to present our stories truthfully and wholeheartedly to demand the space they have always deserved.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite memories as a child have to be late nights at home with my family. The house lights would be off, and whether it be cumbias, my abuelitas boleros, or classic oldies, there was always music playing loud on the speakers. My parents, tias, and tios would kick it out on the porch, and the porch lights would peek in through the windows and front door, just casting the lightest orange glow into the living room. With Ralfi Pagan’s music playing… nothing beats it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gerardojrnavarro/

Image Credits
Cecilia Shin J.D. Hopper Nate Kelderman