Rising Stars: Meet Johnny Alonso of Mission Beach San Diego

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny Alonso.

Hi Johnny, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I love playing music. I love acting on stage. I love acting for film and television. In my teen years I started out as a musician. My band The Unknown was based out of Ellicott City, Maryland. We were one of the biggest bands out of the Baltimore area when we were around. One year we swept/won Best Band, Best Album, Best Live Show in the Baltimore City Paper. We were written up in Music Express, Maximum Rock n Roll and countless fanzines, Our music style was somewhere between Joy Division meets Echo and The Bunnymen meets the Jesus and Mary Chain. Our music charted on the CMJ, we toured all over the East Coast. We were 15, 16 and 17 years old. We were kind of a big deal (Alonso laughs) Then college crept its way into our lives and girlfriends broke up the band. Amazing how that happens. when the band broke up, I seriously didnt know what I wanted to do with my life. So I went back to New York and was accepted into NYU. I didn’t know what I wanted to study but with my years of playing music, I realized that playing at a show, the band in its own way was “acting”on stage. So I decided to take a stab at acting classes. I got in to the Actor’s Studio at NYU. I fell in love with stage acting. Many of the students in my acting classes did not like me, They considered me a musician, not an actor. So many times when we were given scenes to prepare, I had to do my scenes solo, do my scenes as a monologue. This training actually helped me later in my career because I learned how to memorize – not just my lines but retain what the actors in my scenes are also saying. We weren’t allowed to audition while enrolled at NYU for any projects that weren’t affiliated with NYU. But every now and again we’d have a casting director come to our classes to just watch our performances and drop cards to actors for future contact. I was one of them. I auditioned for All My Children and landed Seth a Pine Valley High School Student next to Kelly Ripa and Susan Lucci. After AMC, I booked Homicide (Life on the Streets) as the guest starring role of David Scholtz – the KISS rock and roll student who was witness to a racially motivated murder. I worked side by side with Andre Braugher. Ned Beatty, Richard Bellzer. After Homicide I landed a 6 episode recurring as Jimmy Franco on the show Dawson’s Creek, then straight into a core recurring 8 episode contract as Joey D on One Tree Hill. Of course in between all of these gigs I was also booking indie films, commercials and voice overs. In these early years of my career I also landed the Voice of Daniel at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. My voice as Daniel takes you thru the Remember the Children Exhibit. My voice will be in the archives for life. Im pretty proud of this gig. It’s also my mom’s favorite gig to date. I was also the lead male host for 47 episodes on a show called NASA 360. We shot all over the country and internationally. What an experience that was. Currently Im working on a new show called Rosemary Street Series. We’re in development and have shot 6 episodes. Its a great show loaded with some great veteran actors. I can’t wait for you to see it.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Are you kidding me? I’m still fighting my way out of the box.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an actor. Like I said earlier, I trained at NYU and The Actor’s Studio with some of the greats. I did forget to mention that I was also on a cool high school type show about a traveling rock band. the show was called Numbers Alive and produced by PBS?MPT. It was a 10 episode series special about a traveling rock band that learns about history and math sense, relationships. and everyday life in their travels. We shot in The Everglades, New York City, Montana, Cincinnati, Baltimore. It was so much fun shooting all over the country with this show. The great thing about this show, the high school students that watched our series in the classroom, they grew up watching me on Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill. I received so many messages back in the day saying they remember me from Numbers Alive, and just saw me as a Guest Starring role on Dawson’s or OTH or the paranormal series A Haunting. Its really nice getting recognized for my work.
Beyond talent, (because an actor really needs to have a handle on his or her acting) you need an image. An image that works for you. But you also have to be smart about it. Don’t think casting is going to just like “you” for who “you” are. You need to have that certain spark. that “It” factor. To many actors believe or think they have the It factor, sorry man, you don’t. And you can’t make that happen, you either have it or you don’t. Know you limitations and work the rest.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love Los Angeles. I love how culturally diversified LA can be. Every City gets a bad rap, but usually its from people that have never been to that city. Theyre just following social media news and what that crap news tells you- come on man, wake up lol Social media news just makes people afraid and inferior to one another and keeps people away from each other. The world isn’t that bad. Im a people person and I still like connecting with people on the street and in public. I like going to the mall, my days on the beach, experiencing life. Ive never had a problem meeting people. All of this helps me with my acting arsenal and staying in touch with the now. I love Chinatown in LA. You really feel like youre not in LA and that youre on vacation. I love Studio City and spend a lot of time there. Burbank of course for casting and work. Seriously Los Angeles is one of the prettiest and coolest cities around

Contact Info:

• Website: https://IMDb.me/johnnyalonso
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/johnny.alonso
• Facebook: Johnny Alonso
• Twitter: https://Twitter.com/johnnyalonso
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/johnnyalonso
• Other: https://johnnyalonso.com