Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Mizzone Pellegrini.
Hi Vanessa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My start in Los Angeles was an emotional one, for sure. My first morning in Los Angeles was the morning of 9/11. I drove out here with my mother in my trusty Toyota Corolla “Lucy” after moving from NYC 4 days earlier. Like everyone, I was scared, sad, and was dealing with a lot of guilt for not being in NYC when it happened. I moved out here to attend UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television to receive my Master of Fine Arts in Acting, which was a dream come true. Having so many friends and family is directly impacted by 9/11 and being 3000 miles away was very confusing, but my mom said, “Give it a month,” so I did…and here I am 23 years later. My Jersey roots are strong, but LA is definitely my home.
At UCLA, I was fortunate to do a workshop with the vanguard members of The Actors’ Gang, which was led by fellow Bruin Tim Robbins, and I was hooked on their physical style of acting and the strong community the theater provided. So, as soon as I got that MFA diploma, I pretty much spent every day at The Actors’ Gang, training, performing, and developing their Education Program. On stage, I was in shows such as Our Town, Blood Love Madness, Gulliver’s Travels, and Tartuffe, to name a few. Not only did I live, eat and breathe theater during these years, but I found a group of like-minded artists that were my family and support system, so now I had another home.
Developing the education department at The Actors’ Gang strengthened my love for theater education, and while my acting career was going strong, I needed more financial stability, so I started dipping my toes more into the adjunct professor pool at colleges such as Santa Monica College and East Los Angeles College. My specialty has always been voice and movement, so I focused on developing my curriculum in these areas, and it led me to now being a Tenured Full-time Theater Arts Professor at East Los Angeles College, which has become my latest home.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing in the arts is smooth, ha! Or I should say stable, which is the hardest part of this career. While I was at UCLA, I was also fortunate enough to meet my husband, Will Pellegrini, who is a crazy talented director and producer, and we have two kids that have been our most time-consuming productions to date.
Once we started having children, I made the conscious decision to search out full-time professorships because we were craving some financial stability, and we had hopes of buying a home. This is even harder now than it was then, but managing gigs and a family is the struggle that we continue to deal with. My husband and I sit down with a big calendar every couple of months so we can alternate when we are directing shows. I just directed A Christmas Carol at ELAC this Fall, and now, this Spring, he is scheduled to direct a show in town. It is organized chaos, and it means that our kids spend a lot of time in lighting booths and backstage, but they love coming to work with us.
I am also grateful to have a wonderful agent and manager team, so we often times find ourselves filming my self-tape auditions in our living room once the kids are asleep, laughing about how bananas our lives are, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
My work at East Los Angeles College keeps me grounded though. My community college theater students continue to challenge and inspire me. They either work full time, or perhaps are first-generation college students, or are taking care of family in some way, but they have decided to study theater and carve out a career for themselves in this crazy industry. One of the most rewarding parts of my work at ELAC is the relationships we have with theaters and other professional organizations so we can help connect our students to our networks and create bridges that are accessible to them. Creating access and opportunities for my students fills my soul…truly. So often, I am not just a professor to these students; I am their auntie, friend, and sometimes mom. While that can be A LOT and can, at times, create an imbalance between work and life, I am grateful that they trust me and want to confide in me, so it is worth it.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I wish I could be consistent with listening to a podcast! As for books, I would say the one I am writing right now…see how I snuck that in there. There is a great book called Navigating a Career in Technical Entertainment written by my colleagues Jessica Champagne Hansen and Camille Schenkkan, so if you are a designer or technician, this is the book for you. I am excited to share that I have joined the team and am writing one for performers, so stay tuned for that to drop in a year or so
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vanessamizzone.com
Image Credits
@bobturtonphotography
