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I began writing while on set for a movie just after graduating high school. There are times when actors wait hours between takes if there’s a new set-up happening. In those situations, it’s best to do something productive and take your mind off the scene you’re filming. Having an activity during breaks helps me keep my acting fresh and my reactions natural. Reading is a great go-to, but it just wasn’t doing it for me on this particular day. I had a story and characters – Oliver and Mina – who were living in my head and nagging at my brain. I needed to get them on paper. I wrote a chapter of their story into my notes on my iPhone. I also jotted down some ideas about what would happen to them on their journey. Then, I just forgot about it for a while. Months later, I found the note and showed it to my sister, who said she loved the story and thought it would make a good book. So, I transferred it into Microsoft Word and began fleshing out the story that eventually became Love and Other Sins.

My training as an actor significantly impacted my writing and the crafting process for developing my characters. One of the most important ways an actor can prepare for a role is scene/character study. Any of the methods will do just fine: Stanislavski, Meisner, Chubbuck, Strasberg, Hagen, Adler, ect. It’s about preference. It doesn’t matter which you choose as long as it works for you because they all have one essential thread tying them together. “What does the character want?”

When you examine a scene in a screenplay, you beg the question:

What does my character want at this moment?

Where do they start the scene and where do they end it?

How do they change?

Who or what is the catalyst for that change?

And when you analyse the screenplay overall, you ask yourself: How does my character evolve or deteriorate throughout the story? Essentially, the answer to this question is the definition of character arc. Acting out tricky scenes helped me determine which physical limitations, specific body movements, quirks, and other maneuvers worked, and which didn’t.

When I auditioned for parts, there would be times when I had to go through character analysis for three separate projects and three different characters in one day. Based on very little information, I would have to break down what the character wants and figure out their micro/macro motivation. It forced me to become skilled at quick. These skills help a writer craft a complex narrative under the umbrella of a universal driving force. Motivation fuels underlying thoughts. Underlying thoughts give depth to dialogue and help flesh out characters in the same way that internal thoughts grant insight to readers in novels.

Creating a backstory for my characters on and off the screen was vital. More times than not, my character’s backstory was not provided to me either because the project was trying to remain hush-hush or because the script did not explicitly discuss my character’s history. So, I’d invent my backstory. 

That process is very similar to writing characters in a book. I used the provided breakdown from the casting process, including any traits, qualities, strengths, weaknesses, quirks, to make an educated guess about what this person ultimately wants/needs from life. I took into consideration the character arc in the scene/overall story to create a reasonable history. In the case of American Horror Story, I would ask myself: Where was Princess Anastasia Romanova born? Where was she raised? Who raised her? What excites her? What life events shaped her? What empowered her? What scarred her? What are her secrets? And how do those things affect the way she walks, carries herself, speaks, etc.? A deep backstory is not usually explored in a film, but it exists in the thoughts of the characters and ultimately informs their actions. A detailed and specific backstory leads to a richer “life of the character.” 

Scene study and my on-set experiences were great practice when it came time to create my characters’, Oliver and Mina’s, backstories. I would pretend they were characters I was going to play. I entered their minds the way I would when I played my characters on set. My approach might differ from most traditional writers and may very well be why I opted to write in first-person. I was documenting the moments as if they were happening to me in real-time. Later, I rewrote the novel into past tense to give the storytelling and pacing more flexibility. 

Although there are many things that acting can’t help a writer do, like crafting nuanced, refreshing, and poetic prose. I think every writer would benefit considerably from practicing basic acting techniques and applying them to their characters. I noticed writers among us during my acting classes. When I asked them what they hoped to gain from our work together, they would explain that they were there to observe the difference between what works on paper, what works in rehearsal, and what stops a scene from progressing.

6 simple acting exercises to help you craft your characters:

1. MACRO GOAL: Determine what the character wants from life more than anything?

2. MICRO GOALS: What does the character want in this given moment? Make sure the micro-goals support the macro goal.

3. What HURDLES make it difficult for the character to achieve their micro goals and macro goal? Consider micro-hurdles versus macro-hurdles.

4. INNER THOUGHTS: Hear the character’s constant flow of internal dialogue in your mind, especially during central moments. Make sure previous circumstances inform inner thoughts.

5. PREVIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES: The character history that determines why your character is the way that they are. Previous circumstance explains how the character operates in the world and why.

6. ACTIVITY How do the answers to #1-5 affect the character’s movements, macro/micro-actions, ticks, and quirks?

Love and Other Sins is available to buy from Amazon now.

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Conversations Over Coffee

Because we’re just getting to know Emilia.

Serena Knudson (SK): You are an actress and you’ve done some modeling, what made you want to become a published author?

Emilia Ares (EA): I am an actress, I’ll own that. I will fully deny any modeling work and will defer to: nope that wasn’t me. 

I’ve always been obsessed with storytelling. Whether it was full-blown, out of this world, make-believe answers when my parents asked me, “How was school today?” and I’d tell them that a huge Hollywood studio producer came to school and selected me to star in the next Annie film. Or just writing wildly exaggerated dramatizations of my day in my journal. Storytelling has always been pure fun to me. I never thought I’d be an author but after spending any spare minute I had over the past ten years on telling Mina and Oliver’s story, I figured it’d be a waste not to share them with the world…just in case it resonated with someone, made someone feel less other or less lonely.

SK: What was your favorite part to write of Love and Other Sins?

EA: I loved writing the dialogue between Oliver and Mina. I also loved writing Mina’s sharp quips and bad-ass moments, especially where she speaks her mind and stands up for herself or others. 

SK: Your characters are pretty complex, if you had to choose which of your characters would you be best friends with?

EA: It would be a very close call between Nyah and Lily, Mina’s mom. Nyah is a firecracker and so grounded. She knows exactly who she is and what’s what. Lily is just an absolute no bullsh*t love bomb and she would be so much fun to talk to over drinks. 

SK: If you could learn a new hobby, what would it be?

EA: Definitely to fly a plane or ride a motorcycle

SK: What is something you are passionate about?

EA: Getting together as a community and solving community problems on a micro level. Also, hats. I love hats. 

Let’s Get Intimate!

Don’t you want to know more about this interesting author?

SK: You have a minor in Russian and used the Russian language and culture in your novel. What drew you to choose Russia over other languages and countries?

EA: Russia has such a dark, rich, and complex history. I love its people and culture so much. The people of Russia wear so many layers and I’m not just talking about the clothes. To truly get to the heart of a Russian person takes time and a deep level of friendship and trust. There are much fewer surface smiles and superficial niceties in Russian culture. I can’t wait to explore Russia more in book 2 of Love and Other Sins. 

SK: What advice would you give to other authors who may want to add different cultures to their novel? 

EA: Just be passionate and respectful about the culture you’d like to explore. As long as your interest comes from a place of appreciation and respect it will most likely turn out beautifully. Try to be as thorough and objective in your research as possible and make sure to speak with as many different people from that culture as you can find. Don’t rush and pay close attention to details, they will nuance the writing.

SK: As mentioned above, you have some pretty complex characters. Did anyone inspire any of your characters?

EA: I would say about 25 percent of my characters’ personalities were inspired by people I’ve come across or known well. A lot of their traits are also a mix and match of the people I’ve come to know or observed over time. I love exploring the flawed, morally grey aspects of humanity. With this novel, I wanted to explore what happens when two people make a mess of things while falling in love. We’ve come across many books that depict positive character arcs where the MC improves over the course of the story. I wanted to explore what happens when your infatuation with a person happens to bring out the worst in you? And, of course, that question isn’t fully answered by the end of this novel, not quite yet. 

SK: Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you view yourself?

EA: Yes, in a million different ways, but also, no. In essence, I am who I am and probably nothing will change those core parts of me. 

I thought acting was the most terrifying and vulnerable thing I could try. Nope, I was wrong. Writing a book is. I’ve built some thick skin from all the rejection and criticism I’ve faced in the acting world, but nothing could have prepared me for the brutal imposter syndrome of publishing a novel. The way that I’ve changed so far is that I no longer seek approval. I made a thing, I put it out there, and I hoped it would find someone that “gets it”. And so far, that’s already happened. It did find readers that got it, many more than I thought it would. So, it feels like a weight off my shoulders and now, I’m going to try and just enjoy that feeling, focus on it instead of the negative stuff and just run with it. 

I think I’m still in the process of being changed by writing and publishing this book, so I might be too close to see the big picture just yet. I’ll circle back on this later in my life, for sure. 

SK: Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

EA: My sister was the first person I showed my writing to. She was reading a lot of YA at the time and she’s the one who encouraged me to finish it and make it into a book. She said she loved it and couldn’t wait for more so, at first at least, I kind of was writing it for her. I don’t think Love and Other Sins would have existed without her encouragement. 

Fun and Games

Now that we’re well-acquainted with Emilia, here are some fun questions and what she had to say about them.

SK: If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?

EA: Mina: Get it together girl. He’s great but don’t lose yourself. You have so much going for you. Don’t lose sight of your family, your friends, your ambitions. 

Oliver: *I’d just give him a big, warm hug.* 

Lily: Palm Springs and chill?

Nyah: Netflix and chill?

Kiran: I’ve got three words for you, Kiran: Den of Vipers. Enjoy and leave the boy alone.

SK: If you could choose an author, dead or alive, to take a writing class with, who would it be?

EA: Jodi Picoult, her writing is beautiful in a gut-punch, rip your heart out stomp on it and shove it back in kind of way. So, so good. 

SK: What ridiculous thing has someone tricked you into believing or doing?

EA: Peter Pan convinced me that if I believed I could fly strongly enough that I would fly. I tried. I fell, hard. Forgot about the fairy dust. 

SK: If we were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, who are three people you’d want on your team?

EA: Voya from Blood Like Magic, fierce and powerful. Jude from The Cruel Prince, unstoppable bad*ss. Hanna from the Amazon series, dangerous and killer smart.

SK: What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?

EA: I’m a massive dork.

SK: What are your favorite book recommendations?

EA: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Into the Wild Light, Beach Read, The Dutch House, Where the Crawdads Sing, A List of Cages

Justin Cox | 28K Followers | Oct 13 5 min read

Actress and author Emilia Ares believes storytelling is an inherent part of the human experience. Learn more in her Write Now interview.

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One of the ways Emilia Ares works through writer’s block is by acting out the scene she’s writing. While this advice is fantastic for all writers, Emilia might have a leg up on most of us. She’s a professional actress who understands that storytelling is an inherent part of the human experience. Enjoy Emilia’s interview.

Who are you?

My name is Emilia Ares. I am an author, and a film and television actress. I live in Los Angeles, California with my husband and my two amazing kiddos. Connect with Emilia on her website.

What do you write?

I write Young Adult contemporary fiction. I began writing when I was 7 — a short story inspired by my younger sister. It was a dramatization of how she broke into our mother’s lipstick collection and illustrated our apartment walls. I had since secretly dreamt of becoming a writer, but I didn’t think it was a realistic aspiration because I was an immigrant, growing up in a non-English-speaking household. I got to a point where I knew I had a story to tell, and I just needed to tell it, insecurities be damned. Writing a book was exhausting and exhilarating, like trying to describe a vivid dream that won’t leave your consciousness until you give it life on paper.

Where do you write?

I wrote the first draft of Love and Other Sins on my laptop in bed between 10 pm and 5 am. That’s when my imagination really churns — in the wee hours of the night. Once that was complete, the subsequent 20-some-odd rounds of editing took place at my writing desk during the day. It would have been dreadfully unpleasant without the company of my good friends: Stained Coffee Mug and Spinal Support Pillow (I have terrible posture).

I wrote and edited on ol’ handy-dandy Microsoft Word, and if I was ever inspired on the go, I just jotted things down into the notes section of my phone. Since I was usually driving around a lot to auditions, work, my son’s school, etc., it helped to edit on the go. I would program the Microsoft document accessibility tool to read excerpts aloud to me, that way I utilized almost every minute of my day efficiently, and it was easier to notice typos hearing them aloud.

When do you write?

I like to initially write at night and edit during the day. I wrote the first draft at the pace of about a thousand words a day. Sometimes, it would be three thousand. Sometimes, I’d take days off. When editing, I tried to get through about a chapter a day — more or less — depending on the chapter’s length. I do set deadlines and goals for myself. I hold myself accountable by hiring the editor in advanced and booking three months ahead of time, for instance.

Why do you write?

I was interested in storytelling for as far back as I can remember. Storytelling is an inherent part of the human experience; it’s how we link ourselves to one another, to our ancestors. Maybe it’s my way of rebelling against the inevitable oblivion of my own finite existence. But, put more simply, as an actress, I felt like a vessel for the story — pivotal, but restricted. As an author, I finally understood what it felt like to be in full control of the narrative. It’s a very different feeling. It’s also a different responsibility — to be the driver of the vessel and to be the vessel itself and to be the driving force and to be the road and the mountains and the sea and gravity and everything in-between.

Also, I write because it’s fun for me. I really enjoy making something and sharing it with others and hoping they can connect in at least some aspect. That was the best part of making movies like Falling Overnight, the unexpected emails and outreach from the fans who were touched by the story. I’ve craved that connection ever since. I think this is my chance to connect with a whole new group of people, readers. My heart is really in it. I want to shed light on the flaws of the foster care system. I want to bring attention to the stigmas that all immigrant families face. And I want to advocate for those who are overlooked by learning more about different issues affecting our community and spreading the word. The arts are a powerful tool to foster empathy toward one another.

How do you overcome writer’s block?

I overcome blocks by pivoting. I try different approaches: I switch to pen and paper to connect to a different part of my brain; I write scenes out by hand in my notebooks whenever I had blocks; it really got my brain sparking in periods of stifled creativity. Another way to get through a block: I’d act a scene out or read it aloud. Sometimes, taking a break from writing and doing something physical helps. If nothing is working, I’ll skip a part that’s giving me trouble and go to the next moment or character mind-space that I can imagine clearly. Later, I’ll go back and fill in that blank. Usually, that does the trick.

Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?

When I’m not writing or working, I spend most of my time with my kids. We make five-course meals out of play-dough, paint abstract masterpieces, jump to the moon on the backyard trampoline, fly to Hawaii in an Amazon shipping box. It’s so much fun to see the world through my kids’ eyes.

I am also partial to a glass of good red wine, inhaling a bewitching fantasy novel in one sitting, or binge-watching the latest book-to-television series adaptation, regardless of my sleep deprivation.

Write Now is a weekly interview series created by Justin Cox. Hungry for more writing advice? Sign up for Justin’s newsletter, Eat Your Words, today!

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I’m so excited to share these beautiful illustrations and our first glimpse of Mina from @loveandothersins by the talented artist: Marci Klugiewicz, @llstarcasterll

Pre-order the book now to receive character art cards with the official Spotify playlist QR code, a gold foil bookmark, a signed bookplate and a custom LAOS pencil as a thank you. 🙏 Supplies are limited so pre-order and sign up quick! Google form here (preorder gift form)

#loveandothersins #emiliaares #yanovels #characterart

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I’m so excited to share these beautiful illustrations and our first glimpse of Oliver from @loveandothersins by the talented artist: Marci Klugiewicz, @llstarcasterll

Pre-order the book now to receive character art cards with the official Spotify playlist QR code, a gold foil bookmark, a signed bookplate and a custom LAOS pencil as a thank you. 🙏 Supplies are limited so pre-order and sign up quick! Google form here (preorder gift form)

#loveandothersins #emiliaares #yanovels #characterart

Emilia Ares Interview - Love and Other Sins

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Emilia Ares is an American film and television actress. Love and Other Sins is her debut novel. She graduated UCLA with a BA in Economics, and a minor in Russian. Literature and storytelling have always been her true passion.

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
Everyone has their own reasons. Some people don’t care for it at all. I need it like I need air and water and food. I need to hear stories and I need to tell them. The point, for me, is to shed light where there is darkness—to give a good cause a face and a name, doing so gets people to care. Storytelling creates empathy and puts people into circumstances they may never have experienced otherwise.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
Feeling the excitement from my family, friends and my family of new readers has been such a good feeling. Also, holding the physical book in my hand gives me a giddy rush every single time.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
I’m working on the next installment of Love and Other Sins. We leave Mina and Oliver in quite an interesting predicament where some things have been settled but there is far more unknown and I can’t wait to explore where their story goes from here.

Can you tell us when you started LOVE AND OTHER SINS, how that came about?
I’m an actress and I was traveling to set one day working on one of my first films, this was right after I graduated high school, and the story just came to me on the road over there. Then it kept nagging and nagging at me, so I had to get it down on paper, so-to-speak. I wrote a chapter of their story into my notes on my iPhone and I also jotted down what else would probably happen later on in the story.

When I got back to town, I showed it to my younger sister, Sofia, who was reading a lot of YA at the time. She’s the one who encouraged me to keep writing and to make it a book. She said she loved it and couldn’t wait for more. I don’t think Love and Other Sins would have existed without her encouragement.

What do you hope for readers to be thinking when they read your novel?
I want my reader family to just have fun on this adventure. I hope they laugh, worry, swoon, roll their eyes, smirk and squeal. I hope they get butterflies in their stomachs at all the right parts and an ache in their hearts for Oliver. There is a lot of heaviness throughout the novel, especially when it comes to Oliver’s character. There is talk of abuse in the foster care system and the residue of child abuse. My hope is that it awakens a desire in my readers to fight injustice, become active listeners, to help those in need who can’t stand for themselves.

If none of those things, then let it just be a reminder of how fragile the fabric of life can be. Tell the people you love that you love them. Be present.

What part of Mina did you enjoy writing the most?
I live for Mina’s snark and sharp quips. She speaks up for others and for herself even if it gets her in trouble. Those parts were the most fun to write. But she’s definitely a flawed MC.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
It would be interesting to see Oliver meet Meursault from The Stranger before Meursault is executed, and Oliver would most likely try to convince him that Meursault’s desperation to achieve individuality is utterly selfish and absurd.

But Oliver would probably have more fun meeting and learning strategy or sparring from Jude from Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince.

Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.
One summer I toured with my dance company and we performed at Times Square in NYC. The air had this sharp chill, the buildings towered over us, and the crowd was lit. Their energy flowed through us as we performed. It felt like free-falling and then suddenly sprouting wings and soaring. I was thirteen and it was an experience I’ll never forget, especially considering everything that’s happened in the world.

What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Swim in the Mediterranean, naked.

Best date you've ever had?
Burgers, banter then silence and a great view of the sunset.

What was the first job you had?
My first job was a sales rep at Hollister, I was sixteen. The perfume and Paramore songs still haunt me.

What did you do for your last birthday?
I gathered with family and friends. There was a lot of tequila and dancing, two of my favorite things.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Greece! I’ve always wanted to see it and travel’s been risky lately…not sure if anyone else has noticed. I want to climb those stones steps through the narrow pathways, shop, eat good food, watch sunsets, drink and dance.

First Heartbreak?
Elementary school, unrequited love.

Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved before?
True love, all day, everyday. Like Skylar Grey says, “I like the way it hurts.”

TEN QUOTES FROM LOVE AND OTHER SINS

• “Unfortunately, I was realizing more and more that to understand my own privilege was to know the misfortune of others.” -Mina

• “Sometimes, there would be a finely wrapped package covered in exquisite lace and rococo paper, but inside was a steaming heap of shit. You’d be looking around wondering, what’s that smell? And sometimes it turned out to be nothing but a big old box of Tyler, tied in a shiny bow.” -Mina

• “I felt a powerful compulsion to reach out and touch her, as though her body was a familiar place—as though she’s someone I’d known all my life, someone I was relieved to see again.” Oliver

• “Half the chocolate bar was stuffed in my mouth when it dawned on me: I was totally going to break out from crushing that hard.” -Mina

• “It was a dangerous thing for me to know what I wanted.” -Oliver

• “I have an idea. Next time, when you’re randomly freaking out about, you know, the world rotating and stuff, what we do is we come here, and we climb on this pendulum thing. And problem solved . . . we’ll be the only two people on the planet who are standing still while everyone else is turning.” -Oliver

• “It was a strange sensation, the thawing of a frozen heart.” -Oliver

• “What do I feel? Like a large winged creature dropped you into my life but forgot to leave the operating manual.” -Mina

• “It was intimate . . . a strange and beautiful feeling. We were breathing life into each other.” Mina

• “But you have to push back against the fear and the only way to do that is by arming yourself with knowledge and practice. Why? Because when it’s all over, even if you die and are rotting in the ground, at least you’ll know you didn’t leave quietly.” -Oliver

Writing Behind the Scenes
I wrote the first draft on my laptop in bed between 10pm and 5 am. That’s when my imagination really churns–in the wee hours of the night. Once that was complete, the subsequent 20-some-odd rounds of editing took place at my writing desk during the day. It would have been dreadfully unpleasant without the company of my good friends: Stained Coffee Mug and Spinal Support Pillow (I have terrible posture). I wrote and edited on ol’ handy-dandy Microsoft Word and if I was ever inspired on the go, I just jotted things down into the notes section of my phone. Since I was usually driving around a lot to auditions, work, my son’s school, etc., it helped to edit on the go. I would program the Microsoft document accessibility tool to read excerpts aloud to me, that way I utilized almost every minute of my day efficiently and it was easier to notice typos hearing them aloud.

Mina’s life is going according to plan; she’s acing AP Calc and is perfectly content with her nonexistent social life. Though only a high school junior, Mina knows time is an investment, and she’s putting all her capital into academics. Oliver, a child abuse survivor who grew up in the foster care system, is ready to burn down his old life and start from scratch—complete with a new name and emancipation papers—in L.A. When the two are thrown together through circumstance and develop an unexpected connection, they discover how hard it is to keep the past in the past.

Content warning: sexual assault, recollections of child abuse, discussions of suicidal thoughts, and mention of miscarriage.

You can purchase Love and Other Sins at the following Retailers:
AMAZON | B&N | Book Depository | Target | BAM

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you EMILIA ARES for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Love and Other Sins by Emilia Ares.

(Click here to enter and scroll to the bottom)
*JBN is not responsible for Lost or Damaged Books in your Nerdy Mail Box*

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Do you prefer films or novels?

At the end of the day, it's all about the story and they both tell stories. But I guess it depends on what I'm in the mood for. A novel allows a reader to participate in the world of the author. I very much enjoy the process of visualizing the world I'm reading about and the people in it, I try to make it as vivid and specific as I can in my mind. Also, I do end up caring more deeply for the character in a novel than a film but that's because I spend more time with them and I'm there in their thoughts as they go through their journies.

However, a talented filmmaker can achieve the same level of intimacy with his audience. I know because I've felt it so many times. I revisited the same films over and over again because I missed these people. The Professional, Man on Fire, The Pianist. 

Both mediums, I can't choose between them.

Which film do you feel is closest to your heart?

Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain is one of my favorite films. Despite the fact that many critics gave it a hard time, I am intrigued by the message that our bodies are prisons and that death frees our souls. In taking this point of view, it transforms one of the greatest human fears into a journey. Also, the film was visually stunning and the score was powerful, moving. When I left the theater, I couldn’t get the film out of my head. I carry it with me still.

What are your five favorite books, and why?

Harry Potter, I was eight and it was my gateway drug. 

The Stranger by Albert Camus because it challenged everything I ever knew or thought I knew about the hero of a story and made me feel so uncomfortable reading it. When I first read it, I was too young to understand it. I reread it a couple years later and although the events themselves became more clear, it still left me with so many questions. How can such an insensitive, apathetic person be the hero of a story? Why does he make all of those horrible choices, one after another? It felt inherently wrong to me. But that's what makes an impact, novels about real life. The ones that hold up a mirror to reality and the fact of the matter is that we as people are complex. The world is full of outliers and anomalies, usually, those are the kind of people who make the biggest impact on our society, extremists. Whether intolerably cruel or extremely forgiving, whether Hitler or Mandela... it's the outliers who shape our history. They represent the ultimate fight between good and evil. Me, I'm not on either end of the spectrum, most of us aren't. And thank god for that, the world would be in utter chaos. But outliers make for fascinating stories. That was Camus' The Stranger for me. It made me think and it was unsettling. Good art does that. You don't always have to agree with it. I've always been drawn to the juxtaposition of darkness and light in the context of societal norms and outliers.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky not only for the revelation this novel brought to literature but also for the story behind writing it. Dostoevsky didn't write it because he wanted to, he wrote it out of necessity. He wrote what he knew, the conditions and ramifications of a sick, drunk, impoverished Russia. He sent chapters out to trusted friends and colleagues in a time when doing so was not as simple as clicking send in your email box. He kept working, kept changing it, improving it. He threw chapters out and rewrote them and eventually, he threw out the entire 1st person format and rewrote everything in 3rd person because it served the story better. Learning that truly inspired me. It teaches young authors: Don't be afraid of making bold revisions or changes; not only are they important, they are essential.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because by the time 2008 rolled around, so much had already been written and said about a potential post-apocalyptic nation but somehow, Collins was able to put forth a fresh take on dystopia. I admire that very much. There is always more room for your voice, your perspective, your story. 

I am a huge fan of novels that enlighten the reader on perspectives of different cultures so I have to mention Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe because, again, it was very critically controversial. People didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand, Achebe ended up writing it in English, the language of colonialism which caused disagreement amongst many African critics in regards to the ultimate message of the novel. On the other hand, this was a novel that went against most of what was written about African culture at the time. It showed European colonialism from a different perspective portraying Igbo life from the point of view of an African man, a rich and sophisticated culture with a deep history, language, and beliefs.

Would you say you're spiritual? If so, how do you maintain your spirituality?

Yes, I am. You know what helps? Finding moments throughout the day that allow your mind to be still and reflect. I achieve it through yoga, taking a quiet walk, or listening to the sound of waves crashing to shore. It's harder to achieve stillness of the mind when surrounded by a bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere but there is always a way.

Was it always your intention to go into acting?

I have a Bachelors degree in Economics. I was planning on becoming a lawyer at the time and I was interested in corporate law. I really enjoyed calculus, that’s why I ended up studying Economics at UCLA, because it’s heavily math based. But I found myself lacking a real passion for it, so I fell into acting classes while I was finishing my degree and that became my creative outlet, something that eventually became a priority.

And do you have any particular aims within the industry? Any particular types of films, roles or jobs?

My goal is to get to a level where I do get to decide that, choose my roles not just audition for the ones available to me, read scripts and decide which ones portray society in an honest and extraordinary way. I’m drawn to watching films that have a social impact, that shed light on subjects that otherwise would remain in the shadows. I hope to publish a novel one day, ideally turn it into a script and maybe even direct. I have launched a couple of restaurant endeavors so I understand what it feels like to start something out of nothing, put your heart into it and hope that one day people will come and enjoy it. I feel like, in that sense, the entertainment industry is all connected whether we’re talking about cuisine, film, literature, or fashion. We all just want to make something that people can enjoy and maybe our creations will even pass the test of time.

You’re fairly experienced with shooting anthology films, as a performer how does the experience of shooting an anthology entry contrast with shooting on a traditional film?

Well it’s a lot shorter, for one. With VHS Viral, we had to get all of it in the can within a couple of days and there were different directors for each segment, we shot simultaneously and I had no clue what the other stories would be about until I watched it in theatres. The Dark Tapes is all Michael McQuown so there is more of a sense that the project segments all tie in together even if there are 4 stories. But I guess with anthologies the best way to describe it is a number of short stories under the umbrella of one feature film and one theme.

What other films do you have coming out which we should keep our eyes open for?

My latest project is the social media thriller, No Escape (2020 ) [Follow Me is the European title], staring Holland Roden and Keegan Allen, written and directed by Will Wernick. I’m really excited for the fans to see this project because I think they’re really going to love it. That was such an exciting environment to work in, I loved my character and the collaborators were all top notch.

To see some of the other work I’ve done you can check out Bosch on Amazon. I recurred as a guest star on season 2. Bosch is a high quality series with an incredible writing team, cast and crew. It’s an LA noir detective show based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling series and I encourage everyone to watch it. I recently guest starred on NCIS season 17 as Layla Zolotov, the feisty wife of a Russian Oligarch. That role was a lot of fun, especially the thought of having a pet tiger.

I’ve also gotten into producing. My first project as a producer is called Burden(2019). When given the chance to participate in this project, I eagerly took it because it was an important opportunity to support a film portraying the everyday tribulations experienced by Black men in America regardless of their socioeconomic status or personal accomplishments. I’m a storyteller and I was fortunate to be able to support a fellow storyteller who evokes powerful emotions with his work—hopefully, those emotions will evoke change. At minimum, it will continue the conversation.