Interview with Nana Ponceleon

Nana Ponceleon is originally from Venezuela, and she is now living in New York, where she came to study acting recently. Nana‘s first career was Business and she worked in the corporate world, including Microsoft, for over 11 years. Nana started in Venezuela improvising her way into the industry and after going to some acting workshops, she  went to an audition just for fun and got the part as the mother of a principal character.

The rest I guess is history. In Venezuela I shot 3 movies, 1 TV series as a series regular, performed in a play and wrote, co-directed and produced a musical play. Five years ago I came to New York to study in the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and upon graduating began to work. I have been in 8 shorts, 2 features, 3 TV shows, 1 web-series, 7 plays – 4 of the plays as lead actor.

I am the proud mother of two beautiful ladies, who live in Venezuela now and whom I miss everyday of my life. The youngest, Mariale, is a dancer and going to college to study business administration. Daniela is what they call a social media influencer and youtuber studying Communications.

indieactivity: When did you decide to study acting or something like that?
Nana: I think I decided to be an artist, not necessarily an actor very young. Since I was 9 years old I knew I loved to perform, mainly dance and sing. I started dancing flamenco at 9 years old, later I learned music, played some guitar and keyboards, and cuatro – a Venezuelan 4 string instrument-. I also did gymnastics, which I loved too. But I decided to formally purse acting about 10 years ago after resigning to the business world and after attending a basic acting weekend workshop just to relax and have some fun. Those classes sent me right back to my teenage years of art and joy. I also came to the US to do some acting workshops in New York and LA. I studied in LA at Carolyne Barry Entertainment with teachers like Joshua Bitton, Anil Kumar, and Donovan Scott. In New York I studied with the brilliant Susan Batson, personal acting coach to Juliette Binoche, Nicole Kidman and many others. After the work I did in Venezuela as an actress, I decided to come to New York 5 years ago to study acting at Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Today my acting coach is the writer, director, actor, singer and producer Marishka S. Phillips.

indieactivity: What acting technique do you use?
Nana: The technique that best works for me is Stella Adler’s attention to detail, to DO and most of all use the imagination. I usually can easily imagine myself in the circumstances of my character and just live those circumstances as if they were mine. My own life experiences are not always equivalent to those of the character but imagining vividly the character’s world is always valuable for me. It also helps me get out of my head, reduce judgments, insecurities because I am not doing me. Of course sense memory is also very useful when all else fails or as an additional layer. I guess I could say I also use Susan Batson’s technique, which is Develop Your Own Method (DYOM).

August, Osage County

indieactivity: What wrong impressions do actors hold about acting?
Nana: Acting is not something to be taken lightly. It requires training, persistence, focus, and lots of passion. You must love to do it, just because you love it, not because you want to be famous and make money or you will probably quit sooner than later. Actors need to work at it as hard as any other job if you want to be outstanding. In acting whenever it looks the easiest, more relaxed, effortless that’s probably when you worked the hardest. Acting is not about you, it is about your character and their story.

indieactivity: Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Nana: Yes I do and I also think auditioning is like being in class, so I try to do it as much as I can.

indieactivity: What acting books do you read?
Nana: I have some that are like a constant source to go to because they are so timeless: A Challenge for the Actor by Uta Hagen, The Art of Acting by Stella Adler (my alma matter school), An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavsky, On the Technique of Acting by Michael Chekhov, Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner, and many others. And then there is this little old book I don’t even know how I came across it called AUDITION, Everything an Actor needs to Know to Get the Part by Michael Shurtleff, published in 1978. There is nothing in this book that is outdated or can’t be used in the audition room today.

indieactivity: How do you keep fit as an actor?
Nana: By taking classes, by reading, by writing – which I like to do a lot -, by auditioning as much as I can, because every audition requires preparation, practice, memorization, etc., so it’s a full acting workout. I also learn a lot by watching others do the craft, so going to plays and of course watching movies, series, etc., with the actress side of the brain turned on helps too.

Nana Ponceleon on set of CLARA

indieactivity: How do you prepare for a role, when you get it?
Nana: I read the script first just as an audience member, just to know what the story is about and have fun with it. Then I read it again focusing more on my character’s journey and creating a more detailed backstory than I did for the audition, because now I have more information. Then I just place myself totally in the circumstances and begin to improvise. Once I know what is happening, I understand the story and her journey I go on to learn her lines. It sounds like a lot but I am finding I can do the process faster and faster every time.

indieactivity: How do you create a character from a script into a person?
Nana: I create a solid backstory that supports why she does the things she does and which can give the depth and dimension all of us humans have. I put myself in those circumstances and imagine every aspect of the characters life and how she would be affected by those circumstances. I find in me what is similar to the character’s behavior and then ask myself what would I do under those circumstances.

For me most of the time it is enough to imagine myself in those circumstances vividly and I can get to the emotional life of the character. It is usually not necessary to use my own personal life, because many times I have not had an experience similar to that of my character. But when all else fails, that is a great place to go for me by making a substitution or going to an event in my life that would bring the necessary sensations, emotions, feelings to bring the character to life.

indieactivity: How do you stay fresh on set?
Nana: Lots of breathing and relaxing at all times, even when they say action. I rest as much as I can the day or two before and eat healthy. While on set I eat light. I find I get more tired on full stomach than otherwise. Also by staying focused on what I need to do and not waste energy on things that will not help me do my work.

Nana and Director Christian Moran Lets Play Dead Girl

indieactivity: Describe a memorable character you played?
Nana: So far one of the most memorable characters I have played has been Ria. The character was a film director based on the life of Pier Paolo Pasolini, a poet, writer, intellectual and of course a film director as well.
The film is called Beautiful Women Live by Night, directed by Keith D. Bracker. This film is still in post-production.

indieactivity: Explain one creative choice you took on set?
Nana: This was not for a film but for theater. I was working with the fabulous director Mark Armstrong. He is a brilliant mind capable of having the structure and the organization needed to manage the production side of things to an astonishing precision and as creative and a visionary as the very best in the business. So I was casted in A Bright Room Called Day, a play by Tony Kushner as Die Alte. A play set in early 1930’s Germany’s war times. Die Alte was a surreal kind of character, an old woman or entity, however you decided to see her. I worked on a movement exercise with the non-less brilliant Elena Zucker and came up with Die Alte’s voice, movement, life by interpreting what Mark and I had discussed. We both were very happy with the result.

indieactivity: What do you want most from a director?
Nana: I want him/her to be able to convey his/her vision of the movie and the scene, so I, as an actor, can help bring that vision to life. If the director can also think or see the scene from the actor’s perspective and speak our language is always a blessing and then magic happens.

indieactivity: What actors do you long to work with?
Nana: Viola Davis and I also would have loved to work with Heath Ledger.

indieactivity: Why?
Nana: Because I think Viola Davis is one of the most real, raw, inspiring and moving actors for me today. Also because being in front of such an actress will make me grow instantaneously to raise as close as I can to her level, out of respect to her and my character. Because life would be outstanding once I share a set or the stage with a woman and an actress of her stature. And Heath, well I could copy paste the answer.

indieactivity: What advice would you give to actors?
Nana: Never give up if this is really what you want to do or your soul will die slowly or rapidly depending on how much you love it. Also know that you will get out the equivalent of what you put in, so don’t protest for what you don’t have, just look at what you are doing to get it and if you’re not happy change it.

Briefly write about your career
My first big production was a featured film called La Hora Cero (The Zero Hour) directed by Diego Velasco. This film became the biggest grossing movie in Venezuela at the time. It won many awards internationally and was featured in the US in HBO Latino first and later in HBO during a whole year. After being on set during a month in my first big production, sharing with all the main actors and actresses of this movie and being lead by this brilliant Venezuelan director, I knew this was definitely what I wanted to do for a very long time.

I also worked in two other feature films in Venezuela, La Clase produced by La Villa del Cine, my very first film and my very first audition ever done and another production from La Villa a couple of years later called Una Mirada al Mar. These were my “on the job” training productions and reassurances that this was my path.  I also worked on my first TV series as a series regular called “Más Fuerte que el Destino”. In this satire of soaps, I played the owner of a house, which was being used as the set for the production of a soap opera. I loved this character and the show. It was full of life, jokes, and drama. I learned how to be quick with learning scripts and a fast pace shooting schedule as TV series usually are.

I have done theater and as I mentioned probably Die Alte was the most challenging “theater” character I have played. I learned to completely step out of my comfort zone and embrace the uncertainty, because of age, because of the mysterious possibly none human yet completely grounded nature of the character. I have also been Bernarda Alba in The House of Bernarda Alba, Johnna in August Osage County – a fantastic play by Tracy Letts, and other smaller plays all of which I have enjoyed because there is nothing like being on stage.

I have been in eight (8) shorts in New York, one of which has won over 13 awards called “Let’s Play Dead Girl”, a thriller/horror film now making it’s way in the drama category as well, directed by the several times award winning director Christian Moran. This was a fantastic experience working with the talented leads and award winning actresses, Yessenia Rivas and Laura Guzman, who played the role of Consuelo, my daughter in the film.

I have also worked twice with the also award winning director Keith D. Braker in 2 shorts. As I mentioned before in Beautiful Women Live by Night – still in post-production- I played one of the leads as “Ria”, the most challenging role thus far in my career but the short Clara in the role of “Clara” was extremely challenging as well and worked for months to play the role of a very troubled woman suffering from border line personality disorder.

I have worked twice for the series The Perfect Murder on Investigation Discovery, both have been extremely fun and interesting experiences. Recreating a real murder case is always a great responsibly, especially if you are the person who hired the murderers of the victims. Also recently my first feature film in the US was premiered in Albany, NY. I really liked that character a powerful judge who becomes a victim due to her deviant passions.

Presently I am working on several projects. A short film called ELORA, I wrote inspired on a real story and I will be accompanied in the lead roles by Angeles Electra, a Spanish actor now living in Washington DC. Keith D. Bracker will direct this film. I am also writing my first One-Woman show inspired on the life of actress Rita Moreno.

In this play I will be playing Rita Moreno. We will be having a staged reading of the play in September 2017, to move onto production probably beginning 2018.  I have also been casted as Webb for a sci-fi web series to be shot end of 2017 or beginning 2018, also in a  short to be shot end of August as the lead – Simone a DEA agent –  and in a TV pilot as Victoria Barnes the mother of the lead of this series, to be shot beginning of September.

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