Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabrielle Alexander.
Gabrielle, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Hi, My name is Gabrielle Alexander and I’m a director, actress, and screenwriter. I’m also a Youtuber with a growing channel of over 15,000 subscribers that I love to bits. I was raised in a small duplex in the heart of Little Havana where the rich smell of Cafe La Llave, pastelitos de guayaba, and freshly baked pan Cubano pulled me out of bed every morning.
Flash forward 17 years into the future: I became a teenage rocker chick with an attitude problem at Coral Park Sr High. At that age, I could never find a way to confidently answer the age-old question of what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” All I knew for sure was that I wanted to be an artist, Bioshock was the best video game ever and I had a flair for the dark and dramatic. My family referred to my style choice as a “phase.”
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t. Take that Tio Pepin.
Graduation was inching towards me like a slow yet painfully determined caterpillar and I was a very green, scared little leaf. Luckily, a friend asked me to be the female lead in a script he was working on. I said yes, and found myself not only starring in it but rewriting, directing and editing it into a short film. My very first short film. I entered it in the CP Senior Year Talent Show and the rest was history. I had just stumbled onto what I was born to do.
I always had to fight for what I wanted in life and film was no exception. Since Hollywood is known for being a male-dominated field, my new career choice scared my very traditional Hispanic family. They warned me all about the social judgment of choosing career over family, that I’d have to work harder as a director to prove myself equal, and that how I would have to deal with a lot of unwanted sexual advances as an actress. There was no talking me out of it though. Either the world was going to make space for me or I was going to create a spot for myself. I had a feeling was going to be just fine.
Graduation came and went, and now it was time for my life to really start. Within a few months, I managed to direct another short film, this time with The Florida Film Institute. My short won a handful of national awards but I was still hungry for more. I joined the School of Entertainment and Design (SEDT) at Miami Dade College. Throughout my time in the SEDT program, I met the people who would become my creative “tribe” and crew family. In the film you need an army, you can trust and I am forever thankful for meeting those talented filmmakers along the way. By the end of my academic career, I had directed another six short films and acted in several other projects.
My short films would venture out to various festivals and would be screened around the country. One short in particular created a lot of buzz last year. “Deliver Hannah” is a 6-minute short film that got into the 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival SFC in France. I now held two invitations to this world-renowned event in my hands and I was equal parts proud and confused. I came out of that experience knowing that I was ready to commit to my craft on a much larger scale.
That being said, Tuesday and Thursday nights you will usually find me sitting in front of a laptop with my writing partner, scarfing down a bowl of Ramen at 1-800-LUCKY in Wynwood or Lan Ramen in the Gables. We will probably be laughing too loudly, arguing, making weird facial expressions and very obscene hand motions. Please excuse our mess – We are currently writing our first feature-length film.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’ve always seen movies as if they were little windows into another universe. What made film life changing for me though, was realizing that these “universes” are all created in the minds and by the hands of other people. They just put a massive amount of energy into making this world into a part of our collective reality. I find that fascinating. It shows that art reflects life. In general, art as a whole allows us to bring a physical form to what goes on in our brains.
My brain loves dark, dramatic and over the top stories. When I was a kid, I would have nightmares every single night. They were strange and cryptic and always managed to keep me awake. I felt like I couldn’t sleep until I figured out what they meant, and if I didn’t figure it out they would come back to haunt me. For some reason, my mind just goes into more of a dark creative space. I write horror movies right now because that is what I most relate to. I find something really beautiful about dark topics. It’s a different kind of beauty.
I’ll admit, it’s very special to me because not everyone finds horror beautiful. It’s not hard to create beautiful things when you’re happy, but when something beautiful is created out of destruction… it just defies all logic. Life has taught me that hardship forges the sharpest sword. This is an idea I have spotted in many of my favorite films, such as 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 and 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰. Films like these give an endless amount of hope to those navigating through the darkest shades of life; to fight through their turmoil and to look towards the future as an opportunity to redefine themselves.
I want my films to show a different take on darkness. My aim is to push the boundaries of what is accepted, respected, understood and loved. I would want my work to help my audience reveal something profound within themselves.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
I think it’s loneliest when you’re looking for understanding from the people you already have in your life. We aren’t all born into a family that understands what it’s like to be an artist. I was born into a family of doctors and health professionals, for example, they love me but they just don’t get it sometimes. Moreover, the friends you make in high school tend to be circumstantial and you might not actually have that passion in common. You need to look outward and find your tribe. Miami is a very busy city.
Look for apps/sites online that promote local events like Eventbright or Meetup. Go to the events that you feel interested in and where you think you’ll find like-minded people. When you get there have a beer or three and start talking to people about things you actually care about. Going to school for the film was by far the biggest form of artistic connection for me because I put myself in a room where people loved film enough to major in it. Eventually, you will find people that are cut from the same cloth as you.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
As of right now, I’m in a season of building myself up. I am writing the feature, I work full time as an editor for a large online media company and I use my platform on YouTube to rally up like-minded people. My channel is really where I go to escape. My job takes a lot of my time so I have a little series called “Reacting at Work” where I silently react to things my subscribers send to me (in secret) while at my actual day job.
My channel Muted Alpha Behavior is definitely the best place to support me and show some love. The fun thing about what I do on Youtube is that it’s not only reaction videos. The content can be anything from Vlog-Documentaries and fun rants to whatever I manage to create that week. One thing is for sure, you definitely get to know me in a much more personal way on my channel.
If your a filmmaker, producer, FX make up artist, actor etc, please feel free to reach out to me! I’d love to talk shop through email or on Twitter. We can talk about how much we want to work with production houses like A24 or Netflix Originals, it’ll be fun.
Contact Info:
- Email: mutedalphabehavior@gmail.com
- Instagram: @TheMutedAlpha
- Twitter: @TheMutedAlpha
- Other: Snapchat: BrieRyder
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/mutedalphabehavior
Image Credit:
Guillermo Fernandez
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
