Today we’d like to introduce you to Julian Maldonado.
Julian, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2016 I started my first year of college at Florida State University as a pre-med major with an aspiration of becoming a plastic surgeon because everyone told me that being a doctor was the best route to go down in life. “They make a lot of money” was the only good thing people said about being a doctor. No one ever once said “is that what you love?”. I had to learn this on my own. Fast forward two year into college and had been doing shadowing and my own research on what this life as a physician would be like. Fortunately I was able to admit to myself (which can be hard for a lot of people) that I really only wanted to be a doctor because they made a lot of money. While I would have loved to have had a job that can save lives, I learned that medicine was not my passion. I knew that I would not be happy in a career where I spend 10+ hours in a hospital. I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do with my life. I had always been a fan of acting, always. In fact, acting as the first thing, I told myself I wanted to do with my life. The only reason I didn’t pursue acting was because I discouraged myself, I literally talked myself out of it, at the age of 12. I never talked about it to anybody. I was my own best counselor about life… I had 12 whole years of experience. What does a 12 year old know? Anyway, that was a quick decision for me “what are you crazy? You’ll never be an actor, don’t waste your time,” and from then on I continued through life knowing in the back of my head I really wanted to be in tv shows and movies, but I was never going to go for it because of that’s so unrealistic. So here I am my second year of college and I’m thinking to myself “You know what? I only get to do this whole life thing one time,” and I decided to try it out, I didn’t abandon my major, or anything crazy. I stayed in college as a pre-med major and started going on auditions for plays around town and the film school at FSU. I had zero, literally zero experience and I was going for the gold. The first role I ever got was a background extra in a student film where I was on set for (wait for it) 12 hours doing nothing. They didnt use me until the end of the 12th hour. I just sat there, the night before I had an exam that I did not study for. That was my first time on a production set and it was not nearly enough to discourage me from this journey. I kept going. I did more extra work for student films. I just needed to fill my resume with experience. Eventually, I started getting auditions, which sometimes lead to roles and thats when I started taking acting more serious.
At this time, I had actually just begun performing stand-up comedy as well. I perform stand-up a few times a week, getting on any open mic that I possibly can. Currently, I am in my last semester of college and I’m going to every audition that I’m given and performing stand-up on stage any chance I get. In the summer of 2019 I did a little experiment and spent the summer in New York City, I lived with my aunt in a tiny apartment in Washington Heights and I had gotten a job as a host at Caroline’s on broadway, a famous comedy club in Times Square.
Working there gave me the opportunity to make connections and talk to other comedians who were a little ahead of me on this journey. I also got a gig as an extra in Lin Manuel Miranda’s feature film In The Heights, where I actually got the chance to chat with him for a little bit. I used my time in New York as a chance to see what life would be like for me and to see what opportunities the big apple could offer me. I now know confidently that this is where I want to move after I graduate from college. Im going to pursue an acting and stand-up comedy career in New York City and I feel confident in my ability to reach my goals. While I’m excited to make this move, I am also (naturally) scared of what can happen, which is nothing. But I’ve always been a risk-taker and I know that this is what im truly in love with doing, so im going for it.
Great, 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?
I would say my struggles were trying to pursue this with a full time class schedule. There have been several occasions when I was cast as a lead role in a student film but I couldn’t film because I had classes that I couldn’t miss. Now, that’s a demo reel that I just lost out on. It definitely is very frustrating not being able to take these steps in my career sometimes, but I don’t let it discourage me.
Please tell us about your work.
As a stand-up comedian and an actor, I’m, an entertainer and I am available for hire across Florida and neighboring states. I’m most proud of my versatility, I work very hard to be able to portray the different character in acting and avoid typecasting. I think what makes me stand out is my joke writing ability. I can bring this skill to a comedy film or show and give helpful insight to the scriptwriters.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Patience, Passion, Motivation, Discipline, Being different and standing out.
Pricing:
- I perform 15 minutes for $50, 20 minutes for $75 or 3o minutes for $80
Contact Info:
- Address: 232 Hayden Road, Tallahassee Florida. 32304
- Website: https://www.backstage.com/u/julianmaldonado or https://youtu.be/4VW3U3XnQkc
- Phone: 3863661155
- Email: Julianmaldonado21@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejulianmaldonado/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julian.maldonado.165
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmaldonado51
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