Tamara DeLaGuerra
Part 1
When I came to LA, I was lost (still am). But my days are often made better by the advice, experience and over all ass-kicking that I get from training with Tamara. So much more than a fitness trainer rallying you to finish those last 10 lunges, she is a life coach, nutiritionist and wise sage to all that know her. It wasn't until after several months of getting to know her that she opened up about her true passion, Acting. Tamara, a Canada native, moved here like many others to follow her passion. I had the pleasure of sitting down with her and getting to open up about her life, career and how she is making her way doing what she loves in a town full of actors.
For anyone looking to make it in Acting or just starting out in LA, Tamara, as always offers great advice and understanding of getting started in The Business or even just how to appreciate life. In fact it was so good (and because I know, the interviews go on to long) I split into a couple of parts.
ENJOY! - PART 1
So what was your big dream when you were a little kid? What did you want to be?
TG: When I was a little kid, I always wanted to perform. That’s all I did. I wanted people to pay attention while I danced or sang or ran on my toes or stood upside down.
So when did you decide that it was something that you wanted to do for a living?
TG: Way later in life. I got trapped in living my life for everyone else. It really hit me in my late twenties. I was miserable and sad. I had career that was great and I loved doing what I was doing, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do.
What did you do?
TG: I was a martial arts teacher for 15 years.
So what made you uproot your life and move to LA?
TG: It was during that time. I had actually left a bad marriage and I opened up my own school. Which was the best thing that I could have done because it kept me focused. Into the third year, it came back into my life. I always thought that I had two paths. I had martial arts which gave me the discipline I needed as a young person. And then the acting just kinda kept showing up and I would get frustrated. It showed up again in my late 20’s and I started going back to classes and the theatre and I just could not get rid of it. I realized that I lived my life in fear. I was comfortable and I was secure, but I wasn’t happy. There was just something inside that was just dying to get out. I went back to Venezuela and I studied acting in Spanish and when I came back I knew.
How did you move to LA?
TG: I sold everything I had, and I had a little car and put in everything I could fit and I drove out to LA and I had no plans. I had no plans…I didn’t know anybody here. I had no idea what I was going to do here or how I was going to do it. I settled in Pasadena and the fear really set in. I panicked. I started wondering if I had made a mistake. I recently found a journal where I was asking this energy out there to tell me that I was doing the right thing because I panicked. When I came out here I wanted to study with this acting coach Arthur Mendoza. Just as I wrote, “Please give me one more sign,” this car came towards me with California plates and the name Mendoza on the license plate. And I just got it. My fear just washed away…it was gone.
Really amazing. How did you start in becoming a personal trainer here?
TG: Well I got this job and then I ruptured my Achilles and I started training with Ashley (Borden). I was still on crutches and I needed a trainer that wasn’t going to be aggressive with me. She’s actually the one that suggested it. She said, "You know you’re an athlete and you’ve taught for so many years, why don’t you put that into what you are doing here.” And I just had someone who wanted to look like me, so I was like, “Okay, well, let’s do it.” And that’s how I started one client at a time and it just built.
So how did you finally move back into acting?
TG: I had actually come out a week before I moved here, because I wanted to just sit in the classes I wanted to take. And I actually just sat there crying because I knew it was where I wanted to be. I had so much fear because I was older. I waited too long; this sucks….I wasn’t a teenager or in my twenties anymore. I was in my thirties, I was 34. I felt angry…I went through all these emotions…I just finally said to myself, “This was when I am supposed to do it.” And that was it.
What was your first acting gig?
TG: I am still struggling with my acting right now because my expectations of myself are always so high. I have big goals and sometimes they come small. I started just like every other actor does here. You have no agent; no one knows who you are so you have to get into doing student films. You do a lot of free student films; some get entered at the film festivals. Then I got a little part in television where I actually got paid. This year I just got an agent. It’s growing, but it’s not growing at the speed I want it to. I get sidetracked. I get focused on my training and my life and paying bills and you forget the acting. Then you remember this is what I came here to do. It’s a whole spiral of stuff.
I think a lot people struggle with that. LA’s expensive and you can’t just survive here…
TG: No…No… I mean, there is a point where acting switches but there are millions of actors here. Even with school…you pay all this money and there’s this laziness. You fall into it. Just half winging it. There’s a depression of how many auditions do I have to go to and not get.
How many auditions have you been on?
TG: Definitely hundreds. Hundreds.
How does the audition process work?
TG: I didn’t know anything. I would just ask. I would meet people and they would tell me about LA Casting or Actors Access. So I would sign-up, but I didn’t really understand. In this city though that’s what it’s all about. It’s about getting into all the on-line acting things and submitting yourself. You have to get your headshots and you have to put out a lot of money up front. But then you start getting all the student films. There is a point then where you just know that you’ve done enough student films. You feel your own growth. I knew…I started getting every single audition. I needed that next step, I wasn’t being challenged. And now I am in that place. I’m really being challenged now.
Part of it is finding a good agent, finding an agent can be very hard in this town.
TG: It is. It is. I went through all the scammy things that happen in this city. I just went with my gut, if something didn’t feel right.
What are some of the scammy things?
TG: These internet sites that you’re on for acting, you’ll get this emails that say they are interested in representing you. But then…all you have to do is research on the internet. Thank god for the internet. A lot of agents want the newbies and the innocents. They bring you in and say, “Okay, I’ll sign you but you need to take our acting classes, get headshots from us.” The next thing you know they’re taking a thousand dollars from you and there’s nothing on the other end. No agent should ever take money from you.
Socially, there is a whole other aspect to the acting scene; did you find it hard to get into that? Did you want to? How did you get involved with other actors?
TG: I don’t. I know it sounds crazy. I probably should be. But even in my own school, where I adored the people I studied with…but I have always said there is a difference between an artist and actor. An actor wants to get a big show, get a big name and have fame. An artist, completely throws themselves into it and has to love what they are doing. Right? They have to have such a love for it…it’s a passion for it. Those are the people that I really connected with. In general, I don’t really connect with other actresses because they will walk on you to get what they want and you have to be very careful.
Do you feel like you might be missing out on certain gigs coming up because you’re not in the circle or social scene?
TG: No, because the flip side to it is, you know, I get to go to a lot of huge events that most people don’t get to go.
But you are in a relationship with someone big in the industry, so you get to go places that most people do not.
TG: Yes, I absolutely do. I get to go to events the majority don’t. But even then, I don’t really talk about acting.
No, you don’t. You’re my trainer and I had to ask you in an interview to get it out of you.
TG: I have a Showrunner I train at the Gym and she has no idea what I do. I mean, I train producers, directors and other actors, but I really respect that space, that boundary. There are times that I so badly want to say, “Hey, I’m an actor.” But I really have to protect that place where they feel comfortable and safe in the relationship that we have on that level.
I think that you have that nicety that a lot of the people here don’t. A lot of relationships here is what they get from you. If they see you as a viable commodity…climbing is a sport here. But if you don’t have anything that they want or that they can possess, then you are dismissed fairly quickly. Where if you come a good place where you are a nice genuine person you don’t want to bother people. You like them; you don’t want to bother them…
TG: That to me is a boundary.
I think that you are an exception. Most people here aren’t that way.
TG: That’s funny. My friend Adam is a Director... when I told him. As I soon as I told he was like, give me your headshots, your demo real…do you know who this Casting Director is…I’m going to put this in front her. He immediately was like; let me do what I can do. Like, I‘ll get you in. He told me straight out at that meeting, that this town is all about who you know. I can’t tell you how many times that the Casting Director has cast someone who is amazing for a part, but then you get a call that Spielberg’s nephew wants a part and “Boom!” He gets it. He can’t act his way out of paper bag but he got it. But he even said to me “Good for you for not crossing those lines with your clients.”
Everyone here uses your connections but if something goes wrong you don’t want to ruin that relationship…
TG: I do believe I can put it in front of somebody but the rest is up to you. That’s what my friend Adam is doing. He was very specific. He asked me, “Do you know what you are doing? Because if that door opens you better be able to walk that walk and talk your talk.”
