Meet Juliana Padilla

We had the good fortune of connecting with Juliana Padilla and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Juliana, why did you pursue a creative career?
Art, and creativity are the links that connect us to other people. I found myself exploring this link through many different vehicles. I grew up dancing and singing, and I loved performing for my family and coming up with small one-woman plays. I painted, crafted, sculpted, danced, played instruments and even as a child I knew that the moments where I was most attuned to myself was when I was creating.

As I got older, I ventured into writing poetry, songs, and sharing my music with the people around me, I also got more and more curious about the human experience. I was intrigued about the world and its configuration. This opened more options in what I could pursue as a profession: I considered sociology, philosophy, history, literature. Until I had the realization that the true connective tissue between my purpose and passion has always been art. It has allowed me to build a community, shape the narratives I find important, and touch people’s lives beyond what’s tangible.

It was then that I decided to make performing (specifically Musical Theatre) my career. I started small by directing a musical in High School, and very quickly moved to helping produce and create a play professionally. I toured around Mexico as a cast member in a musical and performed every weekend for over a year in the many venues in Mexico City. The joy of exploring my country, city, and getting to know the people we performed for, made me realize the impact and importance of theatre for everyone.

Then, I decided to move to New York City to study my craft. I attended NYFA and Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Along the way I got to work and get to the most amazing directors, actors, writers and friends. I discovered that I wanted to do so many different things, such that calling myself a “Musical Theater Performer”, cut me short. I started to learn stagecraft and fell in love with directing, modeling for photographers, being a makeup artist for New York Fashion Week. Then fell into being a creative on a short film, translating a book into Spanish from an American Best-Selling Author, all of this as I kept singing, dancing and acting. Soon, I found that I was able to be a multi-hyphenate artist and expand into all the areas of the industry I found within my reach, or if they weren’t, learn about them so they would be in my repertoire next time I needed them.

Looking back, I can now see that it was not even a question of “if” but “how” I could do all the things I wanted to do. As I keep building my career in NYC, the interlinking power of Art keeps amazing me, and keeps pushing me to find new ways to collaborate and bring important stories forward: politically, socially, or just as a sweet treat of entertainment to the soul. The human experience is so broad that I am excited to keep making discoveries.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I pride myself on having what I sometimes call a “delusional” mentality. In theater, we would call it the “yes, and”, where you agree to whatever has been provided to you, and add on to it. I believe what has consistently set me apart has been going after and pursuing most of my ideas, or enthusiastically saying a big “yes, and!” to the ideas of the people around me who become collaborators, no matter how crazy or out of reach they seem.

Most of the time, whenever I feel like something is wildly out of my possibilities and it scares me, I try to go after it. More often than not, I find I was selling myself mega short and I was more than capable of achieving it.
Certainly, other times this mentality has led me to be extremely uncomfortable, as I’ve pushed myself into over-committing, burning out, or finding out I am under-trained for whatever challenge is in front of me. But, in that same breath, it has put me in the richest learning experiences where I need to find a way to push through the discomfort, rely on myself and my support system, and find a way to deliver whatever is expected from me.
This has led me to my biggest and most joyful opportunities, as well as the chance to build deep and valuable connections both personally and professionally.

I feel proud of the instrument I have built for both performing and creative facets of myself. While it’s far from perfect, I am confident in the fact that my body, my voice, my brain and my creativity are a safe net I can always rely on, as well as the amazing people surrounding me that want to see me thrive.

As a young immigrant, it is sometimes challenging to find spaces where I am openly welcomed and celebrated, but I have made it my task to find the people that see my background as an opportunity that allows a different perspective and value my ideas and talent on the table. Being a good team player in this industry, and I believe in any other, is absolutely key. I’m sure you’ve heard this industry is very hard and competitive and lonely. And while I do believe that can be true, I try to put myself in as many rooms where that statement is proven false. This alone has made the journey of starting to build my professional footing in New York so gratifying, and has taught me that asking for what you want and need is essential to getting where you want to go. In other words, self advocating and asking for opportunities instead of just waiting for them to find me. Or even creating the opportunities for myself!

I am excited to see where the magical “yes, and” keeps taking me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Whenever I travel, I mostly center my planning around the different foods I want to try from the place I am visiting. As a vegan and a foodie, it is sometimes hard to find something that will rock my world and make me crave it for years every time I think about it. And New York City has no lack of amazing restaurants that happen to be plant based.

Red bamboo in the west village is a great Asian fusion restaurant; every dish is vegan and perfectly seasoned and spicy and great. It’s cozy and delicious and feels like stepping into the most NYC restaurant ever, you go down some stairs, and suddenly you are faced with mouthwatering choices at every turn of the page. THE SEOUL PANCAKES ARE INSANE, and I dream about the coconut chicken curry quite often.

P.S kitchen is a restaurant located in the theatre district, right in front of Hadestown (one of my favorite musicals running right now), and It’s always my choice of dinner with anyone that is visiting before watching any show in the area. It also has a special place in my heart as I was introduced to it by my boyfriend on one of our first dates. It is always one of the places we bring our friends and family for some of the best vegan dishes. The Peach Cobbler is the most American dessert I’ve ever had. It feels like a treat from the American Grandma I don’t have but wish I did just to have her bake this for me.
I also like eating here to support their mission. They donate 100% of their profits to sustain non-profit work, and they create jobs for marginalized people in the city.

And lastly – and I hate to admit it – since I moved to NYC I’ve grown addicted to bagels: tofu, scallion, with capers, and tomatoes on a whole-wheat everything bagel is my go-to from Bagelsmith and I cannot seem to shake how good it is. I love them so much and I feel like it’s a non-negotiable culinary experience on a NYC trip.

I push my friends to go see as many shows as possible, there’s supposed to be more than 100,000 events, shows and concerts per year in NYC, and I find that everyone already has something in mind. While Broadway shows are amazing, there is so much theatre in the city. It’s oftentimes more accessible or even free to go to an off-Broadway show or find a hole in the wall to crawl into a jazz jam session, songwriters open mic, or experimental dance-theatre fusion performance.
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I enjoy watching a show and sharing thoughts with friends and rejoicing about the best part of the play or singing the highest note and coolest moment from a musical while riding the subway back home. It’s lovely when you stumble upon an amazing story and you get to dissect it with someone. Even if the show was not the best, or the experimental performance was too experimental, it will, at the very least, develop our critical thinking skills and give us something to hate-bond over.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have had an IMMENSE amount of support and love surrounding my journey. Starting from my parents who have always supported me and pushed me to take every opportunity to chase after my dreams. Be that picking me up from late rehearsals, packing my bags while I was touring, running lines with me, carrying the financial load of my education and living in NYC (which we all know is hella expensive), watching and cheering on my process of learning choreography, writing songs, auditioning or directing a show. They have always made me feel like a superstar no matter the accomplishment and unconditionally agreed to walk the –at many times– scary and uncertain path of a creative career with me.

Both of my parents and my grandmother have created a lineage of fearless pioneers, each venturing out and blindly following their dreams on their own creative careers. Their example is my inspiration, and a reassurance that anything done with passion and love, will find its way of being successful. My extended family has made an effort to understand my career choices, even when they find them unconventional, and have remained curious to learn while they make amazing cheerleaders anytime anything with my name is out.

My friends, both in the industry and from other paths of life, are my biggest creative partners and fuel. Some of them, even becoming my mentors, teachers, or a learn-along-the-way-buddy. They have helped me in every single way possible: from filling out tedious paperwork I don’t understand, to reserving me a spot in their creative projects, or just a sweet message of encouragement when I post a singing clip on Instagram. Every ounce of experience that I have gained is due to someone I now know as a friend.
Of course, they also endured many nights of sleepless ramblings and massive depressive episodes when I miss Mexico, or where I am having raging impostor syndrome. They have spent their precious money on tickets for my shows and have never failed to give me words of encouragement when I needed it.

I am so blessed that the people around me always show up for me.

Website: https://www.julianapadilla.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliannaaapadilla

Image Credits
Jose Manuel Ruiz Fernandez
Juan Pablo Marín
Christopher Chanfreau
Christopher Chanfreau
Christopher Chanfreau
Krishna Adoni
Jonathan Tischler
Mariana Luna
Mariana Luna
New York Film Academy Photography Department