Meet Madison Santos | Actor/Producer/Model

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

Hi Madison, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?

During Covid I lost everything I had worked for. My job went down to part time, I got extremely sick and was in and out of the hospital for months, my car got totaled the first day I drove again, and lost my apartment all in 3 months. At 25 I was back living at home with no job, no money, still recovering from being sick. That was when I decided it was time to take myself and my dreams seriously, become my own boss and start pursuing modeling and acting full time. My thought process behind starting my own business was that I worked so hard for someone else’s business and someone else’s dream, I lived a life I didn’t actually want because I was told that it’s more stable than being an artist, just to lose everything anyways. I had nothing to lose at this point so why not at least try.

6 months after moving into a production house in Las Vegas, NV to focus on my art 100%, I was booking acting gigs in LA full time and commuting from Vegas to LA every week for 5 months before I moved back to LA. Throughout this journey I also found a passion for producing and will be starting my own production company soon.

After learning how to put myself out there and trying out different types of modeling/acting gigs, it taught me that you can’t get better at anything if you never start, once you start you can begin to learn, grow, and get better.

There are what feels like thousands of lessons I have learned throughout this journey, but the biggest thing is preparation. The entertainment business is full of surprises so I learned that you never know when a big opportunity is going to come. After investing many hours into my practice and understanding my creative style, I feel confident and prepared whenever an opportunity arises

My whole life changed once I became my own boss and had full autonomy over how I invested my time and lived my life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Getting into the entertainment industry was not as easy as I anticipated. I had no connections, no training, or any idea what I was doing in the beginning. I had to learn everything myself, from building my network, to taking classes and practicing my craft, investing in equipment, headshots, and whatever I needed to establish my acting career.

Since starting full time in summer of 2021 I have been on numerous commercials, huge tv shows, music videos for the biggest artists in the industry, acted in 3 feature films — my first lead in a feature film called Felines will be coming out on Amazon Prime in the beginning of 2023. I’ve produced tons of music videos for amazing artists and I’m now working on producing multiple feature film projects that I’m very excited to share to the world soon!

But my professional acting story is more of a story about finding my true self and staying authentic to me. It’s been about healing my traumas, learning new healthy, abundant mindsets, and changing myself from the inside out. Only once you’ve done the internal work can you start to see the shift in your external reality.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I personally like small local spots that aren’t very touristy. Rutts, Tito’s tacos, and Pitfire Pizza in Culver City and Holy Guacamole in Santa Monica are some of my favorite restaurants to eat at since I was young.
I love finding random lookouts in Palisades and Malibu or finding a rooftop in DTLA to sit at and enjoy the view.
There are also so many cool pop ups, art installations, thrift store, etc to check out.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to take this chance to thank casting director Sarah-May Levy. She was the first person in the industry that took a chance on me and give me a foot in the door. Without her I wouldn’t have the career I have today.

Website: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm12227392/?ref_=instant_nm_1&q=Madison%20santos

Instagram: www.instagram.com/madisonsantosofficial

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/madison-santos-a048351b7

Image Credits
Alex Fowler, Matrix Mika, Demian Tejeda-Benitez, Spencer Sun, Steven Khan