Meet Maria Alejandra and Chris Anthony Hernandez | Actor and Filmmaker couple

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maria Alejandra and Chris Anthony Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria Alejandra and Chris Anthony, what makes you happy? Why?
What makes my husband and I happy is to do what we love. To follow our passion. Always keeping God us the center of our relationship, and in our acting careers as well as in our production company. Because when you do what you love, even if it gets challenging, it’s rewarding.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

We used to hunt for acting gigs on craigslist and in Facebook groups. We simply didn’t know the right places to find acting work. We’d book non-paid gigs that would sometimes take up an entre day to shoot our parts no matter how short the parts were. These were student films or projects that would get canned as a result of inexperience and poor planning. When you’re starting out, you think every opportunity is “the one” and you treat it as so. But over time, we realized that we were going about things the wrong way. We fell victim to scam agencies, never received copy and credit for our work and were frustrated, broke and tired. To make matters worse, we had to put our acting careers on hiatus after Maria was hospitalized for over a month.

Our main focus shifted to finishing college and it was there that we had a film class together where we needed to create a short film. We bought our first camera for the project. A Sony Alpha 6000. We finished the project and fell in love with the process. After graduating, Maria was teaching acting acting class. We wrote a script and went on to creating an award winning film “Tu Amigo” with her students. Looking back, we didn’t know how we were going to get it done, but we prayed to God, believed that it would work out and we dove right into it. I am glad we did. We were able to make the dream of being in a movie come true for a lot of her students. At the same time, we were able to convey a powerful message to the viewers both through the writing and acting in the film.

After the film, we decided we wanted to take this to the next level. We started our production company GCM Productions, and are now in the process of completing scripts for future projects to be seen in the vey near future. We want our films to be a voice for those who think that they have no voice. Our goal is to continue creating films that tackle topics that are usually swept under the rug, not spoken about or seen as taboo. We want the viewer to experience the discomfort of the reality some of us have to live with and by doing so, evoke emotion that sparks change.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would say it has to be a “must” to go to see a show at Broadway! my friend can’t leave without experiencing the magic of Broadway! then visiting Central Park and maybe catch Shakespeare at the park? . We will go to the Hudson Yards, Empire State and Bryant Park! specially if my friend comes in Christmas time, would be wonderful! because Bryant Park looks like a wonder land in Christmas time! Truly magic. Food? well! Definitely PIZZA! New York Pizza hits different! then we will go to Little Italy, have some pasta and Cannolis, the next day we would do Tacos, then the next Ecuadorian food from an amazing spot in Queens. Honestly good food is everywhere In New York. I have a feeling my friend would leave with a few extra pounds but HAPPY 🙂

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?
Our first shout out is for God. We have gone through so much that without faith I think we would have never made it. I also want to give a huge shout out to Kimberly Flores for being an amazing part of our production when we created our first film. She was amazing on and off set. Thank you! Another shout out to the amazing support of all of the Lupus warriors and the Lupus Foundation of America that inspire me to know that I can keep on going and believing in my dreams despite any condition. Also to our amazing manager Katt Arcos for pushing us to never stop believing. And to all our family and friends that continue to cheer us on.

Instagram: @therealchrishernandez , @mariaalejandrahl and @g.c.m.productions

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk6sJg9Wj7bLVLCZOKi8vPg