Meet Matias Ponce | Actor & Teaching Artist

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

Hi Matias, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
The entertainment industry owes you nothing. It will continue to thrive after me and this generation has passed. As easy as it seems to come to certain people, do not be fooled. They are many other external things happening and helping these individuals behind the curtain. Never compare yourself to others, though others may act like they got it all figured out, they don’t!

Musicians and Actors are not on the same journey, do not I repeat do not ever compare the two. Musicians are self-involved in their own way just as much as Actors are. We are cut from two different cloths.

You will always big your biggest fan, besides your parents if you were lucky enough to have them in your life. Always have your back and continue to self-love and keep rooting for yourself. At the end of the day no one cares, only you can care for you.

The Marathon Continues.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been a professional actor for 15 years based in Los Angeles. Originally from Toledo, OH. No, it has not been easy. My love and support for my parents has helped me overcome the challenges of an acting career and also just living in LA. Being an only child, it is my responsibility to become something bigger than myself, to dream bigger than my parents did, to continue their legacy through me.

What I want the world to know is this, my name is Matias Ponce y Soy Chicano from Ohio.

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?
I love taking my friends and family to Echo Park Lake. Hit up the Los Angeles Theatre Center in DTLA to see some plays, Dodger Stadium at Elysian Park. King Taco on Cesar E Chavez Ave. and Soto. Everson Royce Bar in the Arts District. The Good Neighbor Restaurant in Studio City. Korean BBQ in Koreatown. Leo Carillo State Park in Malibu. El Floridita Cuban Restaurant in Hollywood for some Cuban food and Salsa dancing. The Shorty, Short Stop in Echo Park for some Motown Mondays. Brewjeria Brewery in Pico Rivera. Live music at the Hollywood Bowl.

So many more things and places to go and see, all depends on who is coming to visit LA.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank my late father Domingo G. Ponce and my beautiful mother Anna Maria Ponce for supporting my decision to pursue my acting career in Los Angeles.

To Jose Luis Valenzuela and the members of The Latino Theater Company, thank you for welcoming me into the family and giving this Chicano from Ohio a safe space to call home.

To my neighborhood, barrio that raised me The Old South End of Toledo, OH.

To all the people from Toledo and Los Angeles that have shaped me in some form of way to the person I am today.

To all those who know and knew me.

To all my ex’s, thank you for all the lessons.

Website: https://www.matiasinmotion.com

Instagram: @matiasinmotion

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matiasinmotion419/

Other: https://imdb.me/matiasponce

Image Credits
All images are from “Peter Konerko”