Today we’d like to introduce you to Marisa Duran.
Marisa, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My parents will tell you that my “inner artist” started to show when I was two years-old, dancing around the living room to the Barney theme song. As silly as it sounds, I truly believe that those moments of pure, unadulterated joy are what lit a creative fire under me! I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t fueled by the incessant need to express myself creatively, be it through dance, theatre, or, more recently, modeling.
I am beyond grateful to my parents for giving me the freedom to “find myself”, both as an artist and as a human being. They have always been incredibly supportive of my artistic endeavors and will forever be my number one fans. My mom is the one who signed me up for my first theatre camp! (I was a second grader with an outgoing personality and a knack for memorization. It made perfect sense!) That’s when the “theatre bug” bit me, and I never looked back. All throughout grade school I auditioned for and performed in countless plays and musicals with local theaters. (I even had the opportunity to perform with both my mom and my dad in two different productions!) My parents would take turns driving me to and from my various rehearsals all over the metroplex during evening rush hour. They ran lines with me over and over again, to such an extent that they probably knew each show by heart. They sacrificed so much to allow me to pursue my dreams, and I would not be where I am today without their love and encouragement.
Suffice it to say, I knew early on that performing was more for me than just a hobby. I wanted to make it my career. With my parents’ approval, I auditioned for three B.F.A. Acting programs during the fall of my senior year of high school and was thrilled to be accepted into two of them. It was a tough decision between The University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian University, but I ended up deciding to stay local and become a Horned Frog. I knew I wanted a liberal arts education from a school with a good football team, and I got my wish! I wouldn’t trade my experience at TCU for anything. The professors and students that I had the opportunity to work alongside completely changed my outlook on life. I knew college wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t WANT it to be easy. I was challenged artistically every single day, which allowed me to further explore my own talents and beliefs. In short, TCU laid the foundation for my career, but it is up to me to build my future.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude from TCU in May of 2016 with my BFA in Theatre, emphasis in Acting. Right away, I knew I wanted to find a local talent agency to represent me for film, tv, and commercial work. The DFW area is a huge commercial market, with plenty of opportunities for work both on and off screen. I signed with The Clutts Agency in Dallas within a month of graduating and began being submitted for local projects from commercial print campaigns to indie films. I went a whole year without being booked for a gig. I was still auditioning for plays on my own time (it’s important to note that DFW talent agencies don’t represent actors for theatrical work) but I began to feel dragged down by the constant rejection I was facing. I took a few film and commercial acting classes to further hone my craft, and signed with The Mary Collins Agency in 2017 after my contract with The Clutts Agency expired. This was a was a huge step for me! The Mary Collins Agency is one of the premiere local talent agencies, and they just so happened to be the one I had set my sights on signing with during my freshman year at TCU.
While I was being submitted for numerous projects on a consistent basis, I continued to face rejection after rejection until I booked my very first industrial – hooray! The money was great and I felt like my hard work had paid off. But, then, of course, it was back to the daily audition grind. It was also at this point that my day job began to interfere with my performance career and I felt like I needed to choose between maintaining financial stability or pursuing my passion. On top of all that, my theatrical “type” was in flux, and neither I nor local directors seemed to know which roles I best fit. Eventually, I stopped being cast entirely. After fifteen years, my insatiable desire to perform began to dwindle. When it came time to renew my contract with Mary Collins in July of 2018, the agency and I mutually decided to part ways. It was important that I learn to love myself again without relying on approval from others.
The last several months have been difficult for me, but it’s been a time of very necessary self-discovery. I came to realize that my creativity did not have to suffer just because I wasn’t booking shows. Austin Lewis, a friend and portrait photographer, recommended that I attend a local meet-up for creatives in January. There, I met a ton of photographers and models who wanted nothing more than to network and produce amazing art. That’s all it took to get my creative juices to start flowing again! Since then, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with a variety of talented artists, modeling everything from high-fashion editorial looks to athletic and street wear. At 5’4″ I’m considered “too short” to work as a runway model, but I would love to work as a commercial print model for bigger campaigns in the future!
In a way, I feel like I’ve come full-circle. I began my career as a performer on the stage. Unfortunately, the theatre is a beautiful, yet fleeting art form. Once a particular moment is over, it’s gone forever. Now, I’m a performer behind the camera and any emotion being conveyed at the moment the camera clicks will be captured forever in a single image. I think that’s incredibly powerful.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Whether I’m an actor on a stage or a model in a studio, I consider myself an artist, first and foremost. I take a particular moment in time, find the emotion behind it, and then convey that emotion in a different way in hope that it will resonate with others.
As humans, we are born with an innate need to belong, to connect with others. I want my art to build a bridge between us. I want my art to foster change and conversation. I want my art to remind us that, at our very core, we are all the same. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the past twenty-four years, it’s that life is difficult. But life is also incredibly beautiful, and we don’t have to go through it alone.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Artists today practically eat, sleep, and breathe social media because our brands and businesses see the most growth through online engagement. It can be hard to unplug from the world around us when the world is what is helping us to achieve our goals. Like so many other people, I have to actively remind myself to put my phone down and live in the present!
There’s also the balancing act of remaining genuine and honest with your followers while trying to maintain some sort of personal privacy. As a model and actor, I am my own business, so it’s my own life I’m putting out there on the web every day. It’s very easy to get sucked into the mindset of, “I have to be perfect because my career depends on it.” I try to keep things as real as possible. If that means I change up my Instagram feed by posting a silly selfie, then so be it!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The vast majority of my work can be found on Instagram, where I do my best to post daily. I’ve also started adding more organized photo albums to my Facebook account so that my friends and family can see what I’ve been up to! My personal website includes highlights of my work in theatre and film, as well as a new “Portfolio” section where my favorite portraits are showcased.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marisa-duran.com
- Email: mnduran@ymail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/marisaduran
Image Credit:
Aly Fae, Evan Michael Woods, Geneva Angus, Sam Balderas, Austin Lewis, Alex Vitte.
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