Today we’d like to introduce you to Orlando Arriaga
Hi Orlando, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a first-generation Mexican-American. My parents immigrated here from Central Mexico and settled in East Texas. A small town, Jasper. My upbringing was mostly like any first-generation child of immigrants. I started working at a young age by picking fruit at local farms and mowing yards. I mainly did that during the summers and off times. But when it came to school my parents let me participate in any extracurricular activities I wanted. I mostly did football, powerlifting, and music.
For whatever reason, I could never get cast in the plays at my church. That didn’t sit well with me because I knew I was as good as the always-chosen kids. I took a drama class when I was in junior high. That class brought me out of my shell just a bit. Even though I had always felt like I could be a performer, I was very shy. In that class, we were expected to perform scenes, short plays, and a little improvisation. That sparked me. That led me down the path to live performance. I did theatre in high school. My freshman speech teacher, Patricia McMullen, who was to direct the one-act play that year, asked me to audition. I was surprised she’d asked me since I was always very quiet. I’d like to think she saw the performer I could be inside, but I think I just simply fit the character type she was looking for! I was heavily involved with the theatre dept. for the remainder of high school.
I graduated from Lamar University with a degree in Theatre Arts. My parents were very supportive of me studying acting. That’s a contrast from most immigrant parents. I had some very formative years at Lamar, thanks to Dr. Adonia Placette. The first day of Acting class she stood in front of us and stated that only 1 or 2 people of this group of 16 would still be working in this field in twenty years. That was a daunting statement to me. From then on, it made my craft & my career feel precious and I never took anything I got for granted. I still feel the same today.
I moved to Houston to follow my girlfriend, now wife, Laurie Arriaga. She was interning at the A.D. Players. I fully intended to move on to Chicago, but I thought I’d audition for that same internship just for the heck of it. I got it and we became company members and were there for nine years. Feeling burned out we moved to New York City to experience life in the Big Apple and lived there for almost 7 years. We had a child and did some theatre work here and there but mostly we just lived a crazy New York life. I booked a couple of short films and music videos but nothing too exciting. All three of us moved back to Houston to be closer to family. Fortunately, I began to book more work in Houston and regional theaters across America after relocating back to Texas.
I consider myself to be a stage actor mainly. Making a living just being a stage actor or any kind of actor is nearly impossible. It’s been my main job for the last five years and that’s pretty extraordinary. It won’t always be that way, I know. But I’ll take it when I can. I’ve been fortunate to work in some great regional theaters thus far and I still have a list of theaters I aspire to work at. I’ve continually worked with some wonderful directors and playwrights. Regional theatre has done some evolving for the good in the past 5 years. My ethnicity and body type has kept me out of many audition rooms almost my entire life but that has begun to change a bit. I’m now getting into rooms where previously I couldn’t because of my looks.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh absolutely it’s been tough! Ha! As I stated earlier working as an actor pays very little and work is very rare. You can book work consistently for a few months and then go cold the rest of the year. Most actors work multiple jobs to make ends meet. This career is not for the faint of heart and I try to talk young people out of it when they ask me for advice! There’s the rejection too. As an actor, you will get rejected most of the time. You must grow thick skin because you will hear “no” a lot. I’ve had a lot of success the past 6 years but I still don’t get most of the work I audition for. I’ve reached a great level in my regional theatre actor journey but there are levels I’ve yet to reach. I’ve had callbacks to prestigious theaters that would certainly get me to those upper levels but I’ve not booked them. My wife has been a great support system for me. All of us in the arts need someone who picks us up when things inevitably go down. I’m thankful that I have that in my wife.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I was trained to be a stage actor. I have less training in other formats and that’s ok with me as I love working in the theatre. I prefer it. There is nothing like live performance. There is an energy that lives there and it doesn’t exist anywhere else. I’ve been somewhat typecast lately. The disapproving father or the father who has a hard time communicating with his kids. Those roles tend to be great to play. I don’t mind that kind of typecasting. That’s what I’m specializing in lately. I think I’ve outlasted a lot of my contemporaries because I seem to be on a short list of actors who theaters call in to audition for Latino father roles.
I’m proud of a lot of the work I’ve done in Houston theaters. Among those I’m most proud of is 72 Miles to go… by Hilary Bettis and American Mariachi by Jose Cruz Gonzales at Alley Theatre. Also, I loved Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan at A.D. Players. That was a one-person show about a man making a list of everything worth living for in the world so that his mother could have a brighter outlook on life. I loved working with Jennifer Dean, the director and together we built a beautiful show about life and it had a deep impact on the audiences who attended. I have been fortunate to work a lot outside of Houston, TX. Playing Capulet/Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet at California Shakespeare is probably what I’m most proud of.
I was selected as a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow in 2024 and I am so proud of that accomplishment. Lunt-Fontanne fellows are the cream of the crop types from across American regional theater and it’s not easy to get. In fact, only two other Houston actors have been selected in it’s history; Jeffrey Bean (Alley Theatre) & Todd Waite (Alley Theatre). That’s very good company. Each group has a master teacher you work with for a week and our’s was Stephen McKinley Henderson. A true master and legend of American Theatre. I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of that group and lore.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love this city. As a kid, we drove into the city once a year and every visit intrigued me so much. I found the mix of cultures in Houston so fascinating and appealing. In East Texas, we didn’t have that kind of culture and I didn’t know how much I longed for it as a child. I love that about our city. That and the food. The food in our city is a wonder. Friends of mine who visit go on and on about our food places. Tacos specifically! The theatre in this city is great. It surprises me that a city this size doesn’t have a larger theatre-going community. The arts in this city are substantial but I don’t think most Houstonians know it. I want that to change but it’s been a slow crawl. Houston has so much going for it. But it’s hard to live here! The weather and the traffic. Ay Dios mio! It’s tough day to day. It should be though. Once you’re here for a while you fall into the flow and make do. You could live in California with their perfect weather but they’re soft over there. You gotta be tough to exist here. Houstonians have a certain edge to them. You can’t keep us down. Whether it’s hot and humid as all get out or there’s flooding up to the ceiling, we take it and float on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://orlandoarriaga.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orlandosaurus/
Image Credits
_WH19807 – Twenty50 at TheatreSquared. Photo by unavailable, left-Ricardo Pérez Davila, right-Orlando Arriaga
Alley-Theatre—72-Miles-to-Go—Photographer-Lynn-Lane-62
Alley-Theatre—72-Miles-to-Go—Photographer-Lynn-Lane-188 – left, Orlando Arriaga, Christopher Salazar, Melissa Melano
Alley-Theatre—American-Mariachi—Photographer-Lynn-Lane-260 – left Sarita Ocón, orlando Arriaga
Alley-Theatre—American-Mariachi—Photographer-Lynn-Lane-561 – left, Saul Avalos, Luis Quintero, Orlando Arriaga, Jose Chabelo Longoria, Jose Reyes, Carlos Manuel Castro
Alley-Theatre—Lend-Me-A-Soprano—Photographer-Lynn-Lane-65 – Left, Orlando Arriaga, Mia Pinero, Ellen Harvey
DSB09490 – Left, Orlando Arriaga, Brady Morales-Woolery
DSC01621 – left, Wilma Bonet, Gianna DiGregorio Rivera, Orlando Arriaga
