Today we’d like to introduce you to Maite Uzal.
Maite, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I followed a pretty normal path to get to where I am today: I found a school in NYC where I wanted to study acting (musical theatre), auditioned for it, got in, went through it and then I started auditioning professionally and, fortunately, booking jobs. What makes my story a little different, perhaps, is that before pursuing my passion, I led a very different life: I was a corporate litigator in Madrid.
I did that because being an actress was not something that my family was very excited about whereas being a lawyer was, so to speak, “generally expected” from me given my environment and how I was raised. But I always wanted to be a performer, and at the age of 27, I guess that I had had enough of conforming to other people’s expectations. I also have to add that getting to where I am today has come after many, many auditions where I didn’t book the job: I would say that has happened more often than booking it has.
It is my belief that this is the life of many actors (the majority, dare I say?), so it doesn’t make me anything special either, but the point I want to make is that it has basically been perseverance and the unconditional support of a few crazies out there who believed in my talent that has made me be where I am today.
Has it been a smooth road?
Adapting to a culture that is different than mine (more so than expected initially) has been challenging, missing home tremendously, being away from my mother and the friends I grew up with. Being categorized as a “type,” being in line since 5 am to be told six hours later that you won’t be seen, being told who you are by casting directors and directors when you have a very different ideas in your mind of what that is, etc. — being told “no” over and over, of course.
These are just examples of things that have not been “as easy” as walking down the street and being discovered by Steven Spielberg but, again, I think they fall into the general hardships of what being an actor means, trying to have a career in general if you will in any profession, so I don’t think it’s necessary to make any drama out of it: they’ve been there, they will probably continue to be there in the future, and I continue to try to overcome them in order to do the best work possible.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I’m an actress and singer. I do theatre and film mainly, some commercial and VO work sporadically. Right now, I’m “known” (huge quotations please) for playing Golde in the Broadway National Tour of Fiddler On The Roof.
I take pride in being from Spain and in having people in my life who love me very much and show it to me: it makes me think that I must have done something right at some point to deserve them and I can’t thank God enough to have come across them.
I honestly don’t think that there’s any quality of mine that another colleague in the field doesn’t possess: most of us, if not all, are replaceable on the stage (acknowledging this makes me work harder to be better).
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
I’m terribly sorry to disappoint, but I can barely grasp where life, in general, is going in the span of next week, so much less what the industry will be doing in 5-10 years. I’d hope it continues to take steps towards being more inclusive, diverse, etc., who doesn’t?
I think that in ten years there will be some sort of technology that my brain is totally unable to even get a hint of right now, that will make the way we can enjoy an artistic experience quite different from what it is now.
Maybe a way of being able to experience what an actor is physically going through while giving a live performance, like, to be able to have an audience member’s senses sync with the actor’s? “Waiting for Godot” in Mars? Hahaha, I have no clue.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maiteuzal.com
- Instagram: @maiteuzal
- Other: Stepforward Entertainment (manager Robert Blume)
Image Credit:
Shirin Tinati, Michael Palma Mir, Marina Badía
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