266 Juan Ayala: The Art of Resilience - Persevering in a Doubt- and Rejection-Filled Industry

Juan Ayala is an actor, journalist and podcaster from Connecticut, now living in New York City, actively pursuing his acting career for the last five years. Throughout his life, he has overcome several major obstacles, including dealing with depression and anxiety, a very difficult coming out journey as a queer man in his twenties, weighing over 225 lbs when he was in college, and having ideation of suicide when he was just thirteen years old. He has thankfully persevered and successfully navigated these obstacles and hopes to share his journey and story with as many people as he can. As an actor, he has worked in multiple network television series, including NBC’s Blindspot and ABC’s For Life, as well as dozens of theatrical productions across his home state of Connecticut. When not on set or on stage, he works as a journalist and podcast producer for a number of outlets, including MediaVillage and Latin Media Group. His longest-running podcast “Actors With Issues” is soon to hit 100 episodes and features mini career deep-dives and enlightening discussions with his guests who work across film, television and Broadway. He resides in Brooklyn, NY with his partner Erick.                   3 top tips for my audience: 1. Find your village. Every actor needs a support system, not just to get you through the tough times, but to also celebrate the wins, tiny or huge, that come your way. 2. Find a passion beyond your career. It’s not healthy for anyone to only ever focus on their job and career and not have any other prospects.  3. No one is better at being you than you. Sometimes we can’t help but compare ourselves to the people around us who may be doing better than we are,  Social media and contact info. How can viewers contact you after the interview? Please list your social media handles and websites. This is how they will appear in the show notes!  Juan can be found on Instagram @JuanAyalaOfficial , on Twitter @iJuanAyala and you can watch full episodes of his podcast online at youtube.com/actorswithissuespodcast #Actor #NYActor #NYCActor #HispanicActor #LatinActor #LatinxActor #LGBT #LGBTQ #LGBTActor #Journalist #PodcasterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.