DECEMBER 16, 2019
Meet Yelyna De León
Today we’d like to introduce you to Yelyna De León.
Yelyna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started when I was a kid on the Southside of Chicago and the NBC hit show “Crime Story” came knocking on my grandmother’s door. They wanted to shoot a scene from our 2nd story porch, this was way before drones. I was her translator so at first she told me to tell the location guy, a polite, ‘no thank you.” Honestly, she didn’t know what he was asking for. He then insisted and told me to tell her that he could pay $400 for the use of our porch. She then told me to politely tell him, “yes.” So for an entire week, I had the entire cast and crew in my living room. My grandma didn’t know that the set had craft services so she would make breakfast for everyone in the morning and this experience changed my life. Hollywood literally came knocking on my door.
After that, I attended a prestigious performing arts high school where I majored in musical theater. During my high school years, I wrote and starred in a 3 act musical, had three shows on the local Chicago channel, a sketch comedy show, a teen talk show and a weekend live show of all things happening in Chicago. It was a lot of fun and I learned how to shoot and be in front of and behind the camera. Theater was my life but I knew I wanted to go into film and TV so…
Flash forward, I ended up in L.A. after going out on an audition a friend of mine sent me on while I was here on vacation, she was a manager and said if I booked it she would sign me. And sure enough, first audition, series regular role and I booked it. After that, I booked other TV shows and performed in a touring Shakespearean musical theater show for kids on and off for about 15 years.
I then attended UCLA and earned my B.A. in Film/TV/theater and Chicano studies. And my M.F.A from USC School of Cinematic arts where I co-created and was the showrunner for USC’s first single-camera comedy. I then did a couple of writing labs, the NHMC, sponsored by ABC/NBC, the NALIP one hour writing incubator and most recently the L.A. Skins Native drama film lab where I finished writing my next feature film in 10 weeks.
All while working steadily in both TV and film, (“A Better Life”, “Ray Donovan”, “Shameless”) and most recently guest starring on “Will and Grace,” and writing, acting and producing in an upcoming feature film, “Murder in the Woods,” with Danny Trejo (Machete) to name a few.
I’m also a bilingual literature advocate through Readconmigo.org and published award-winning children’s book author for “Yely’s First Day,” a semi-autobiographical story about a little girl who is afraid to go to school because she doesn’t speak English very well. In the summer, I teach workshops on acting for camera to kids/youth in Boyle Heights, Chicago, and Mexico.
My credits can be found at www.imdb.com/name/nm0209680/.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth road? What’s that? Being a woman, being a character actor, being Latina there honestly have not been and still are not that many roles out there for us. And if they are there they are for the most part stereotypical in my experience. So there have been a lot of struggles, such as waiting for the right role to come and then deciding whether or not to take the stereotypical roles that I have been typecast in. There really isn’t much control over the way the pendulum swings sometimes, which is why I also write, direct, produce and yes even edit! As the saying goes, “hurry up and wait.” Sometimes projects look promising but they get pushed or fall through those are always struggles in the business. A show can get picked up, then canceled, your character can get edited out for no fault of your own. So many struggles but that is why I have always focused on doing what I love so even in the most up and down roller coaster of times, I remind myself that this is what I love doing and I also remind myself that Hollywood literally came knocking on my door, so I practice being grateful and enjoy every moment of my time as a storyteller.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a hyphenate. In short, I’m a storyteller which includes being a filmmaker. A content creator. An actor. A writer. A director. A producer. And an acting coach for kids/youth.
I specialize in comedy and children’s content.
I am most proud of the fact that I deliver both in front of the camera and/or behind it. And when I’m on a project, it will be seen somewhere on a big screen, on a stage, on television, on your phone or on social media.
What sets me apart from others is the fact that I am bi-cultural, bilingual and that I can make you laugh even if we don’t speak the same language. Kidding. I absolutely love what I do and even when things don’t go as planned, I am there to make sure there is always a way to complete the task, so not dropping the ball is what I am most proud of as an artist that I always give my 3000 %, I spread love and light by looking at the positive side of things and hope to inspire others to do what they love.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success by “doing what you love” and being genuinely happy with whatever it is I am doing. The fact that I am a storyteller and can share my story on a global level is success to me. The ability to chose projects that I want to work on is success to me. The ability to create something from nothing is success to me. Ten weeks ago I did not have my next script written, however by staying focused and doing a ten weeks film lab, I now have the next feature I wrote, will produce and direct in 2020. That to me is success. Having a network of super talented colleagues/friends that I respect, adore, trust and love working with is success to me. The ability to spend time with my family and travel with them regardless if I have to take some work with me sometimes is success to me. Setting goals, completing tasks, achieving them is success to me. The fact that I am healthy and can sleep well at night is success to me. Simply the ability to create every moment of my life and career is success to me. Living my dream and making it a reality is success in my eyes.
Contact Info:
Website: yelynadeleon.com
Email: info@yelynadeleon.com
Instagram: @yelynadeleon
Facebook: @yelynadeleon
Image Credit:
The 2 photos of me sitting by the computer and with the scripts behind me are by photographer Yunuen Bonaparte. The photo of me smiling in the sequence silver and black is by photographer : Roberto Tetlamatzin. The pic of Megan Mullaly and I with the NBC logo on the bottom is a screen grab from Will and Grace.
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