Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sebastian Montenegro Tamayo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sebastian , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
When I was a little kid I used to be afraid of everything, I was not very social, and I rarely volunteered for anything, until I was a little older, around 10 years old.. My grandmother had a huge influence on that aspect, I call her Tata. My Tata always said that no matter where I am or who I am with, there will be nothing more pleasing than seeing someone so confident because that automatically makes your peers confident, not cocky, confident, and respectful.
On the other hand I had may parents who always supported me and never turned me down, especially when I said to them that I wanted to be an actor, they were super supportive, my dad even told me, “I don’t care what you choose to do in life as long as it makes you happy and it gives you purpose, whatever you choose just be the best you can be.” Having this kind of mentality growing up also developed my willingness and eagerness to go beyond! I am a Colombian guy who loves acting, an immigrant that has known how to overcome certain challenges like being outside of my home country for almost a decade now.
It is important to know who you surround yourself with, there are a lot of people complaining and always carrying a negative mindset, I always avoided those circles, I surrounded with people that made me better as an artist and that motivated me by watching their work ethic, because in the end all that matters is `who can I learn from, and who can I grow with as an artist.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My overall goal is making a living out of my acting career, I also love filmmaking, I went to Full Sail University in Winter Park FL, I have a Film Bachelors degree, I learned so much on my years of training there, I was trained under the real world education, which means we had the same equipment, calls, and soundstages to produce our films in class, everything we learned and used was up to date with the industry.
After the pandemic I decided to come to NYC and follow more seriously my acting desire. At Full Sail I auditioned to many short films and I ended up acting on most of them, it was a hobby aside from my filmmaking career in Florida, I was also part of the production team in the WWE.
I came to NYC in 2022, I had been accepted at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, I was supposed to have started there in 2020, then because of the pandemic it was postponed a year, and then again due to work, I was acting in RCN a Colombian network for national television (back home), in a show called “Dejemonos de Vargas.” Not long after I played a scientist in one episode of Apple TV Plus “Echo 3.” I was always grateful to the opportunities I had back home because they also helped with my training and experience on set with big mainstream companies, all this happened after a year and a half of auditioning constantly, my back then manager Karolina was my guardian angel, she helped me and gave me an opportunity to start my career by being part of her talent book. It was amazing having worked with her and I am thankful for the work we did.
I fell in love with the theatre as soon as I watched my first Broadway show, not long after I became part of a beautiful ensemble of talented people in multiple plays at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I also had a part time job with the academy as a production assistant inside the theaters when I was not in rehearsal to help myself with a little extra money to help me with groceries.
I am currently an academy alumni and instead of waiting for opportunities to come I decided to create my own by starting a company called Pink Gorilla Productions with the hand of the talented Renata Osses, and Lorlly Varela as my peers and cofounders of the company. Our goal is to ensure that new talented faces are being seen, we want to cover not only Theatre but also film, short films, and podcasts. Our first official production is an off-broadway show, an adaptation of the novel Little Women, directed by Lorlly Varela herself, coming on November 20th till the 24th, stay tuned for more details.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
As an actors our most powerful instrument is our voice and our body, I am a physical person, I learn faster when I use my body to learn dialogue, monologues, and to have different targets. I think that before going to The American Academy of Dramatic Arts something I lacked was having a specific target because I remember being all over the place and having a hard time with lines or even the circumstances of the story.
I came to use my full voice on stage, with voice and speech classes, I was always a quiet talker, which means I would speak in a lower volume, so breaking those habits was hard at first but not impossible, I was used to the fact that before coming to NYC I was working around film and tv, and the lengths of my voice need to be used differently to fit on each media, theatre definitely opened the rest of my resonators.
Discipline is something that I treasure because there are things you do not feel like doing, like getting up at 5am to go the gym, it is part of my routine however there are days that I have to fight that urge of wanting to sleep a few more minutes, my discipline won’t let me quit because I built that habit and is in me, I become ill if I don’t workout, my body demands it now.
Be careful who you surround yourself with, this career has also a lot of people that want the easy way out, some others act as distractions, they are more focused on partying, having a good time even during school nights, and is very easy to fall for that and you end up tired at rehearsals, arriving late, and that already builds a reputation not only among instructors but with your fellow cast, people make up their mind so easy about someone, don’t give them the opportunity by being that person showing up late, complaining, trash talking someone, all these things are unacceptable, focus on yourself, read a lot and be kind not only to others but to yourself, celebrate the small victories you have a long the way, specially the ones no one sees but you.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My Parents Carolina and Mauricio, along with my Tata Ana Maria. They’ve been powerful guides, in every step I took to get where I am today. It was not easy for any of us when I made the decision to come to the US on pursue of my dream, I was able to come thanks to the financial sacrifices my family did, I also applied to different scholarships and I was awarded with most of them. Perseverance defeats talent, discipline beats luck, is all about being consistent and always having a vision of my future self, it is not only about the first ten years, it is about the rest of my life and how I see myself everyday for the rest of my life. I am humbled and honored to have met wonderful people along the way, however, I’ve also seen the worst in people, and the only thoughts that kept me going was the desire of wanting to be better for myself.
There was a time when I was struggling with my desire and ambition, I felt empty because I didn’t think I was making any progress, my mom went to visit me, and everything changed since then, I was about to turn 21 and my mom surprised me and lifted me up when I was falling through a dark hole of negativity, this was back in 2018. My family is my strength, to see every challenge as a new opportunity, to learn more from myself even when it feels like I’m stuck, I just need to take one day at a time and trust the process, there is much to accomplish and my time will come.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Montenegrot_seb
Image Credits
@kristiaknowles Headshot Leader jacket
@jpfrancophotography Headshot white shirt with beard
@bronwen.sharp on stage performing
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