Meet Mateo Rosales

We recently connected with Mateo Rosales and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mateo, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I am fascinated by this topic, disturbed even. Although I can’t quite say that I have overcome my imposter syndrome, I have learned to live with it and have even found how to use it for my benefit. It is inescapable after all. To this day, whenever I hear a piece of compliment regarding anything I do, my first instinct is to brace for the time when that person will realize I am a fraud and that they don’t actually feel the way they expressed they did. I once used to follow up those compliments with detailed explanations of everything that I had actually done wrong, just in case they’d blindly ignored it and would later regret not having noticed my faults. I am a work in progress, just like everyone else, but I am proud of how I’ve turned this obsession with perfection into something that motivates me rather than tortures me. If I already think I’m not good enough for something, then I just have to work that much harder to prove to myself (and no one else) that I actually deserved the opportunity. Perhaps it isn’t the best course of action, although it has worked for me so far. I just know I’ll always keep trying and I hope I’ll become a better creative and a better person along the way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and spent my teenage years in Mexico City before moving to the US to pursue my studies in Film Production at Full Sail University. Since graduation in 2019, I have worked in as many different fields within the entertainment industry as possibly imagined; I was a Sales Intern at a Film Sales Agency, have worked as Casting Assistant on 5 feature-length films and one TV-show, have written and directed a couple of short films, been a PA on a few different projects, and I am even serving as Casting Director on my very first off-Broadway play this fall. I think that’s how it goes in this crazy industry, nothing is set in stone and no opportunity should be taken lightly. In the past five years, our industry was hit by a worldwide pandemic and later disrupted with a double wirters-actors strike that lasted the better half of a year. I have worked countless jobs in the middle, it isn’t an easy road and I often felt discouraged in my journey. I love the work that I do though, and would make all the same sacrifices again in a heartbeat. I feel more alive than ever when I am figuring out any problem on a creative project, no matter how stressing or frustrating the situation gets to be – and it often does. I have found a deep love for casting, even though I just fell on that role unexpectedly a few years back. However, my dream is to write and direct films, and I see everything along the way as an academic exercise, I am learning as much as I can about everything else (and I love learning) to feed my dream and make me a better storyteller. You can see my short film Fuimos Invisibles on Youtube right now and can stream The Family Plan on AppleTV+, for which I served as Casting Assistant.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The main takeaway I have from these past few years working as a creative is that you must persevere. If it is what you feel passionate about, and if you feel that innate certainty beyond all odds that you are meant to do it, you have to push through all adversity and any obstacle. It isn’t easy and there are times when you want to give up more often than you want to keep going, but even if it’s just once in a while, whenever you get to do that thing you love, all the rest just falls away. I don’t think you should ever ignore all the sacrifice, the commitment and the pain, not at all. It should just fuel you to try to make that one-in-a-while into your constant. Patience becomes your friend because more likely than not, you will receive a hundred no’s before you ever hear a yes.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

My parents have always been the most supportive. I am the second of three children – the middle child – and all three of us studied fields in the arts and are pursuing creative careers. Both of my parents nurtured that passion in the three of us from a young age – they encouraged us to dream big and gave us all the tools to stand up for what we believed in. They were also instrumental in shaping our love of storytelling, from reading us our first bedtime stories to getting us books for every birthday and Christmas. However, the thing that has stuck the most with me over the years that they gifted me is one simple phrase, repeated over and over again through the years; “If you’re already not doing something, why are you scared of trying it out just because it might not work out?”. I still believe this to be true and live by it every day. If you take away that fear of rejection or failure, you are more likely to attempt it for yourself. What’ve you got to lose?

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Image Credits

First image was taken during filming of ‘Fuimos Invisibles’, featured in it from left to right are Sol Literas, myself, William DiDomenico and Lorlly Varela.

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