Meet Alejandro Ansoleaga

We recently connected with Alejandro Ansoleaga and have shared our conversation below.

Alejandro , thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

I feel like risk is relative. What one person might find to be incredibly bold might just come naturally or at least more naturally to someone else. I dropped what was shaping out to be a good career to move to Los Angeles in pursuit of a life in show business where the prospects are of course incredibly low. I’m also not fazed by public speaking and have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane over one hundred and eighty times. On the surface a person might go as far as thinking that I could be fearless but those things just happen to be right up my alley. On the other hand, until recently the idea of sharing my work was absolutely paralyzing. That and commitment but you’ll have to talk to my exes about that.

What I’ve always admired most are people like my father that get up every day and go to work to provide for their families. It’s the most selfless, honorable, and courageous thing a person can do if you ask me and I’m not even so sure that I’m capable of such a thing. It’s a sense of duty, and after years of trepidation I came to the conclusion that I had to look at my life as a creator the same way and just push through whether I like it or not.

The fear of sharing your work is not unique to artists, but ultimately, “The desire to create must be greater than the fear of sharing your work.” -Rick Rubin.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Basically, I do whatever I think is funny in hopes that other people will think it’s funny too. Standup has taken a back seat since about Covid times and these days I’m focusing more on film and TV. Life is good right now. My short film “Taco Killer” just finished an amazing festival run and I’m wrapping up my latest film, a doomed project mockumentary based on the fictional reboot of the I Love Lucy Show called, “The Making of the I Love Lucy Reboot(and how everything went wrong)” that also features a separate and true to form I Love Lucy sitcom based in present day. My next project, a female driven comedy pilot based in the new agey/Burning Man world is about to go into production and if all goes according to plan I’ll be in Sweden this Summer shooting my feature “Little Giant”; a film about a man who lives his life believing that he has both gigantism and dwarfism at the same time as he prepares to wrestle for the first time just like his idol, Andre the Giant.

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?

I may be the last person that should be giving advice as to what to do to help you in your career as I’m miles away from where I’d like to be and have literally done everything I can to work against myself. Unchecked mental health issues. Alcohol and drug problems. I’ve destroyed countless personal and professional relationships for reasons that I still don’t fully understand although in some cases, there was some addition by subtraction. I’ve self-sabotaged in every way possible, blowing off meetings. failing on deliverables and overall just being a difficult person to work with under some kind of distorted fantasy that I was doing it my way like Sinatra. In my darkest days I was either too prideful or too Cuban(as these two things can be indecipherable at times) to ask for help, choosing to suffer alone rather than to show any perceived weakness. I would advise against all of this.

Then one day, I started praying. Highly recommend. I’m not even sure how it started… but slowly I started thinking about myself less and about others more and I learned that life is so much better when I put the people I love and care about first. I don’t know a whole lot about religion. Truth is I don’t even know who I’m praying to, but it’s nice to think that there is a God out there that created the universe and yet he knows me by my name.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield has essentially become my bible over the last few years. I became aware of this book after other creatives that I admire recommended it so it feels appropriate that I should pass it along too. I’ll share three of the greatest takeaways that I got from it.
1. When you’re an artist, the only reward is the work. It’s all that’s promised to us and it’s under our control. Do the work.
2. Don’t be a hack. A hack, and Pressfield attributes this to Robert McKee(whose book, “Story” I also highly recommend) is someone that “doesn’t ask himself what’s in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for.” I say f*ck all that. Everything I do is made for an audience of one… me.
3. You must commit. The following quote is attributed to William H. Murray but I first read it in this book and I think about it all the time. “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too… Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alexansoleaga.com
• Instagram: @alexansoleaga
• Facebook: @alexansoleaga
• Linkedin: @alexansoleaga
• Twitter: @alexansoleaga
• Youtube: @alexansoleaga

Image Credits

I have permission for all photos