Meet Monica Mauro

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Monica Mauro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Monica below.

Hi Monica, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

My work ethic came from watching my mom and dad’s work ethic. My father was military and my mom decided to go back to school while my father was overseas. She worked part time, went to school full time, studied, and still made sure I had a hot breakfast every morning before school. I also think being an only child may have had something to do with it. You are pushed because you are the only egg. But when I was younger, having a strong work ethic worked against me when it came to acting. When I commit to something, whether it’s a part or a scene for a class it’s 150% immersion. I once did a scene for a Christmas show and only 2 people were in the audience and one was my husband! I told myself play it like Broadway! When I was younger, I knew pursuing a career in acting was going to need an “all or nothing”. attitude. It would require a daunting work ethic through thick or thin. And I just was so fearful of not being able to uphold that commitment. So I tucked it away for a long time, but it was just tucked away; not gone which was a kind of torture having this incredible desire to act, but not actually pursuing it because I knew the work it would take, And once I start something, I have to complete whatever it is I start.

It was my husband’s career that brought us to LA…and I still was afraid to commit!!! He finally talked me into doing some voice over classes at Kalmenson & Kalmenson in Burbank. My next step was taking some scene classes which then led to Meisner classes, and this is when I hit the sweet spot and things began to change. I had never heard of Sandy Meisner. I assumed everyone was teaching Method here in LA. So, once again my husband signs me up to audit a class in North Hollywood. I go just to make him stop. After all, this is MY dream to take action with or not take action with, and not his. I think he just got tired of me talking about taking classes, but not actually doing it. Anyway, I go to the audit and he goes with me. I’m hard of hearing, an issue I’ve had probably my whole life, but discovered officially in my late twenties. At the time of this audit, I did not wear hearing aids. So, I go to the audit and both my husband and I sit at the back of the theater because I’m just auditing. Two actresses go onstage and they are saying something to each other. I ask my husband, “What are they saying?” My husband says, “You’re insensitive”. “Well”‘, I said right back “I’m not being insensitive. I just can’t hear what they are saying. ” To which my husband responds, “No, no, they are saying your insensitive back and forth repeating.” I then say, “Why?” My husband replies, “I don’t know.” LOL! I was soon to learn all about repetitions, the core exercise to the Meisner technique. It took quite a work ethic just to become adequate at repetitions. But it really was while training in Meisner that I finally made that decision to take on acting and employ that work ethic. I thank God for giving me such a good example of a work ethic through my family. Acting requires so much, a supportive team, training, tenacity, courage, and without that work ethic you can really put yourself at a disadvantage.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I do a lot of Dhar Mann videos. I’m known for playing “Karens”. in these productions, but I would have to say my brand is more “Quirky loud neighbor lady next door who can drive you crazy, but she doesn’t realize she is being a nuisance”. or “Quirky, accident prone teacher who really cares” I could see myself on Abbot Elementary with a character like that. My brand is hard to nail down because I also play moms quite a bit which I love. I like playing good moms, but I have to admit playing a bad mom is fun, and I’ve done my fair share of those. Oh, and I also played a DEA officer in two seasons of Surviving the Cartel. So, talk about being all over the brand board. Getting my brand down is still a work in progress.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For acting, for me, the three most important skills/ qualities that have been most impactful on my acting journey (and I’m still on the journey) is constant training, always being in a class working on the craft and being around others doing the same, Being tenacious would be the second which takes courage, and that’s the third one. You have to be brave and take risks which is interesting because in acting the risks you take involve risking rejection. On top of that, most actors are pretty sensitive or they wouldn’t be actors, so rejection is hard. They say you get a thick skin, but I’ve been rejected more often than I can count and I’m still not used to it. On the topic of rejection for a moment, I don’t really want to become numb to the feeling of rejection. I like to feel emotions, so I just feel the rejection, accept it, and tuck that feeling away. Let it go, so I can move on, but I can retrieve it if I have a part that requires me to feel rejected. I’m still working on my courage, but as one of my acting coaches said recently, “It’s the journey and not the destination”.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

If I knew I only had a decade of life left, aside from eating a lot of chocolate Ding Dongs, I would head to NYC and pursue Broadway. Just auditioning for a part on Broadway would be insane!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: supersonicmonic1

Image Credits

Photo 1: Acting onstage with fellow actor Jason Sino