We were lucky to catch up with Alex Diehl recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alex, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
In the acting business you get used to rejection right away. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting sometimes–everyone wants to be chosen. I’m a big believer in letting yourself feel your feelings, and then moving on. You’re allowed to be upset for. a while when things don’t work out the way you planned, but the ability to get yourself back up and keep going–that’s truly admirable. So that’s how I look at it. I’d rather try and fail a million times rather than not try at all and take myself out of the game.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Right now I’m focused on is finding personal balance, while pushing my creative boundaries and trying new things. I’m now splitting my time between LA and Madrid (my mother’s hometown), and I feel like it’s the perfect balance to try my hand at both larger budget, more commercial productions, but also have access to more artsy, fringe, and international projects.
This year, my short film ‘Seen’ got distribution on SofyTV (on SamsungTVPlus), in which I acted, produced, wrote, and even edited, I’ve also shot a Sci-Fi project in LA, as well as an english-language feature here in Spain, a bunch of commercials, a VR shoot, and am set to shoot my first role in a Spanish-language show later this year.
I am also super excited to announce that in 2024 we will be overhauling the content for my app ‘Yogable’ to provide a wider range of options for different skill levels, as well as higher quality images & sounds…
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?
I’d say three qualities or skills that have contributed to my journey have been DIY-mindset, self-confidence, and a desire to forge my own path.
The DIY-mindset can be super helpful when beginning your journey. While delegation is an invaluable skill for a later point in the process, often at the very beginning you are wearing a bunch of different hats more out of necessity than anything else. This mindset helps keep your vision moving forward, no matter how many speed bumps you hit or how may times you hear “No.” You can’t find a writer in your budget? Write it yourself. Etc.
Self-confidence has been hugely impactful to my journey, and not always in positive ways. As I continue on in my journey, I see over and over and over again, people with more confidence are often more successful, even if their ideas aren’t as ground-breaking.
And finally, my desire to forge my own path has been essential to my journey. Rather than always listening to the advice of others (sorry, Mom), the ability to stay committed to your vision of what you want for your life will most likely steer you away from a standardized, formulaic existence, and will undoubtedly be hard at times, but a willingness to have everyone look at you like you’re a fool and keep going forward is what will distinguish you from the rest.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
My biggest area of personal growth in the last 12 months has been a shift in perspective from “I have to succeed to show everyone I am worth it & haven’t been wasting my time and money all these years on these artistic endeavors” to “I’m going to do this because I enjoy it & have something of value to say–if it resonates with people, then cool, but if not who cares?”
Honestly it’s done wonders for my mental health!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexdiehl/?hl=en
- Other: click here to download my yoga app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yogable/id1536334332
Image Credits
Carmen Martín Gómez
