Meet Felipe Jorquera

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Felipe Jorquera . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Felipe , so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
Using a wheelchair has always been a great physical limitation for me, so I had to learn to use communication as a survival tool. Not being able to move like other people made me much more still and observant. Since I was little I observed that communication was something essential to be able to express and that is what leads you to grow and achieve great things, to express and bring out everything that is inside you, whether verbally, written or in any other way. . . . . It allows us to go further.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am an Actor and Film Director. I was born on November 3, 1992 in Santiago, Chile. I grew up in a very poor town with few opportunities, however I always believed in my dream of being an Actor, from a very young age it was in my head to do so, I watched Chilean soap operas and the movies “Cantinflas” and “Chespirito” with my grandparents, with hope to one day make a living from acting. When I left high school I decided to study professional acting, unexpectedly this was very difficult for me to achieve, because all the universities and educational institutes in my native country (Chile) discriminated against me for being in a wheelchair; They told me that I couldn’t study professional acting because I couldn’t move, they even suggested that I look for another career or some other occupation, however I was persistent, I knew that acting had to be my way of making a living. So I insisted for a long time until I managed to enter the “Matus Actores” acting academy for film and television, this academy is the leading acting school in Chile and also prominent internationally. The director of this academy, Roberto Matus, was the one who allowed me to study professional acting and opened my field in that field. In this great school I had excellent acting teachers, Gastón Salgado (who later became my main mentor to this day), Alejandro Trejo, among others. Afterwards I continued making theater, short films for Chilean cinema and I even had the opportunity to do comedy with “Felipe Avello.” Currently two of my most notable works in film are on “OndaMedia”, the most important Chilean film platform in the world. The short film “Preámbulo”, in which I participated as the main actor and main promoter and the short film “Sobremesa”, in which I participated as Director and Screenwriter together with the Chilean Filmmaker “Arlen Pérez”, who acted in both short films. Different tasks behind the camera. Additionally, Arlen is the person who has helped me the most to make these projects possible. As a curiosity about these interesting films, I can tell you the following: Short Film Preamble This film was written with the purpose of removing the disability label and showing that I am not just a wheelchair… but that I am a person, a human being and that any human being can be and achieve anything if they set their mind to it. . .The fact of being in a wheelchair is no guarantee of being a defenseless person, and being a muscular and tall person is no guarantee of being strong.

Short Film Sobremesa
Together with Filmmaker Arlen Pérez we decided to teach a Film Acting workshop combining our skills.
The final result of 8 weeks of work and intense acting classes, with a group of talented students, is the short film Sobremesa, a project that was highlighted in different international film festivals.
It is currently available on “OndaMedia” and “YouTube” along with the Short Film “Preámbulo”.

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?
The most important thing is to believe in yourself, everything else flows from there, if you believe in yourself it doesn’t matter what others tell you, it doesn’t matter what happens or how many difficulties you have along the way, only you know the capabilities you have. . , each one is born with that flame of fire that burns within us since we were little, the one that prevents us from sleeping and does not allow us to think about anything else, if we follow that instinct and do not let that extinguish the flame. of fire. , dreams always come true. They will come true, never give up.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
I arrived in the United States in 2019, specifically to the state of Utah, where I currently reside and the biggest challenge I have had to face is discrimination. The state of Utah is a very beautiful place geographically and with many educational advances, however, it is horrible to have to say that Utah is a place that focuses on the origin and race of people, violently closing doors and opportunities to people foreigners.
I have lived here for almost 5 years and I have only been able to work in one film with a solid role, the rest of my participation in Utah cinema has been as an extra. Many employers in the film industry and also in other areas of employment here in Utah have discriminated against me for being in a wheelchair and also for being a foreigner… is your skin color or your origin more important than your right to life ? Is it fair that someone has fewer opportunities than another person because they have a different skin color or nationality? I leave those questions open for the Utah authorities and for the United States in general, bureaucracy should never predominate over human values.
The only professional film I have managed to make since I have lived here is “Power Rangers Origins” (revival of the coin) by filmmaker “Rob Diamond” and other extra roles as I already mentioned.
I have searched and applied for many other castings, but they have discriminated against me and left me aside, even so I do not lose hope of succeeding in other states or in any other part of the world. I am always open to working in acting and being where I am given more opportunities to work in art.

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