We were lucky to catch up with Yulio Rondon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Yulio, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Since I was a kid all I saw my dad doing was working. In fact he used to tell us if you’re not going to do a good job don’t do it, so from a young age I’ve tried to put my heart and a little bit of myself on everything I do, and I believe that’s why everything I do is related to art because to me that way I can put a piece of me on everything. I’ve also have always had big dreams and I know that working for it and leaving your soul on everything is the way to achieve those dreams.
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 am a Dominican actor based in New York City, I’ll like to start with the fact that I became an actor one year ago when in the summer of 2022 I woke up one day and told myself I WANT TO BE AN ACTOR, so that same day I did a little research about an acting school and I started a summer intensive at a very good acting studio called terry knickerbocker TK studio where I learned method acting/ the Meisner technique. Then for a year I’ve been doing something that moves me and gives me a purpose. I believe it came at the perfect time because I didn’t want to be 30 years old and be on a limbo head space and this year I turned 30 so I’m living the life I always wanted. My acting carrier is at a very beautiful moment right now because the seeds of what I was doing before are blossoming into my current days of acting, before being an actor I am first a fashion designer and then an interior designer. Fashion being my very first love and to which I went to school for allows me connect with the garments I wear and the meaning it haves for any specific character and interior design which I had been doing for the last 6 years before becoming an Actor allow me to make a relationship with the space but not only the space I’m in but the space where the things that are around me could have been throw or where it would end. My carrier in terms of work is being affected by the actors and writer’s strike currently happening, so very looking forward for it to be over so I can joint the union SAG because I became eligible in October last year to be able to get great roles, I’m very looking forward for October because my first acting experience was in the show The Gilded Age from HBO as a featured background (steel mill worker) and I can’t wait to see myself on the screen for a few seconds again.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My very first quality I’ll say is knowing who I am, and even tho sometimes I feel that’s not true, I know who I am so having this quality allows me to be someone else without losing what makes me special, my second would have to be a skill, I’ve always like to tell stories it doesn’t matter if is acting or designing I’ve always had the need to say something. Growing up in my little town in the Dominican Republic being gay was the biggest disgrace so as a kid I always felt that what I did said or wanted didn’t matter so since that all I want to do is to tell. And the third one would have to be about knowledge and if it makes sense I’ll say that my understanding of human behaviors and feelings is pretty accurate and that gives me a common sense and keeps me grounded which to me is the most important of the 3 aspects spoken on this part because keeping my feet on the ground is what makes me who I am and also being a human not only for myself but for those around me or whoever sees my work.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
Where I am what I am and what I do, haves more to do with the people that love my than with myself, God has always being on my side and has gave me everything I have to be where I am right now and that is living a life I couldn’t even dream of, if there’s people I’ll have to say mami Tina who helped me finish fashion school by sponsoring my carrier and who helped me in that very difficult time in my life when I felt my dreams were being taken away from me. I am and will always be eternally grateful for all the people that are part of my life because there would be not yulio without any of those people that have been part of my life. As they say: it takes a village and in my case it have taken two countries, my mother country the Dominican Republic and New York my current home.
Contact Info:
- Website: Yuliorondon.com
- Instagram: Yuliorondon
- Linkedin: Yulio Rondon
Image Credits
Dustin Barlow
