Aracelis Almodovar of SWAGmodovars: How Embracing Authentic Character Choices Can Land You Major Acting Roles On The Spot

As a part of my series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Aracelis Almodovar.

A devoted daughter who thrives off of making people laugh, being goofy, not to mention being “extra,” Aracelis Almodovar is following in the footsteps of fellow female comedy greats Molly Shannon and Maya Rudolph. Aracelis studied in Los Angeles for her acting degree, and loves to do mixed martial arts and dance — everywhere! She and her family, the Almodovars, are a viral TikTok sensation who captured over 1.6M followers in less than 17 months using their own brand of comedy, a wholesome approach to their online presence, and by mimicking famous standup bits. The Florida-based family next took their infectious energy to another level by striking a deal with Triller TV to create, write, and produce two seasons of their own reality television series, a mix of real-life family situations with their own twist on fun and entertainment. The show features radio personality and father, Jorge “GMan” Almodovar; cosmetology instructor and mother, “Lady G”; actress and daughter, Aracelis; and the spirited teenage son, Rando.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up around a lot of artistic individuals. This was seen in many different forms in my life. My mom is a cosmetology teacher, so we were constantly going to hair shows and being creative in that respect, while my dad on the other hand has always been involved in music and producing. I was involved in music festivals and parades. At the age of four, I was performing dance routines, and at six years I was in martial arts studying Tang Soo Do. All of this to say that I grew up engulfed in the arts realm immensely. It’s been my life.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I remember one day when we lived in Connecticut, when I was about seven years old, I was in the car with my dad and we’re joking around, per usual, and he told me to put on my seatbelt. At that moment I just morphed into this character. This specific character’s pitch line was always, “Why?” For some reason this just had us cracking up for about a good ten minutes. I thought it was just us having fun at the moment, but we found that when family friends would come over and my dad and I would do this “skit” for them, everyone would be dying of laughter. That’s when I realized, wow! This is what you call “acting.”

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I was walking down the street of Downtown Fort Myers and guy walked up to me and told me I am exactly the character he’s been writing in his script. I said, “Well you’re in luck since I’m an actress and just graduated two weeks ago.” He emailed me the sides and wanted me to go in the next day for an audition. That’s exactly what I did and landed the role right on the spot. It really goes to show that you never know what can happen. There are opportunities no matter where you go. I would have never imagined that going out night would be opening a door to further my passion and career.

It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I remember being in middle school and going to this high school’s audition for theater. It was an arts school so in order to get in you had to audition for the program. Mind you, I’d never actually taken a theater class before in my life. This was just something that I knew I loved to do. So, on the day of the audition, I’m at school and I hear other people discussing what they’ve prepared for this audition. Immediately I become confused and concerned, like, “What do you mean prepare? I didn’t see anything about preparing?” And I was then told that I was supposed to have two contrasting monologues prepared. Immediately I start freaking out. I texted my dad and said I couldn’t do the audition. He told me to go to the audition and tell them that I’m sorry I don’t have that, but I instead have my own character that I’ve developed. I was so scared. I was crying. But sure enough, I listened to him and they could not stop laughing. They loved it and I ended up getting accepted. Even though it was an honest mistake, the takeaway for me was to always be authentically me. When nothing else is working, be your true self. No one can take that from you. I was okay that, even if I didn’t get in, I was able to show them who Aracelis is.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I am super excited to say that I am currently working on a limited series called ‘Loyal to the Game’ with Curtis Collins, so definitely stay tuned for that!

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Most definitely. I will say that this industry is not for the weak. There’s a lot of self-motivation and open-mindedness required. Also being open to constructive criticism, even if you don’t agree, which will happen a lot of the time. And you will run into directors that say you suck, so you have to be able to take that and turn that into motivation and determination to keep going rather than putting yourself down. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

I believe it’s super important to have diversity in film and television because it brings different dynamics, especially to your storytelling. It also helps the audience see multiple perspectives and through a different lens. It gives insight and can be educational to other individuals’ cultures in the form of art — and it’s entertaining to watch.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

You will get more rejections than acceptances. In the college that I attended in Los Angeles, we would have these audition classes and it would help us for the real world. And let me tell you, we would spend forever practicing how we would deliver this one line that had only five words in it. There are so many different ways one can do a line, but if it’s not the vision the casting director is looking for, you won’t land that role. You have at most 30 seconds to say your name and deliver this line the way that they want to hear it. Also, be different and make bold choices. And always play big — it’s harder to teach somebody to do more. Show them your range and if they need you to tone it down and condense it a little bit, that’s no problem. Easy fix. Have an embarrassing story or fun fact on deck. I’ve been at auditions where they have asked me on the spot about an embarrassing story. Or for me to give them my funniest joke. The first time I got asked this I completely went blank. But trust me, now I have mine on deck and prepared to go.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Don’t overwork yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Trust the process. This industry can be cruel and you have a lot of sleepless nights trying to memorize scripts. It’s okay to put it down and take a break and go for a walk and just completely let go. Even just for 10 minutes, whatever that looks like for you.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Laughter heals. Even through the rough times in one’s life, that’s when we should learn to embrace those moments the most. Laugh through them, even when we don’t understand why certain things are happening. It’s not about the destination but the journey it took to get there. This is what we did. We started our TikTok during the pandemic, and hearing stories of the families we reached, that maybe they were “sick” but our videos made them laugh and brought them that little bit of happiness to keep pushing through — that was amazing.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

All in all, I would have to say my family. I am so grateful for them because there are a lot of people that don’t look at acting as a real career. My family has always helped me in anything I wanted to do and that’s all I could ask for. They have stuck by my side throughout each and every audition no matter the outcome, and they have been in my corner cheering me on.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson quote of all time is, “When you want to succeed as bad you want to breathe then you’ll be successful” by Eric Thomas. In this industry, just like in many others, there’s always someone out there that is working ten times harder than you are. For instance, when I’m sleeping, I know there’s somebody else that’s a starving actress just like me who is up all night losing sleep in order to perfect her craft.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.

I would absolutely love having a private lunch with Zendaya. I adore her work and her range of talent. It’s extremely admirable. I believe we would get along super well and I am manifesting that we will work on set together one day!

How can our readers follow you online?

On Instagram, you can follow me at @Iam.aracelis. On TikTok @iamaracelis. And our website is swagmodovars.com.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!