Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaqueline Lopez.
Hi Jaqueline, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was raised in the border city of Tijuana, and for as far as I can remember, I always had a keen interest in the arts. I drew, danced, and painted. But it was not until I was thirteen years old that I had my first encounter with acting. I presented a monologue at a school art festival and fell completely in love with the idea of being an actress. I had participated in poetry competitions (declamacion) before, but this felt tremendously different. I was in awe of the process of character analysis and creation: building the character from the inside out and allowing myself to embody a completely different person on stage. It was pure magic. I still remember that precise feeling of adrenaline and fear mixed into one indescribable rush that I continue to seek to this day.
My family situation was in somewhat of a turmoil at that time, and I definitely found a safe space in the theater. Over the course of the following years, I moved from place to place looking for stability but never let go of acting. I participated in any school play, musical, and recital that I could sign up for, and eventually joined a local Theatre company my senior year of high school, and was there for the next three years. I had the amazing opportunity of playing the lead role in two different plays and was able to meet wonderful people who I collaborated with in additional theatrical plays. In parallel, I began to participate in live-action projects, commercial campaigns, and even a couple of web series.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 Pandemic arrived, and everything paused. Nevertheless, it was then that I had the opportunity to experience other aspects I had not explored yet about Theatre, and eventually film. I began taking an online workshop with Incendio Compañia Teatral and discovered the power of the script, where I wrote my first single-character play. Shortly after, I enrolled in a virtual Animation and Cinema BA in Tijuana. Classes were rough; most of the students were spread around Mexico and had to connect in different time zones in order to attend class, and we even had to create full-on short films in this manner too. I learned about scripts, film analysis, the foundations of 3D and 2D animation, the camera basics… and eventually understood that I had a passion for filmmaking as well. I dropped out after the first semester, packed my bags, and decided to move to Los Angeles. I left on October 5th of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, with no clear next step to take, but with the certainty and boiling pressure of knowing acting and film were the only way to go.
I packed my twenty years of life into a little suitcase and moved to my uncle’s place in Sylmar, CA. The first few months were very rough; I had told myself that I was not leaving too far from home, but things felt very unfamiliar. It was not the fact of solely moving to a new country; I had to adjust myself to a brand new normality. Most things were still closed, and absolutely no one outside of that front door knew me.
I enrolled in Los Angeles Community College, where I was able to slowly become part of an acting community and participated in the plays El Carne King of Vallarta (2021) and She Who Was No More (2022), both directed by a wonderful being called Bob Cucuzza. I finished my AA in a year and transferred to California State University Northridge, where I enrolled as an Emerging Media Production major and a Theatre acting/directing minor. I learned about production and the different roles that entail both a film and a play. I had to slow down on my acting as I was a full-time student and had two part-time jobs at the time, but I still managed to participate in student films and eventually met the wonderful people at Theatre company called HERO Theatre. With them, I was able to participate in my first immersive play in RISE: An Immersive Exploration of Gun Violence in Schools (2022), and lastly The Young Dolphins (2025). In Tijuana, I also collaborated with Mexican film Director Alex Lara for his opera prima Las Curvas de Tus Labios (2019) and later on in Deseosos de Todo Al Mismo Tiempo (2022) as his AD.
While at CSUN, I reconnected with a friend from Tijuana called Marco Pineda; it turns out both of us were living in the same city, attending the same school, and studying under the same college of Cinema and Television Arts. We became really close and he introduced me to a project he had been developing over the course of the last few years: Odissea Films. Shortly after, I was introduced to Stefano Santana, also a Mexican student at CSUN, and eventually, in the summer of 2024, the three of us, together with Jessy Segovia, participated in Odissea Films’ first short film called BOBO.
In 2025, the four of us officially became a part of Odissea Films. After BOBO, we have been developing a variety of projects that will be coming out pretty soon!
Today, I continue to act and produce.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It really hasn’t been an easy journey. As a Mexican woman, I think there’s always uncertainty about whether you’ll be able to make a living from art. I believe it’s a profession that faces a great deal of prejudice. At least in my experience, my family didn’t take it very well once they realized I wanted to make a living from art. As long as it was considered a hobby, there was no problem, but the moment it got serious, things changed. Fortunately, things have normalized over the years. My brother and I are both artists, and it’s gradually become more accepted among our relatives.
On the other hand, I believe that both filmmaking and acting go hand in hand with meeting people. By their very nature, both disciplines are social and collaborative, and they are strengthened by the community you build over time through new experiences. There were several moments when I felt stagnant or trapped. I went through a lot of sudden changes, and not having an artistic community to lean on at the time was quite devastating.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to describe myself as a creative person because whenever people ask me what I do for a living, a mosaic of answers comes to mind. I’m primarily an actress and independent filmmaker, but I’m also a visual artist.
Within the world of acting, I have focused a bit more on Theatre. Most of my characters tend to be extremely headstrong women with traits that are predominantly masculine. They are characters seeking revenge or harboring dark intentions. They are somewhat rough and tough, and I think I have always identified strongly with them. I really enjoy working with characters who display a certain roughness or command of the scene. I’d also say that I absolutely love playing the antagonist; it is genuinely an experience that never ceases to be fun.
As someone who literally grew up on one of the busiest borders in the world, I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to participate in projects on both sides of the border, as well as to have received training in acting and filmmaking in both Los Angeles and Tijuana. And I think that’s one of the things I’m most proud of: being able to share where I come from in every project.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Start your project. As ridiculous and repetitive as it may sound, let go of being shy and make discomfort your best friend. It is no secret that learning can be an extremely uncomfortable process. You constantly hit a wall, and the prevailing feeling is one of frustration. Frustration at not being able to improve faster, at not knowing the right people, at feeling embarrassed even though you want something so badly. It may seem very contradictory, but it is very true. Last year, while I was at a Clown Workshop Intensive in the Las Vegas desert, one of the instructors said something that has stayed with me to this day. It went something along the lines of: “Let’s stop being jealous of our art and let the world see it”. And I think that is so true! Unfortunately, that is exactly what shame does. Shame and fear make us keep our projects and abilities hidden from the outside world, out of fear of being judged, or simply because we doubt ourselves and believe we are not good enough.
Speaking specifically about the creative process, whether in front of or behind the camera, discomfort is an ally. I feel like it sets the course for where to continue evolving. If there is discomfort, there is surprise, excitement, and also fear. And if there is fear, there is growth, and there is life. Dare to make mistakes and make a fool of yourself; you will learn a thousand times more that way than from textbooks. One day, decide to walk or dress differently; the story continues to be written day by day, and everything depends on the decisions we make today. Discomfort is just a friendly reminder that we are working towards our goals.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @_jaquelopez_ @odisseafilms
