Life can knock the wind out of you sometimes. I had the wind semi-truck hit from me the beginning of this year. I had just quit my part time job to go film my first feature in Florida. The two weeks spent filming that film were the best of my life. I’ve never pushed myself harder as an actor, I’d never flexed my writer and producing skills before and I found that I freaking loved it. I was flying high, and then a little over a month after my return to LA a lot of parts of my life fell…
Author: Malia Miglino
Malia Miglino
Known to most as an actor and make-up artist - Malia Miglino considers herself a creative above all else. Her passion to create and chase her dreams brought her to LA at 18 where she attended the Makeup Designory and received her Journeyman Certificate. After years of both acting and doing make-up for web series and indie film; she was inspired to open her own freelance beauty and consult service, Beauty and the Brush in 2011. In 2014 Malia decided to start taking her career into her own hands and created her first web series “Macabre Mondays.” Whether it’s illustrating a children's book, filming an old haunted location, delving into a character or making up an actor on set; happiness comes from living the life of your choosing. For Malia that means creating something everyday and inspiring other women to do the same.
Jan 15th, I boarded a flight headed to Orlando with 3 of my closest friends to start production on my film, “The Sluagh.” We started filming immediately, literally stealing shots in LAX and on the plane with hidden lav’s connected to our iPhone’s with the cords running up through our clothes. That run and gun attitude and willingness to try set the tone for what became 2 of the best weeks of my life. It’s hard for me to put into words how amazing of an experience producing my first feature (that I also wrote & starred in) was. We…
Imagine what would have happened if man never left the cave? If the “taste testers” of ancient people didn’t try all that crazy looking fruit or bizarre sea life? In both of the scenarios the only answer is death; the human race would not have endured had it never taken a risk, never took a step out of the cave and into the unknown. The fundamentals of human life require reckless behavior, without it we would all simply deteriorate. Lately i’ve been thinking a lot about this idea when facing making big (scary) changes in my own life. I started…
This last month I launched my first ever crowdfunding campaign. The campaign was for a found footage horror film titled “The Sluagh” that I am producing, writing AND starring in. There’s a lot about the previous sentences that make me laugh; never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would take on the tasks that I have in the last month. Sure I have a web series that I do everything for but that doesn’t compare to agreeing to be apart of a team with 3 other people, commit to weekly writing sessions, spend the little extra money…
I’ve said it, you’ve probably said it and lord knows you’ve at least heard the saying, “the struggle is real” when referring to either your daily grind or the pursuit of your dreams. I used to find some sort of confidence in saying this as if me struggling was just another example of how “real” or transparent my personality is. There is also something sort of romantic about the idea of a struggling or “starving” artist, almost like you weren’t a true artist if you weren’t struggling. Then one day I was sitting in my acting class and my teacher…
I have many fond memories from my childhood, one of the oldest and clearest memories I have is the dream of one day moving to Los Angeles. Hollywood and the City of Angels were as magical to me as the kingdoms talked about in fairy tales. The city where dreams came true and where sunshine was constant, sounded like a daydream to my overly creative chubby child self living in Seattle; a city that seemed more like a place where dreams came to die in my adolescent mind. I was so obsessed with LA that it was the destination for…
If you live in LA than I would bet you have (more than once) found yourself in a conversation with multiple people who are going on and on about how they can’t wait to be successful/ book their dream job/ be rich. It’s always interesting to me how people define “success.” Most define it by achieving some goal decided upon in the past, like booking a lead role on a network tv show or having six figures chilin’ in their bank account. Although I am a goal driven person and do believe in setting goals for yourself – I fear…
I like to think that I am a strong person. In fact, I believe that sometimes I am too good at being strong, or at least what I’ve always previously believed strong should look like. I’ve spent a lifetime being the person all my friends come to for advice, not because I know everything but because I listen and try my best to give non-judgmental advice from the perspective of what I would do. I like to think I am pretty good at handling the rejection of the acting world. As a make-up artist, I don’t take it personally if…
I am known for my hatred of the expression, “those who can’t do, teach.” This phrase has always ruffled my feathers because it is so demeaning to those who DO teach, who have a passion for inspiring the lives of others. A great teacher can be the “ah-ha” moment in a child’s (or adult’s) life that can set a new course to greatness. They can literally save lives. To imply they are only teaching because they’ve failed to “do” what they sought out to do is a grave misjudgment of a necessary role in every human’s life. I carry these…
I read an article at the gym last week (how I manage to squeeze time in to get there each day is BEYOND me) talking about how women in their early 20s to mid 30s have the highest depression rate ever. Why? Well apparently the same perfectionist devil that sits atop both my shoulders sits upon those of my peers. The article went on to explain that women nowadays, specifically in this age range feel a need to do it all, have it all and be great at it all and it got me to thinking; how could we not…
If you’re reading this article I hope that means that you want to be apart of this crazy lifestyle AND that you’re looking to be inspired to pave a path of your own; and while I totally encourage and support your journey, there are a few things about taking complete control of your career that you should know. For example- WHEN YOU “FAIL”, YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELF TO BLAME. I put quotation marks around the word fail because I don’t really believe in the word fail. I think “failing” or whatever word you use to describe not succeeding to complete…
I often feel like I am in a battle of two versions of myself, one version of myself wants to do everything, completely immerse myself into the creative world and stretch myself so thin that only pure adrenaline gets me through and the other version of me wants to continue living my life like I have for the past 20 odd years and wait…and wait…for someone to tell me. “Ok, now it’s your turn.” It wasn’t until a few months ago that I had the wake up of a lifetime and decided to start my own web series. A complete…
Like I’ve mentioned in previous articles, being a multi-hyphenate in LA can be HARD and with the rocky terrain a lot of “i hates” can drop out of your mouth all too often in the hustle to achieve our dreams. This is why it’s all the more important that this Thanksgiving you really look at what you’re thankful for. To get you started, I’ve compiled a short but concise list of things to be grateful for this holiday season so you don’t find yourself sobbing at the Thanksgiving table wishing you were the turkey. 1) You live in LA! Moving…
As an actor, most of us think of casting directors as our enemy, the big bad wolf, the big obstacle standing in-between you and and your dream role. In reality, they are one of our biggest assets, often times fighting till the end for the actor they know is just perfect for the role, trust me, they want you to be good. Why? Because if you’re it that means they can go home. Still don’t believe me? It’s simple. Often the things (or people) we fear most are just the things we don’t understand. The casting director/actor relationship only seems…