ABOUT
Hello, I hope you're safe and well during this time, thank you for visiting my page. My name is Alexandra Almendarez and I’m an actress, singer, and salsa dancer based in Los Angeles. I’m represented across the board by Sapphire Entertainment Management (LA/NY) and JVC Talent Agency (LA).
My passion for performing began very early on at the age of nine, when I joined the school choir in elementary school. From then on, I continued on the path of music and theater. Those early choir concerts, plays, and monologue competitions were really the foundation of my performance career. I always enjoyed school and excelled in English and Writing, but I’ve always known that performing is my true purpose. My journey has been wonderful, but it wasn’t always linear.
I worked hard in high school, and in addition to the high school workload I also had to start working when I was 17, working a minimum of 20 hours a week. Despite the workload, I graduated in the top five percent of my class, maintained a high GPA while juggling AP classes, a lead role in a play, choir solos, competitions, speech and debate club, and student directing. I graduated high school with the intention of studying music in college and was accepted into several UCs and CSUs. In my freshman year in college, I enjoyed pursuing music but decided to change my major to Business Administration, wanting to explore something different and unfamiliar, learn a new skill, and really challenge myself.
I graduated from Cal State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entertainment and Hospitality Management. This was a very pivotal moment – studying business really showed me that it’s just as important as the artistic side in Hollywood. It’s important to be business savvy, to know how things work, and after graduating I felt like I had new armor, new motivation, and new knowledge that I could use. While in college, I was also the winner of a large scholarship awarded by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund for my essays on my Hispanic heritage, which helped me to recognize my impact on the industry as a whole.
After having many different jobs during my college years, from working behind the scenes of a PR company for the Emmy’s and Oscars, being a manager in food service, helping produce showcases for international performance groups, and tutoring math and reading, I decided to go back full-time to being a performer in 2017. I learned so much from all of those different jobs and my degree, and I was truly grateful for those experiences. And because of all that, I realized that it wasn’t the path for me, and that I belonged in front of the camera and onstage. That was when I booked a role in the show Dreamgirls at the Cupcake Theater in North Hollywood, and I never looked back. What was also really valuable was my time in the Citrus Singers at Citrus College, where I was Student Director, Section Leader and a Lead Soloist on our tours in Germany, the Czech Republic and China; in that program, I was also able to study Vocal Performance, Theater, and Dance with many incredible educators such as Douglas Austin and Martin Green.
After booking Dreamgirls, I dove straight into acting for television and film at the Annie Grindlay Studio (LA) with Jo-Ann Pantoja, my mentor. I also take scene study with the wonderful James Ciccone at Actors Axiom (NYC) and continue to take classes for commercial audition technique and voiceover. I’m also a professional singer and teach when I can as a vocal coach (styles include musical theater, classical, jazz, Latin jazz, pop and rock); in addition, I’m a Latin dancer, specifically salsa and mambo dance, and have danced on several dance teams and have been featured as a dancer in music videos.
Some of my credits include National bookings for Uber and Starbucks, booking as a model on “The Real Day Time Talk Show” on FOX, modeling an outfit inspired by Jennifer Lopez; booking as the Lead Dancer in the music video for the Grammy-nominated Mariachi Sol de Mexico for their track, “Por Una Cabeza,” and several short films, feature films, and web series. I’ve also written, cast, produced and starred in my own projects, which have really helped me appreciate what goes on behind the camera. Additional credits include session singing for the Grammy Award-winning Melissa Manchester on her track, “You Gotta Love the Life,” Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), Rosalía (West Side Story), Crystal (Little Shop of Horrors), and Sweetheart (Dreamgirls).
Despite the pandemic, this past summer I was in New York City for final callbacks for the national tour of a new musical, and just recently booked a recurring role on an animated series that’s on YouTube, Spotify and Netflix. I’m so thankful to continue my journey as a performer and to help inspire others. My true mission in life is to help people find and follow their purpose, so any time I can, I make sure to help others. I’ve had so many people help me on my journey and it’s always important to pay it forward. And as a Latina and Native American woman, representation is so important to me. We are gaining momentum, and my goal is that when people see me on the big screen, they will be inspired and know that they can do it too. We are unstoppable. And we have stories to tell. I’m just thankful that I can be an inspiration and empower others.
Thanks for reading till the end, feel free to check out the rest of my site!
Best,
Alexandra