Grasie Mercedes’ Advice For Aspiring Actors & Filmmakers
“We need to tell more diverse stories.”
Grasie Mercedes is an actor, writer, and director. We recently sat down with her to discuss her career journey in depth, and gain her insight on a variety of topics that pertain to her industry. Read on for a deep dive into the mind of this inspiring creative.
We’d love to learn more about your career journey.
I've had a million jobs in my life and I do tend to keep them kind of segmented. I don't really talk about my acting when I'm not with my acting friends and I don't really talk about blogging stuff unless I'm with bloggers. I've always kind of been that way. Acting is something I've always wanted to do my whole entire life, but I think as a first-generation Latina — my family is from the Dominican Republic, [I was the] first one to go to college in my family — I felt this like immense pressure to have a “real job.” And I never got that from my mom. My mom's always been super supportive in whatever I want to do. But there was this thing inside me was like, both my parents work in finance, I have to work in finance. So I went to NYU. I luckily didn't get into the business school, but I got into the College of Arts and Sciences, did liberal arts for two years, and then I decided I was going to do journalism. So in that two years, I realized business wasn't for me. I thought I wanted to be like a reporter, like a news reporter, anchor kind of person. And I think internally that was like, oh, I could be on camera, but still have like a real job or like some kind of stable job.
I graduated and went on to ABC News and within six months I was like, I do not want to work in news. This is depressing and sad and I can't do this for my whole life. So that kind of is a perfect example of how I throughout my life have just popped in and out of careers to see what fit for me, you know? So from there I went to MTV and I worked as a producer. I started as a PA. Back then, MTV was like the channel. This is like TRL days and you could move up really quickly if you just worked your butt off and wanted to be there. We were all young. We were all in our twenties and thirties and so I kind of hustled and kind of went up the ranks pretty quickly and became a producer. And then again, I hit this crossroads where I was like, this is not what I want to do. I want to act, what am I doing? Why am I fooling myself? So at 26, I decided to kind of quit everything and to move to Los Angeles — partly because, you know, if you want to act, you’ve got to be in New York or L.A. But I was born raised in New York and then I went to school in New York. So it's like, let me get out of New York. Let me really start anew.
[I] moved out here and I think partly because I didn't go away for college, I just lived that life. I was just like partying. I was waiting tables for money, I was doing commercials, I was just like, let's do this. I did that for about three years. And I was like, OK, I'm about to be 30, what am I doing with my life? So it was when I turned 30 that I actually took it all seriously. I was like, I’ve got to get into acting classes, I’ve really got to do this if I'm going to do this. I was also working as a host; It was the time when online hosting was a thing and being a style expert was a thing and [I was] styling on the side. I had like all these side jobs, these all these side hustles.
So the hosting thing started to hit a little bit and I started doing these style segments for the Style network — which doesn't exist anymore — and for E! and all this stuff. I got super into that world and again, the acting started going on the back burner and I was becoming this style expert. And then I got into blogging just as a way to supplement or actually support the fact that I was a style expert. I had no idea about bloggers “OOTDs” — I didn't know about any of that stuff. And then I started discovering these bloggers and I was like, oh, I should do that. And it's when I started taking pictures of myself that I started getting a following. I would say I was a full-time blogger for like eight years. It was a long time. Most of my thirties I was a blogger.
That's such a gift that blogging came naturally to you. You stumbled upon a really successful, profitable additional path.
Yes. And as an actor, it was the best thing ever because so many actors quit acting because they don't want to wait tables, because that's how you have to supplement your income until you become a working actor — which is a really hard thing to do. But now I had this thing where I didn't have to wait tables anymore. I could work from home and make my own money and have my own business. It was really a blessing. I mean, I eventually kind of got sick of it, but it was really a blessing to have. It was like right place, right time kind of thing. I got in and I kind of got out. I mean, I still do it sometimes, but it's nowhere near the level of commitment that I used to have to being a blogger.
And then cut to late thirties. Again, I started to feel like once again, my acting is on the back burner because I'm doing this other thing. And so I decided, I'm going to work in entertainment no matter what. I've always loved writing as well, but I never thought I was a writer. And so around like 38-ish, I just started writing short films and partnering with people and writing things — and cut to I’m about to be 43, lord help me! And now I'm a full-time working actress, working writer, part-time/sometimes blogger and influencer. And that's what I do. I worked on a show for NBC last year — actually it was 2019 because in 2020 nothing happened. And then I'm in the process of developing a TV show that I created — and that I would be starring in — with a production company right now. And at the same time I'm like writing and directing short films all the time. So that’s everything!
All of those roads led you to what you were originally passionate about. What is your opinion about the influencer world today?
Right now it feels so formulaic. I feel like, you do A and B and you get C, whereas because we were all new to it and we were all so different, like every girl had their different vibe and their different style and their different this. Everyone's Instagram looked different. I feel like now it's — look, I’m not going to hate on influencers because some of them are still really good friends of mine and they're hustlers and they're making so much money. I mean, I know they're making so much money because at the height of it for me, I was making so much money. And you sometimes are like, how am I making this much money for doing this thing? And so I applaud them. Hustle, girl, hustle. But for me it just wasn't satisfying anymore.
Today, I'll still collaborate with brands, but it’s way fewer and further between. I can't be obsessive anymore about engagement and likes and comments because all that stuff makes me crazy, and I am kind of a perfectionist. I do want to be the best at everything, I do. And so there was a certain point where I had to be like, I'm not going to be the best blogger. I'm not going to have a million followers. I'm not going to even have one hundred thousand followers. I need to just focus on the things I really want to do and slowly remove myself from this and back away from it. And that's kind of where I'm at with that. But yeah, more power to them!
That’s definitely a healthy mindset, that you put a boundary in front of that and you're just like, I'm not going to get lost in this process because it is a game. We have mutual friends that candidly tell me the blogging game is an anxiety-inducing rat race.
I also felt like the women doing it my age are now in a different chapter where they're having kids and it's more about being a mom. And right now I don't want to have kids. And I went through that kind of fertility journey — I was very open and honest about it on my website and Instagram and stuff. And at a certain point I was just like, oh, I don't really want this. And it also felt like, well then what are you going to talk about on Instagram and what are you going to be like? This weird thing like this is what people who follow influencers want right now, and I can't give that to them. I'm going to talk about what I'm doing right now, which is acting, writing, and stuff that they probably don't care as much about. But I have some great followers that are still there and like to see the evolution. But I've definitely lost a ton of followers and engagement because I don't do that stuff anymore.
I'm curious because we have members who will watch this and are interested in breaking into the industry. And I definitely have heard from veteran actor friends that are just like, it's an oversaturated industry at this point.
I mean, it's definitely the best time ever for people of color, I would say. I think for Black people, people of color, I think Hollywood is finally coming around to the fact that we need more diversity. We need to tell more diverse stories. But what I always tell anyone who wants to be an actor, an actor more than anything — I mean, I think you can also apply it to writing and directing — is that being an actor is so hard! To be a working actor where you actually can make a living from it, it is very hard and it takes a very long time. So you need to decide: Do I love this so much that I'm willing to take 10, 15, maybe even 20 years devoting my life to this, not knowing whether or not I'm ever going to be a working actor or a famous actor or whatever the case may be? If the answer is no, go do something else. If the answer is yes, if you just love acting and there's no plan B, go for it. I think a lot of times people say they want to be an actor, but then they're not in acting class or they'll take one class and they're like, “Well, I took this class, so I’m ready.” Does a musician just take one lesson and say, okay I'm a drummer now or a pianist now? You have to put in those ten thousand hours. You have to be in it.
I think unfortunately a lot of people who say they want to be actors really just want to be famous, and then they end up being YouTube stars or TikTok stars or whatever the other star they want to be. But I think if you really love it and you really think you can't live without it, just fucking do it. Get into classes, find other artists to make stuff with. People today literally have no excuse not to make their own stuff because we all have iPhones. So we all have some kind of smartphone that has some kind of camera and we can all download an editing app for 99 cents. There are just so many ways to get yourself out there and put the work out there.
One lesson I learned is, don't obsess. I think we can get obsessive about representation and not having an agent or a manager. And I definitely have been there and sometimes that would cause me to end up being with a bad agent or a bad manager that I knew wasn't great. But I was like, well, it's better to have someone than no one. I would argue it's better to have no one than someone you don't really like or someone who you don't feel is really in your corner or someone who don't feel is really like fighting for you. And I just got that. Like I said, I've been pursuing acting for almost 12 years. I just got my dream representation in 2019. So after 10 years of doing this, I finally have like an incredible team at an incredible agency, an incredible manager. But it took 10 years. It took 10 years of having people who were you know — some of them were great but just smaller. And if you're a smaller manager or agent, it's harder to to have developmental talent, the newer people, because you can't get them in the room because you just don't have that power. And so that's why I just tell people “Make stuff and put it online and put it on Instagram.” And that dream agency will come to you, which is what happened to me.
Have you ever struggled with being assertive and decisive, or in a position of power, as a female director?
Something I learned early on, actually at MTV as a PR, but then definitely as a producer, MTV was notorious for not having a lot of money. We didn't have a lot of time. So you would find out we had to put a show on air in three weeks. And so it was like, go, go, go, go, go. And I'm so grateful for my time there because I really did learn amazing producing skills. And a lot of my mentors were women, a lot of women were empowering. A lot of people of color were in power. They were kind of ahead of their time back in the day. So because of that, I had that in me. And I feel like I'm good at telling people what to do, but in a nice way, not in an asshole way. I'm very like, let's go, let's go, let's go. But also I'll praise you. And I thank you and I say please. And I let people do their job. And so for the for the three short films I've done, I also surround myself with amazing people like people who I know are really talented. I have these amazing two female producers I work with all the time. I have a female DP I love and work with all the time. I have my friend Matt, who does a lot of the newer stuff I've done. We were kind of like a producing team where we both can produce and we both can act and we both can write and we both can direct. So we can just make everything, just the two of us. And so really, yeah, I've never had that issue because I surround myself with good people, and I think I'm good at asserting myself without being a dick about it.
Tell us more about your latest projects and what it’s been like producing in a Covid world.
Well, it's interesting. I have this idea for a TV show kind of loosely based on my life for about six years now. It wasn't until quarantine where I figured out how to actually make it into a TV show. And I pitched it to my manager and she loved it. I wrote a pitch document, pitched the show, and I had a meeting with seven production companies who were interested in it and decided to go with one. Now we're developing it. We're going to pitch it to a network in about a month or two, and then hopefully they say yes.
It's funny, it was what was going on in the world during quarantine in 2020 between the Black Lives Matter protest and Covid that kind of helped me tell my story more, if that makes sense. It's called Blacktina and it's based on my life as an Afro Latina and like feeling like I'm never Black enough, I'm never Latina enough. I'm definitely not white. Like where do I fit and how I always kind of felt like I didn't fit in anywhere. And so with the Black Lives Matter stuff, that stuff started bubbling up again for me. And then I just put it into my writing and that really helped. And also watching shows like I May Destroy You and seeing someone like Michaela Coel just be so brutally honest and vulnerable in her life story. I was like, I can't be afraid to tell my story and be super honest about the good parts and the bad parts, the ugly parts, and the pretty parts.
There's the blessing in this reflective time: that you have the time to actually drill down and look at what you want to create and put out in the world.
I've also been in therapy for three years and it's really been helpful to explore my identity and my childhood and all this stuff. And, you know, if anyone wants to be a writer, the first thing I would say is like write what you know. It doesn't have to be about you, but write whatever you feel comfortable with that you know a lot about. I also think my acting and writing have gotten better because I am older and I lived these like this life of so many different things where it gives you this experience and worldview. I definitely wouldn’t be as good of an actor or writer when I was 20 and didn’t really do much.
We're getting to know ourselves more. What you said I resonate with so much because I'm in therapy — it's just now part of my life. And just meeting your inner child again, nurturing it. It's been incredible.
And it's so important now more than ever for women, Black people, and people of color, and to start being unapologetic about who you are and tell your story because we need your stories and whether that means writing or acting or directing, starting a nonprofit or whatever it is. We need your voice!
Before I let you go, are you a director for hire?
Directing is the newest thing I'm into. I’ve only done short films thus far. I am definitely for hire to direct someone's short film, but I don't think I would be ready for a feature yet. My next step for directing is to try — unfortunately, I can't do it right now because of Covid, they're limiting who can be on set for things — but usually as an aspiring director you would shadow a working director. So once things are back to normal and there can be multiple people on set, my next step for that would be to shadow a working director in either television or film.
My advice for directing is find other people who want to do this; find a writer and direct their film, and start small. Start with a three minute, five minute piece and then work your way up!
Follow Grasie’s adventures at @grasiemercedes.
Feb 11, 2021
As told to Natalie Alcala and edited by Ashley Tibbits