Student/Professional Actor Rafael Lozano on OGAC & his acting career

Hi, I’ve never written a vlog… so here it goes. I can’t remember exactly why I wanted to start acting but I seem to recall around what age, 14, I remember watching so much content on tv and absorbing everything like a sponge eventually thinking “Wow it would be amazing to be part of a show or movie that everyone thinks is amazing”. I suppose my drive to become a well-known actor drove my passion for acting but as I got older I began to notice more depth to acting aside from the money and fame. I began to notice the ability to become, the ability to feel, the ability to create. There are so many layers to acting, which is why often you will hear acting coaches talking about onions, and once you pull off an amazing performance you feel like you’ve created something wonderful.

The day I decided to begin acting is the day I took a step forward in my life and I started living. I know that is a bold statement to make but if I was more humble then I would be lying. Acting is an adventure, you always find something new in every script, on every set, and within the people that you meet along the way; Every character you play is another life lived. Crystal and OGAC were my first steps into the entertainment and acting industry; I remember overthinking everything up until the point I took my first steps into the studio and even while sitting down waiting for my turn to perform my scene.

My first performance with Crystal was confusing, I wasn’t sure if I was evoking a skillful or poor performance, heck I would go as far as say I don’t know what I was doing. Before enrolling with Crystal my idea of coaching was that only great actors are the people that receive professional training and you can only become great by working on your craft by yourself and being lucky enough to be discovered. Before starting my formal acting classes, I always assumed that just because I wanted to become an actor badly it would happen, I know what you are thinking, such a naive kid, and yes I was very naive and just a wee little tike.

To say I learned a lot through Crystal and OGAC is an understatement. I have learned treasure troves of information and skills and even though I have branched out to learn from other acting coaches and network with other industry professionals OGAC was the lighter to my match and now I am burning brightly.

Arriving into class and observing other actors who had been acting for far longer than I was nerve-racking but I remember telling myself "I can do this" "Do I want this that bad? Yes I do". Eventually, as Crystal's coaching began to sink in I started to realize the depth of acting. "How do you feel?" is a common question that coaches ask ALL the time, but there is a reason for that. If you can easily describe how you feel then it shows your understanding of the character you are playing and what is transpiring in the scene. Crystal has a knack for understanding scripts and developing a before and after by using script analysis to her benefit. I took a 6-week script analysis course with Crystal back in 2019 and soon after I began to see information within the script that I never saw prior, it was truly a level up for me. Dissecting why a character plays a certain way or why the breakdown describes a character a particular way and how it correlates to what is occurring in the scene has never felt so natural and fun. One piece of advice that I have held on to is "the fundamentals are the most important". I implore that all actors new and experienced practice these fundamentals because they make radical differences to any performance.

Most importantly, I am grateful to have Crystal as a source of contact whenever I require assistance with a scene or just need a reader for a last-minute audition. Crystal keeps me on my toes by giving me helpful redirects that help me create great choices that give life to all my characters and scenes. If you are looking for a Houston-based coach I recommend checking out OGAC and seeing how it fits. Remember that not all people and coaches are right for each other but experimenting and getting out there is the key to learning and obtaining all sorts of acting knowledge.