Valentina Silva
Non-Union Actor.Singer.Dancer
Currently Based in St. Louis, MO w/ access to local housing in Houston, TX, and Indianapolis, IN
A PERFORMER
I have been performing for as long as I can remember - my family's library of home videos is literally just footage of me singing and hamming it up for the camera. As I've learned and grown, I've found that what really entices me about performance is storytelling, and the ability we humans have to explore and analyze our own experience, be it through words, dance, movement, or music. As of late, I've been fascinated with the exploration of relationships and how we connect to the people we encounter in our lives. I still have a lot to learn, but right now, this is the curiosity that keeps me coming back to the stage.
A PROUD COLOMBIAN-AMERICAN
My parents came to this country from Bogota in the 1990s, their hearts set on living the American Dream. I grew up learning two languages - two cultures - walking the fine line between fitting into the world around me and remembering where I came from. As such, I have a profound respect for immigrant stories, specifically stories of Latine families working through generational trauma as they, too, struggle to assimilate.
GRADUATING IN A PANDEMIC
When the pandemic first hit in March of 2020, I was a junior in college gearing up for my first big role in a musical at school - the collegiate premiere of Miss You Like Hell. This was only the first of many untied loose ends of the year to come. Despite faculty's best efforts to provide us some semblance of normalcy, when senior year rolled around, it was clear things were anything but. I learned the art of self-tapes and acting on ZOOM, our senior showcase was an online event, and instead of a graduation ceremony, my family watched proudly from their couch as my name scrolled across the screen of their laptop computer.
I could have chosen to wallow in the disappointment of the 'special moments' the pandemic claimed, and I did for awhile, actually. But eventually I learned that the best way to move forward was to choose gratitude and embrace the opportunities I did have available to me. In May of 2021, I received my BFA in Musical Theatre from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. I participated in virtual readings of plays by Latine playwrights, invested time into new passions, and started submitting every self-tape I possibly could to theatres across the country.
The last few months of 2021 have already presented so many new opportunities, and I am so ready to continue pursuing my passions and see what this beautiful, scary, exciting, unpredictable world has in store for me next.
silva.valentina1@gmail.com | Tel: 954.778.3512
© 2021 by Valentina Silva.
Web design by Lauren Jurgemeyer.
Photos by Jeannie Liautaud Photography, LLC