Producer, Journalist, and Aspiring Actress Angie Castillo in Atlanta

This month, we shine the spotlight on Angie Castillo, an Emmy-nominated documentary producer, journalist, and aspiring actress. Angie was born in Colombia and moved to Miami, Florida, with her parents when she was 12 years old. Her involvement in dance, school plays, and community theater during her childhood ignited her passion for acting.

Producer, Journalist, and Aspiring Actress Angie Castillo

Angie received her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Florida International
University. Following graduation, she worked for the Miami Heat in the Media
Production Department where her team was nominated for an Emmy for their work on
“The Crown” documentary. “The Crown” is a full-length documentary about the Heat’s 2011-2012 championship season narrated by Heat legend and champion Alonzo Mourning and spotlights Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and all of the team’s key players.

She moved from Miami to Atlanta eight years ago to work for CNN as a freelancer. In 2017, she started missing her creative outlet of dance and theatre. As she watched the film and TV industry boom in Georgia, she saw endless opportunities for her to be able to get back to focusing on her love of acting. After researching and watching YouTube videos on what it takes to be a professional actress, she enrolled in The Company Acting Studio in Atlanta to fine-tune her acting skills.

“I love journalism and working for CNN, but I don’t want to do news all of my life. The hours are long, and the work is hectic. I love it, but I want to be able to be more creative and have more freedom with the things that I do and how I use my skills. Film producing is what I see myself doing in the near future.”  – Angie Castillo

In 2019, Angie saw an Instagram post on the Latino Filmmakers Network’s page where they were casting for the first New Normal Reading Series in Atlanta. The New Normal Reading Series is an event that was started in 2018 by Broken Barriers Productions and Latino Filmmakers Network in Los Angeles. The events highlight and give opportunities to writers of color, and unrepresented voices in the TV and film industry. The series highlights 10 pages of script from the selected writers and the scripts are read by actors at the event allowing both the writers and the actors to display their artistic talents. Angie submitted an entry and was selected to be one of the actors for the Atlanta event. The Atlanta event was a huge success and maxed out the capacity for the event space.

At the time, Maylen Calienes (founder of the Latino Filmmakers Network) was looking for someone to take on the responsibility of casting the actors and choosing the scripts for the Latino team for the reading series in Atlanta. So, Angie volunteered to take on the role and joined actor and writer Ja Shamsi who produces the events and is responsible for getting all the teams together. They send out promotions on social media seeking film and tv scripts from writers of color for the reading series and have had two successful events this year. They look forward to obtaining sponsors to be able to hold monthly meetings and get film executives and television networks in attendance to give the writers and actors maximum exposure to potential job opportunities.

Producer, Journalist, and Aspiring Actress Angie Castillo in Atlanta

Georgia Latino Film Festival

Angie is in discussions with the Georgia Latino Film Festival on collaboration opportunities to coincide with their festival in October. The Georgia Latino Film Festival is one of the most diverse film festivals in the country, welcoming an audience of nearly 1,500 independent actors, producers, and directors and holding more than 30 screenings of various types of film.

Angie has two projects she is working on at the moment and is looking for funding for completion. She is co-producing a short film called “Abuelita” about a Puerto Rican woman who is facing her darkest fears in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The other short film is called “The Box” about a personal experience she had when applying for US citizenship and having to check a box for her race only to find her race wasn’t one of the options.

“It is important to me that my voice along with other Latino voices are represented and we are telling our own stories. Stories that have not been filtered by someone who didn’t experience them firsthand.” – Angie Castillo

Be sure to check out Angie’s feature film “In the Moment” which is available on Amazon Prime.

Get social with Angie Castillo!

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article written by Autumn Murray. This article originally appeared in the Georgia Hollywood Review.