- [Ciara] I think I surprised
every single member of my family by becoming an actor,
because I was the quietest kid you've ever met,
painfully shy.
But acting has my heart, unfortunately.
(dance music plays)
I'm Ciara Bravo, and this is On The Rise.
(dance music plays)
I found myself in the industry when I was... (laughs)
Very young, probably nine years old.
Growing up in Northern Kentucky, Cincinnati area,
I never considered acting a career option or choice.
It just never occurred to me
that that was something that you could do,
but an agent approached my mom at a county fair,
which is the most terrifying start to any story,
and she came to me and was like,
"If this is something that you want to pursue,
that you're interested in, we can do it.
If not, we can forget about it,"
and of course, I was like, "Yes." (laughs)
I wanted to see what else the world had to offer,
and once I got started, I just couldn't stop.
I started flying out for a couple of weeks at a time,
to go to do pilot seasons, to audition out here in LA,
and then I'd fly back home for summer camp and school,
and then around 18,
which is well into my career at this point,
I moved permanently, and my mom went home,
and my sister graduated from college,
and we moved in together,
and I was really lucky in that
my family was extremely supportive.
But they also never pushed it.
They made it very clear that if I stopped enjoying this,
that I didn't have to keep doing it.
That's what allowed me to really enjoy
the experience of working, that lack of pressure.
There is actual video footage of my first real audition.
It's... (laughs)
It's mortifying for me to look at.
It was for the Newport Aquarium,
and I was supposed to pretend like I was looking
at all of these sharks, and all of these fish, and oh, wow.
This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
Whoa, wow. Awesome.
I ended up booking it, so it was my first audition,
and my first real job, which is exciting.
Big Time Rush was my first breakout role.
It was my first big part.
I mean, it lasted four years. I grew up on that show,
so that was definitely the beginning for me.
Big Time Rush came to me through my agent
in an audition email,
and I put it on tape back home in Cincinnati,
and per usual, not expecting to hear anything.
So I went on a school trip up into Amish Country,
which is the big, cool trip you get to take
in sixth or seventh grade,
and when we were at this Amish family's house having dinner,
all of a sudden, a teacher comes up to me,
and they're like, "Hey, your mom's here,"
which is the worst, the last thing you want to hear
when you're on a school trip. (laughs)
Is hey, your mom's here, and she's all frantic.
She's just driven 180 miles, trying to catch this schoolbus,
and she's like, "We, we got notes.
We have to redo the tape." I was like, "Okay." (laughs)
So we went into their market,
and they were kind enough to...
Oh my God, so kind, to turn on generators for us,
so we had lights, 'cause it was nighttime by this point.
She drove to this motel down the street,
and convinced the woman working there
to send the tapes off for her,
and then I got a call from my agent
saying that I booked the part,
and I was just, like, shaking.
So after Big Time Rush,
I wanted to get more into a serious side of acting,
where I could get more into research,
and explore human nature a little bit more,
and so that's what I wanted to focus on,
and I was lucky enough to do that with Red Band Society,
and after that, I mean, I was in it deep.
Once I got the taste for research,
and building a character from the ground up,
and asking questions like,
"What exists in your character's drawers?"
You know, something that you would never see on screen,
but really makes a huge difference
in building this character,
I just wanted more and more of that,
and so I was lucky enough to move into
the indie film world a little bit,
and get a taste of that style of working,
and just slowly and steadily moving forward.
My next big role being Wayne,
which came out on Amazon recently, very close to my heart.
And then, Cherry, I feel like,
is the next rung on the ladder for me.
(soft piano music plays)
So I first heard of Cherry through an audition email,
again, right down from my agent,
and as soon as I saw the names attached, I was like,
"Oh, man. There's no way I'm getting this part.
This is so out of my league,"
but I fell head over heels in love with the size.
I was intrigued by the story.
I wanted to be a part of it in any way possible.
So I put the audition tape on tape
with my friend a couple weeks later,
really left it all on the table,
truly an unnerving tape of watch. (laughs)
And I sent it off and forgot about it,
which I always do, to protect my own sanity,
especially with a project I really like
and want to be a part of.
I...
Like, in between,
ending up passing on a screen test for another project,
that I just knew I couldn't give the part
as much love as it deserved,
and I also didn't really feel like
I was in a place in my career where I could
pass on projects, especially ones like this.
So I was terrified to say no, to say the least. (laughs)
So when I got a text from my agent a couple days later,
saying, "Hey, are you free to talk?"
I was like, "This is it. I'm gonna get dropped." (laughs)
And I was like, "Yeah. For sure, man.
Call whenever." He calls almost immediately.
He's like, "I don't know if you had some sort of intuition,
or what, but you just booked Cherry opposite Tom Holland,"
and I was left speechless.
I thought he had the wrong number,
because I hadn't heard anything about this project in weeks.
Like, nothing. Not a phone call, not a...
"Hey, you're still in the running for this,
just so you know."
Needless to say, I was shocked. (laughs)
(soft dance music plays)
The preparation process was very in depth for me.
A role like Emily is an actor's dream.
It's not often in your career that you get to play
so many different versions of the same character,
but she also goes on such a harrowing journey,
and goes to such dark places,
and dealing with something like addiction, you know?
That's a journey,
that's a battle that's so personal
to everyone who experiences it,
and I just wanted to approach it with as much respect
as I possibly could.
I think it was two or three months that I had
before we started filming.
So I got to really do my research.
I was lucky enough to have a friend connect me
with a family member
who works at a rehab facility in Cleveland,
and they were kind enough to open up their doors to me.
So I went there, and I got the chance to speak to
anyone who felt comfortable sharing their story,
and that experience was so valuable for me.
I know I wouldn't be able to do half the job that I did
on this movie without their help,
and without their generosity.
I've got a severe case of imposter syndrome,
so I still hesitate calling...
I mean, I am an actor. It is my job.
It's my career. It has been for half of my life now.
But I still feel like a phony
every time I call myself an actor.
I feel like it wasn't until I decided not to go to college,
and pursue this full time.
That's when I thought, "Okay. I'm an actor.
This is a lifelong decision."
I've been asked this question of
what my next dream role would be a lot lately,
and I do not have a good answer.
I want to be working with people
that are excited about the project.
I want to be on a project with a specific point of view.
I'm a big fan of complex characters,
so hopefully I get another character
that I can really dig into,
and try to understand the psyche of.
I think myself,
and probably every other young woman in Hollywood,
my dream would be to work with Greta Gerwig.
I think she's just so special, and incredibly talented,
and she also just seems like a cool person.
You know, it's funny. I never fantasized about my career.
I fantasize about my personal life,
'cause I am very happy in my career.
So I just hope to still be doing projects
that I'm proud of, and working with people that I like,
hopefully love, and I get to buy a house,
and you know, live a little bit out of the city,
and have dogs and chickens,
and hopefully enough space for a cow.
(laughs)
That's my dream.
(soft jazz music plays)