Rising Star Caden Conrique On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Karina Michel Feld

I try to keep my social media platforms fun and entertaining. I like to share my life but keep some stuff for myself. I tend to be more serious than I actually am in real life. I think that staying focused on the good and staying out of any drama keeps my page clean and positive.

As a part of my series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Caden Conrique.

Caden Conrique Born in Northern California, Caden grew up on a horse ranch before moving to LA in 2015 to pursue his acting career. His big break came when he landed the recurring role of Tim Sharp on the Viral Hit BRAT show CHICKEN GIRLS. Since the show launched on YouTube in 2017 the network has seen over 1 Billion views between the TV show and the movie CHICKEN GIRLS: THE MOVIE. Caden also traveled the country as part of the BOYS OF SUMMER tour. He can be seen in the television documentary THE EXORCISM OF ROLAND DOE as well as commercials for Volkswagen, Nerf, and Mattel. A social media Influencer and content creator, Caden has millions of followers and is verified on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as well as tens of thousands of followers on Twitter and Snapchat. When he is not creating daily content, Caden stays well rounded by continuing his acting studies as well as dance and vocal training. A typical teen, he enjoys riding quads, playing video games, snowboarding, and skateboarding.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was born in Gilroy, a small town in Northern California. My parents had a ranch that we boarding facility with about 130 horses. We hosted horse shows, roping’s, barrel races and 4H shows. It is where I learned how to ride dirt bikes and quads. Living in the country allowed me to have lots of animals including cows, pigs, dogs and cats. Eventually we moved to the Sacramento area, always on property. As I got older I learned how to drive heavy equipment, not always successful :) Sinking the tractor in a mud pit or taking out a tire on the trailer with the forks on the skid steer. My sister and I would build forts in the trees and holes in the ground to make bunkers where the deer would sleep at night. We had a river that ran thru the back of our place where we would swim during the summer and my dad made a track for us and our friends to ride our quads and dirt bikes on. It was a great way to grown up and have the space to be a kid.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

My sister Dylan Conrique and I were both on a competitive Hip Hop team that traveled and showcased and competed. My sister was also in a singing group that traveled and performed at different venues. Being around that made me want to be in the entertainment business. Not sure at the time how that would actually happen though. Around 2005 I got an opportunity to act and compete in front of agents and managers in Los Angeles, CA. That opened the possibility of this becoming reality. After talking and meeting with several different Agents and Managers I secured one of each and it started. Moved Los Angeles to test the waters to be sure this is what I wanted to do. Once getting to LA and the auditions started I knew this is what I wanted to do.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your entertainment career?

I had booked some commercials and short films initially. Then the opportunity came to film a YouTube series. I was cast for a part on a show that was set to start filming in a couple weeks. A call came in from the owner of the company, BRAT saying they had one of their lead’s in another show not be available and they wanted me to become Tim Sharp for the hit show Chicken Girls. This was the most fun as I got to work with my best friend, Hayden Summerall and my sister was cast as my cousin on the show. I made a ton of other friends and we had a great time filming.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

At one of my auditions, I was asked how old I was. I said that I was 16 and the casting agent told me that I was not 16. I was confused but had just had my birthday the day before so I was actually 17. It was funny and a little embarrassing. Lesson learned is know your facts walking in the door and don’t let nerves get to you. Only one chance to make a first impression.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Who do you think that might help people?

I just booked a student film that hopefully will go to market and auditioning when I have the opportunity.

Chicken Girls was probably the most fun shoot. The cast became so close both on and off screen. Most interesting so far was probably the Exorcism of Roland Doe Documentary that just released as it was a true story. I played Roland Doe and had to portray what he was feeling and going through. The set was known to be haunted and was so eerie so it helped get into character and imagine what he had gone thru.

Most young people your age don’t have to balance work and school. Can you tell us how you manage to balance your schoolwork, auditions, and time on set?

I was home schooled with a program that allowed me to work ahead. While on set you are required to do school work for a certain amount of hours per day so there is time. Sometimes you would be working on homework and called out to film a scene so it would be hard to get focused again. I would just make sure that when I had extra time I would continue working until I hit the maximum amount of assignments allowed for the week. This allowed me to graduate early, becoming legal 18 before actually turning 18. It just means that you have graduated and no longer need to do school work while on set.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My entire family have made this possible. My parents gave up everything for both my sister and I to follow our dreams. We left a new home on 10 acres to move to LA to a apartment with a balcony. My sister, Dylan pushes me to be a better actor. She reads lines with me and helps with my self-taped auditions. My sister, Taylor helps keep me in line and encourages me when I need it. Without them none of this would even have been possible. When we were making the decision to make the move, we asked our parents “what if we go out there and try and never make it and you have spent all that money?” my mom’s answer was “would it be worse going and giving it your best shot at becoming successful than wishing you had and never knowing?”

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s jump to the main part of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

• The first thing that would have helped prepare me for being here that I wish I was told would be that your not going to book everything. You can go on literally hundreds of auditions and get nothing, no feedback, no callback no booking. It becomes frustrating and makes you insecure about your ability but you got to just keep growing and working on the craft to become better.
• Second would be to relax. Before Covid you would go to a audition and there could be dozens of others auditioning for the same part. It becomes a little intimidating but you have to relax and go in with your best audition.
• Third would be if you don’t book it you just don’t. You leave the audition knowing you did your best and you leave it behind and move onto the next one. There are so many decision that go into who gets the part, its so much bigger than you are.
• Fourth thing would be to stay motivated. This is a hard one especially during Covid. Being cooped up, not able to go anywhere, auditions were few and far between when filming halted and you knew the net was far and wide with only self tapes. But you got to keep moving forward and trying your best to succeed.
• And the Fifth thing is that you have to keep working on the craft. Never stop getting better.

You are a person of enormous influence. How do you think you can use social media as a platform to be a positive influence to your fans, and for society at large?

I try to keep my social media platforms fun and entertaining. I like to share my life but keep some stuff for myself. I tend to be more serious than I actually am in real life. I think that staying focused on the good and staying out of any drama keeps my page clean and positive.

If you had the ability to choose to work on any TV show or film, or work alongside any co-star, or with any director, what or who would that be, and why? You never know who might see this article, especially if we tag them. :-)

I would really love to work with Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. I love the types of films they are in and they are so open to most types of characters. They also seem to love what they do. I want that. I would love to book a dramatic tv series or a Netflix show.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Caden Conrique Instagram VERIFIED (1.2M followers) // Caden Conrique Tik Tok VERIFIED (1.4M followers) // Caden Conrique YouTube VERIFIED (140k followers/3.5M Views) // Caden Conrique Snapchat VERIFIED (123k followers) // Caden Conrique Twitter (40k followers) //Caden Conrique IMDb

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!