Rising Star Heath V Salazar On What It Takes To Shine In The Entertainment Industry
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
Don’t be afraid of asking for mentorship. You’re never alone because there’s an entire legacy of people fighting alongside you and even more who have come before you. Learn financial planning. Art and industry are two different things even though they interact. It’s working. Even when you don’t see the effects, it’s working!
As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Heath V. Salazar.
Heath V. Salazar is an award-winning Latinx multidisciplinary performer and writer. Having transitioned over the course of their career, Heath has been named a ‘prolific trans artist’ by CBC Arts and has developed their career with a focus on projects that center intersectional forms of queer and trans representation across all disciplines. They utilize the arts to make potent social change because they recognize and value the arts’ ability to transcend language, borders, and class systems. A graduate of Randolph College for the Performing Arts, Heath began their career in the world of theatre and, in 2016, received a Dora Award alongside their cast in Chasse-Galerie for Best Ensemble in the Independent Theatre Division and, in 2018, NOW Magazine named them one of the Breakthrough Toronto Stage Artists of the year.
On-screen, Heath starred as Silas in the short film They/Them which premiered at the 2021 Inside Out Film Festival, was awarded Best Short Film at the LGBTQ+ Toronto Film Festival and was selected for the Best Acting Award by the Trans Pride Brighton Annual Film Festival. They’re also featured as Drew in Say Uncle which recently had its debut at the Provincetown Film Festival. In addition to acting in film and television, Heath also independently created their short film Pink which features original poetry and sound design, and which had its public debut at the Toronto Indie Night short film festival. Coming up next, Heath will have an exciting new prominent role as a recurring character on the award-winning and highly acclaimed television series Sort Of.
Heath is an active member of their film union via ACTRA Toronto’s queer committee OutACTRAto — they participated in the Queer Your Stories PSA and were also a co-organizer their 2021 virtual Pride event The Rainbow Zoom. In the fall of 2021, Heath was proud to work as a consultant for ACTRA Toronto as they collaborated to re-name the ACTRA Award categories to make them more inclusive for gender non-conforming and non-binary actors. One of their biggest honours to date has been their nomination for LGBTQ Person of the Year from the 2019 Inspire Awards. For them, it’s a reminder of their community and the faces whose legacies and futures they seek to honour through their work.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario to a Colombian family. The way I’d describe it is that Sudbury’s big enough to be a city but small enough to feel like a town. It’s also for sure a snowsuit over your Halloween costume kind of place. I grew up as a competitive swimmer but used to beg my parents to let me dance. I finally got the chance to start dancing when I was 11 years old, and it brought me so much joy.
My parents always said that outside of our house was Canada, but inside our house was Colombia. They taught me my culture through food, and art, and the values they instilled in me. I bonded with my family over dancing in the living room to old rancheras and calling grandparents with calling cards.
Sudbury’s a mining town and is lush with wildlife, so I spent my early teens volunteering at our science center, Science North, helping to care for animals that primarily wouldn’t have been able to survive in the wild on their own. I loved it there because I got to work with everything from snakes to a hawk, to a porcupine and I even got to do flying squirrel demonstrations. We also took care of mice and rats that would eventually be used for food for our animals, and typically all the employees would have to take turns putting them down. However, after my bosses saw my face when they taught me the process of doing so, it was decided that I wouldn’t be allowed to take on that role because they were afraid that I would let the mice escape so that they could survive. I was very relieved when they told me their decision. My parents, who’d spent many a camping trip fishing only to find me returning their catch back into whatever lake we were on that day, would’ve told my bosses that they made the right decision.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
When I was fifteen, my mother enrolled me in a two-week musical theatre program. I for some reason thought that I’d be able to get through it without singing for the entire two weeks which is why I agreed to go, but my plan was foiled within the first day. Our instructor for those two weeks was David Gale who’s actually, currently, the first openly gay President of ACTRA Toronto. It really boggles me to think back on that. But he made us sing solos our first day and, though I felt terror through every inch of my body, that program altered the course of my life. That year, I became involved with one of our local community theatres, Theatre Cambrian. I did my first musical with them and that’s where I learned that it was possible to study musical theatre as a profession. The show in question was All Shook Up, which was family-friendly, but my dad saw me kiss a boy on stage and banned me from doing any more musicals. Much to his demise, I aggressively pursued auditioning for Randolph College for the Performing Arts and was accepted into their Musical Theatre Program. I moved to Toronto straight out of high school and, upon graduation, began auditioning across genders in both theatre and film.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I’d say that one of the most pivotal moments that’s happened to me since starting my career was the day one of my teachers encouraged me to write. As part of our Voice and Text classes in college, we needed to write journals documenting each class that were then turned in at the end of the semester. I was going through a particularly difficult time after losing a friend and we were in the midst of exploring the 5 stages of grief. Needless to say I wasn’t in the best headspace for class. My journals were, to put it mildly, off the wall. I recall hoping that she just wouldn’t read them, but I was also running so thin that I couldn’t lie in them either.
At the end of the semester during our final interviews, I thought I was going to be kicked out of my program for critiquing the class. The interview went well, and I thought I got away with it, till as I got up to leave, she remarked ‘Oh wait! Your journals!’. I thought I was done for. But she was so enthusiastic about them. She told me that after reading them, she understood my brain in a new way and encouraged me to pursue writing in addition to the disciplines I was already studying. I honestly can’t thank her enough for extending me that generosity.
I always wrote privately but never showed it to anyone. Because of her, I began to take my writing more seriously and now I not only have a career as a writer, but writing is what helped me find my voice as an artist and that directly impacted the projects that I’d take on as an actor as well as the work in film that I’ve been able to create independently. During the pandemic, I began learning about multimedia creation and developed a short film entitled Pink which features my original poetry and sound design. It had its public debut at the Toronto Indie Night short film festival in 2021 and I can honestly say that it never would’ve happened that way if it hadn’t been for Denise Norman. Educators have the ability to create such powerful impact in their students’ lives and they’re an indispensable part of our society.
It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. 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?
This story is very embarrassing to admit, and I never thought I’d say it publicly, but as an actor who transferred from theatre into film there were many basics that I didn’t know when I was first starting out. Additionally, as a non-binary actor who worked across the gender spectrum, I had difficulty at that point in time finding a film class that wasn’t gendered.
One day I received an audition for a show, and I remember that the script noted that there was a high-pitched noise while the character was doing a specific action. At the time, I didn’t understand that this specific instruction would be something the show would implement in post- production and assumed I had to be the one to make the noise. So, naturally, I entered the audition room very professionally, sat in the chair to start the scene, and then proceeded to make a high-pitched noise while doing the action specified in the script. After the scene, I remember everyone looking at me a little funny, but not realizing why. The best part is, they asked me to do it again but didn’t instruct me to do it without the noise, so I did it a second time! Part of me wonders if they asked me to do it again because it was so funny, and I can’t even blame them.
It wasn’t till months later when I had started working with my first coach, Angela Besharah — who honestly changed my life — that I recalled the audition and realized what I had done. It taught me the difference mentorship can make and the importance of knowing your basics. But it also taught me that sometimes you’re going to do things that are mortifying and you just gotta let yourself laugh.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I’m very excited to share that I’ve had the honour of joining the award-winning cast of Sort Of for their highly anticipated second season as the character Arrow! Season 2 has been described as the season of love whether it’s bio or chosen family love or friend love — including non-normative queer and gender queer relationships — and even, as coined in season 2’s trailer, the “Rachel McAdams-type of romantic love”. This season asks: What does love look like?
Sort Of Season 2 makes its world premiere in Canada on November 15 th exclusively on CBC TV starting at 9pm, and episodes will also stream FREE on CBC Gem. It’ll also be making its American premiere in the USA on December 1 st on HBO Max. Our audiences will get to dive into two episodes a week!
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
My words of advice for others seeking to embark on this career path but that are daunted by the prospect of failure would be to fail as much as possible. You learn something every time you fail which means that your growth as an artist and a person is on the other side of your failures. So go do a bunch of them! Our craft isn’t tactile in the way many professions are, so I offer that you compare it to something visual. If we were professional cellists and we played a note that sounded sharp, we wouldn’t immediately put down the cello and change careers. We’d take steps to ensure it was tuned. We’d adjust the string, apply rosin to our bow, adjust our posture, and so on. Let yourself play the note so you can figure out what needs to be adjusted.
Additionally, I encourage you to assess what you deem a failure. Our industry, and society at large, are going to tell you so many different perspectives of what’s right and wrong. But at the end of the day, you’re the artist. You get to develop a sense of taste for the things you like and find interesting. That will absolutely change what you perceive as failure.
Finally, one thing that’s never a failure, is the people around you that you care about succeeding. A scarcity mindset can add a lot of friction to the idea of competition. However, there’s your art, there’s your job, and there are your loves ones. Your art is the creativity that comes from inside of you and that’s not something that can be taken away. Your job is your career and that’s going to ebb and flow throughout your entire life. Your loved ones are the faces you’re going to remember no matter what it is life throws at you. Celebrate them when they succeed in whatever it is they’re doing based solely on the fact that you care for them, and you value their happiness. Never let yourself lose a bond with a loved one over a job.
We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?
- Diverse Representation in Media Saves Lives
When people see themselves in media, they get to see the abundance of possibilities that life has for them. When the representation is stereotypical, harmful, and even violent, that’s our industry saying that we’re okay with that being the extent of possibility for that group of people and perpetuating ideology that can cause real-world violence. However, when the representation’s authentic, truthful, and promising, our industry is saying that we value the many voices that make up our society and we also have the opportunity to offer education and possibilities for a better world.
2. Diverse Representation in Media Creates Human Connection
One of the most beautiful things I’ve witnessed throughout my career is the connections audiences form with characters in film and television. The beauty of our work is that storytelling allows people to connect with characters that they may not otherwise meet in their day to day life. It helps us form compassion for one another and that translates into the way we move through the world after we’ve left our screens. Our field has the power to break through prejudice by allowing us to see the humanity in one another.
3. Diverse Representation in Media Teaches Us to Have Compassion for Ourselves
Part of what diverse representation has the power to do, is to deconstruct notions that systems of oppression have taught us to internalize. It provides us with an outlet that creates a reflection of our own existence, whether that be our identities, the way we love, our culture, etc., and it supplies us with characters that we develop genuine relationships with. Through witnessing their experiences — the ways in which they’re fallible, the ways they’re celebrated, the ways they forgive and are forgiven — we can learn to extend ourselves the same compassion we so readily offer to other people. We can learn that we, too, deserve love, forgiveness, and celebration. That our lives and our existence are important.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- Don’t be afraid of asking for mentorship.
One of the things that surprised me the most about working in our industry is how eager people are to offer wisdom and advice to up-and-coming artists. I’ve been out publicly since the start of my career but happened to enter the performance industry just prior to transness becoming as public of a conversation as it is now. That meant that I was having to do things like come out via e-mail and frequently found myself in positions where I was the only trans, and even Latinx person, in the room. Once I started learning about the artists in my community that was creating work that excited me — whose rooms were chock full of diverse voices, whose art was extensions of their politics — I couldn’t help but feel nervous to approach them. Their work meant so much to me once I’d found it, that I remember feeling like I needed to earn their respect on my own before I could reach out and connect with them. Looking back, I see how much that isolated me when, now knowing so many of those artists personally as well as now having worked as a mentor myself, I understand the joy that comes with meeting up-and-coming artists. So, know that you don’t have to do it alone, there are people who will support you!
2. You’re never alone because there’s an entire legacy of people fighting alongside you and even more who have come before you.
Connecting with queer and latinx elders, one of the things I’m always struck by is the amount of artists they tell me about whose work isn’t documented. It reminds me of how many artists have had their work erased throughout history or how many of them were harmed before they could continue growing into their fullest bodies of work. It’s shifted my perspective on what I view as the “classics”. Additionally, it’s a much-needed reminder that the shoes I currently wear are only possible because people who came before me carved out space for me. That gives me a lot of hope because it reminds me that we’re not alone and I’m very thankful for that.
3. Learn financial planning.
This is a very technical one, but in my experience, it’s not something that’s actively incorporated into arts programs, and I feel it should be. As artists we’re often navigating multiple jobs and contracts, different types of tax files, learning how to invoice, etc. Money is often viewed as a taboo subject and yet everyone is massively affected by it every day. I’m still in the process of trying to learn and was very intimidated at first but taking the time to learn how to even start a budget can make colossal difference in our lives.
4. Art and industry are two different things even though they interact.
As actors, our bodies — from our physical state to our minds, to our emotions — are a part of our job. The nature of our industry makes it so that there can be many ups and downs but something that’s helped me continue enjoying my art has been understanding the distinction between my industry and my creative interests. It’s helped me navigate the business side more clearly while also allowing me to explore my art more freely and safely.
5. It’s working. Even when you don’t see the effects, it’s working!
One of the things about representation in media or in the arts is that you don’t always see the impact your work is making. When I think of the moments when I’ve had to navigate difficulties on my own that my peers didn’t know how to advise me on because of the nature of the intersections I embody, I can say that there was absolutely a fear in me that what I was doing wasn’t working or that I wasn’t doing it the right way, or it wasn’t enough.
During one of our many Covid lockdowns in Toronto, a short film I was part of began circulating in film festivals. The film, They/Them by Goldbloom Micomonaco, follows a day in the life of the main character Silas, who I had the pleasure of playing. Silas is a young queer trans person who’s navigating homelife, life in the queer community, and figuring out their pronouns. When it reached the LGBT Toronto Film Festival it won Best Short and we received a beautiful video with snippets of feedback from audience members who’d seen the film. Sitting there listening to them, I remember feeling like every bit of hardship had been worth it. It made me reflect on the art that had changed me throughout my life and the fact that most of those artists have no idea the significance they hold for me. It was an incredible gift to learn the impact that film had, and it was also a special reminder that sometimes the impact it makes is private, and that’s just as important.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I think one of the biggest pieces of advice that I’d pass on to people within my industry to help them prevent burnout is that we tell stories about people, so don’t forget to let yourself be a person. Our bodies are our instruments, and our minds are a part of our bodies — we need to be taking care of them the way we would care for a best friend. Additionally, when we think of the big moments in life that we want to achieve or work towards, it’s important to remember that it’s the people around us that make it special. We can line our shelves with awards and accolades, but it’s the people in our lives that hold us and that make us laugh. They’re the ones we need to make time.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
That’s such a big question. So many of the problems I’d want to solve are tied together by many of the same root causes. But if had to choose right now, I would want to inspire a movement that would provide proper accommodations and support for people experiencing houselessness. I live in Toronto and there was mass eviction taking place in our city throughout the pandemic, which for us included back-to-back lockdowns. We already had a government with a reputation for violence against unhoused people in our city, but Covid increased the number of people losing their homes and our government only responded with further violence. I don’t say that lightly. Our police force quite literally showed up like SWAT teams at public parks and physically assaulted unhoused people and peaceful protesters who were trying to protect them. Additionally, they’d slash their tents and destroy their belongings. It’s honestly horrific. We’re currently entering our cold snaps and I worry about how many people our government could easily provide shelter for but has chosen not to — who may lose their lives because they have to sleep in the cold.
I’m not a specialist, so I don’t have all the answers but that’s the beauty of movements that work towards positive social change — you don’t do them alone. We have an abundance of incredible activists, politicians and workers in our city that have solutions for everything from providing accommodations to supporting safe drug use, to alternative methods of support that don’t involve policing, and so on. Sometimes we see ideas like this get framed as extreme, but I don’t think there’s anything extreme about wanting people to be safe and alive. What I think is extreme is a government that sleeps soundly at night with a bank account full of tax dollars while its citizens are dying on sidewalks.
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?
One of the people I’m most grateful towards who helped me get to where I am is my mother. She’s been a pivotal person in my life who’s brought me back to myself in moments where I wasn’t honouring the fullness of who I was. Throughout my life, I remember she never concerned herself with what other people thought of her and she had the ability to be both incredibly warm and impeccably honest at the same time. It meant that if I went to her for advice, I had to prepare myself for the truth because she wasn’t gonna lie to me.
I remember the beginning of our relationship as adults came about because I was going through a particularly hard time. I hadn’t spoken to her about it because I didn’t want her to worry, and I thought I could handle it on my own. When I finally spoke to her, I remember her response made me laugh so hard. Growing up we seldom saw eye to eye and often found ourselves butting heads. That day, she said to me “You’re telling me that I’m your mother and you’ve refused to listen to me your entire life and now you’re gonna let some random person tell you who you are?!”. It was gold.
It’s stayed with me ever since and when I find myself orbiting a bit farther from myself than I should be, I remember what she said. It brings me back every time.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
This is going to seem very silly, but the best life lesson quote I’ve ever received came from my uncle. I remember I was a kid and being sassy about something or other and he turned to me and told me that in life, I had to be more like a cockroach. I was immediately insulted, but he had great reasoning. He explained to me that cockroaches have survived so long because of their adaptability. In life, we’re constantly going through changes, being met with unexpected circumstances, and even being disappointed. The key, he told me, is to adapt. I think I still had baby teeth when he told it to me, but it’s stuck with me throughout my life, and it’s helped me through a lot more than he ever could’ve anticipated.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
If I could pick one person to have a private brunch with, it would be Lin-Manuel Miranda. As a Latinx person, I grew up watching my community be represented on screen and on stages in ways that completely missed the beauty of our people and our culture. When I was studying musical theatre at Randolph College, I was given the opportunity to see a touring production of In the Heights. I remember that I cried for the entire show, but I didn’t understand why. It wasn’t till years later that I understood that it was the first time in my life that I’d seen myself represented on stage in a way that celebrated my loved ones and our roots.
Following his career, I grew immense respect for him when I saw the ways he incorporated community outreach into his work. Today it would be referred to as sharing resources but growing up my parents just referred to it as taking care of one another. Whenever a new immigrant family came to town or if a family friend needed help or a loved one’s kids were in need, you show up, you help them feel at home, you make sure they feel supported — just like people did for my parents when they first arrived. It was so motivating to see one of the most successful creators in my industry actively implementing those kinds of community values into his work.
I’d want to thank him because not only his work, but the way he’s chosen to go about doing it, has positively impacted people in ways that now get to be passed on for generations. Secondly, I think there’s so much I could learn from him. The way he approaches storytelling creates this chemistry between his characters and audiences which moves people. I think it speaks to both his technical abilities as well as the way he observes people. I’d be so excited to hear him talk about his work firsthand and take in the way he sees the world.
How can our readers follow you online?
Readers can follow me online on Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok at @theirholiness!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, sending goodness your way!
