Rising Stars: Meet Eliana Marianes of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eliana Marianes.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started acting when I was in kindergarten, and I never really stopped. I always knew this is what I wanted to do professionally, and I’ve had so much good fortune in my life that has contributed to me living the dream. I have an incredible community of actor friends behind me, as well as the close-knit Drama Inc family, where I teach an acting technique called Viewpoints. I also benefitted from a very thorough theater education at Emory, as well as some fabulous continuing education in various techniques. I owe my agents a big debt of gratitude, as well, for taking a chance on a primarily theater actor and bringing me into the world of film, TV, and commercial.

It takes a lot of work to be a full time actor. I have a lot of jobs (11 at last count!), all of which are acting or acting-adjacent (like teaching the Viewpoints technique). Some days it all feels very tiring, but I’m incredibly lucky to live in a house full of actors, and when I have one of those days, I’ve got friends at hand to build me back up. I guess what I’m saying is that at the center of my story, at every point along the way, there has been community, and that community is what has made me who I am today.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Finances are always a challenge. Living that sweet, sweet, independent contractor life is rarely easy! It’s a lot of budgeting and planning ahead, which is hard to do sometimes, especially in this economy. But I mean, none of us get into the Arts for the big bucks- we do it because the world turns on art.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m most known in the Atlanta theater community for my Movement work. I’m trained in the Viewpoints technique, which is a vocal and physical technique designed to get actors out their heads and into their bodies. I do movement coaching and consulting, participate in devised theater, and often get called on to tweak the physical storytelling in a friend’s short film or production. I always say that the one thing that travels with us from job to job is our voice and our body, so we better invest in making sure it can tell the stories we’re hired to tell!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m a classically trained flamenco guitarist. That’s not what I play these days- I’m much more into the Indigo Girls than Paco de Lucia. But I’ve been playing guitar for over 30 years now, and it’s one of my great joys.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @elianalikeaneel