ALESSANDRA LIU

By Michelle Elizabeth

Photography: Old Classic Photography(@irinkac33)

Alessandra Liu is a 15-year-old Chinese American actress and model from Hibiscus Island, Florida. You may know her from short films such as Grace and Endless Summer, or from her print and runway work. She learned to appreciate style and fashion at a young age. Since she was a child, Alessandra has enjoyed looking through her family’s magazine subscriptions like Town and Country and Bazaar. She was always fascinated and dazzled when looking at all the beautiful clothes, models, purses and jewelery. Her mother regularly took her to stores like Gucci, Cartier and Ferragamo on Rodeo Dr in LA on her shopping trips which really made an impression on Alessandra. At 12 years old she opened an Instagram account and started posting amateur modeling pix and tagging brands she liked to see if she could get their attention. Within only 2 months, it worked! She was contacted by several companies offering to do collaborations in exchange for clothing. Modeling led to acting and she’s now signed with agencies in Beverly Hills and Miami. Since then, she has taken a variety of acting and modeling courses. Currently, Alessandra is aggressively pursuing her acting career and larger projects. She hopes to become a member of the Screen Actors Guild soon and ultimately make a living as an actor. She dreams of walking the runway someday for Gucci and Chanel.

One of the best parts of the job for Alessandra is being around all the fun creative people and their energy. She says, “It's super exciting to be on set of both films and commercials, all the activity with the staff and all of the equipment is really a rush! I've been on set with as few as six people and as many as 65 and there's always lots of energy- no matter how many people are on the set producing. I love meeting new people and have made many new friends along the way as well.” The hardest part is all the effort you must put into trying to get a single booking- all the auditions and self-tapes and all that go with it. She explains, “It's almost 40 to 1! Some casting directors can be very short and very demanding on zoom calls and a few of them have even made me cry… So many new actors just give up, I will not.”

What inspires Liu is seeing other actors doing their thing, practicing their art, as well the shows, series, and movies themselves. She gushes, “I’m deeply inspired by Scarlet Johannesen, Chloë Grace Moretz, and child actor Lexi Rabe. I see shows like the Outer Banks and want to be in them acting! Also, I like various reality television series, for example Netflix’s Dubai Bling. Actor Ebraheem Al Samadi from the series is a favorite, and I’m inspired by his acting

Being creative is important to Alessandra. When asked what creativity means to her, she says, “Creativity is anything that you experience and have a sense of emotional reaction or response to. Creativity is something you use to express yourself in a unique and special way. Your creativity defines you as a person. Creativity is making something out of nothing… I really feel that and being creative- it has to start with you and your own ideas. It's easy to see what everybody else is doing and what they might be having success with and then mirror that but ultimately, it's not your own work and it's not your own creativity. To incorporate more creativity into their lives Alessandra suggests that other kids and teens reflect on what is important to them and what they feel passionate about and then work towards projects that directly speak to their own ideas and interests.

After being cast in a role as a waitress in the short film “Grace” directed by Pokey Spears, Alessandra learned of an investment opportunity in the project. She moved forward with becoming the lead finance arm of the film and set a new record as the Youngest Hollywood Executive Producer for a short film, in history. Her secret to getting through creative blocks?

Alessandra confesses, “Believe it or not I just stop. Especially on social media- if I have a block and don't know what to do next, I just don't do anything because I don't want to put out bad content. With 1.2 million Instagram followers, sometimes people will notice that I go quiet for a week or sometimes 10 days at a time… those are the moments that I am in one of those creative blocks! It always comes back to me, so the way I get through it is to just take a break and then the creativity eventually comes back to me on its own. Social media breaks are good btw!”

Having creative control is extremely important for Liu. She explains, “I tend to be a bit of a type A perfectionist… everything I post on social media- I want it to be perfect to not taint what I feel is somewhat of a brand at this point of who I am. Of course, I don't always get this right and I own that. For example, I do almost all my own editing in Luminar NEO, I only work with high resolution pictures and videos filmed in 4K /60 frames per second when making a public post.” s

Alessandra also enjoys being creative on social media and trying to put together content that’s not so common. She explains, “My creative approach for the most part shows me speaking very little on public social media posts and is expressed more by my choice of various music as I am really into different types of music ranging from the early 1960s through today. I use a commercial drone for filming in 6k which can self-track me as I am on a bicycle or going through the woods or really anything to make creative video projects.

Speaking of projects, Ms. Liu has been very busy lately and is excited about several projects she’s been working on. Namely, a couple pilots she recently filmed including Comedy Central, a commercial she just finished shooting in San Diego, and walking the runway for five designers at New York Fashion week. She’s also released a perfume line called “AllyScent” and the third release of her portfolio magazine series “AllyMag.” One of the most exciting projects she is working on is an entire cryptocurrency economy built around NFT’s encompassing her likeness and multiple brands. She adds, “There are numerous consultants and legal reps working on this on my behalf and it's going to be super exciting and something like you have never seen before!

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(@abbierose_chronicles)

Age: 13 Location: Savannah, GA Photographer: Portraits by Rainbow (@portraits_by_rainbow)

CREATIVITY to me is letting your imagination run wild. It’s creating original ideas and sharing them to communicate with and inspire others.