Jake Diaz is best known to his legion of fans as “The Kidventurist”, an extremely high functioning actor and influencer on the Autism Spectrum. A Macro-Influencer Jake’s content focuses on fun travel adventures and super cool locations. As an actor, most of his work is in the horror film genre where he is usually cast as the “friendly guy”. I recently had the opportunity to interview this science loving, self-proclaimed “dork” about his career and other fun facts.
What drew you into acting?
When I was younger, I was not a real sporty kid because I didn’t have the focus at that time. I did, however, have fantastic memorization skills. My parents did not realize that I did not know how to read well until second grade because I have been memorizing the books as a teacher read to us throughout the week. When we were sent home with the book for the weekend and my parents tested me, I knew it because it was memorized. Eventually they caught onto what was going on but because they realized how well I memorized they felt that acting and memorizing scripts would come in handy! We can look back and laugh at it now.
What is your process for breaking down a character?
My mom does all the highlighting of the Scripts for me and makes notes to where I have actions as opposed to just words. Because she makes that part easy for me, I then take the script and read the entire thing like a book, so I know what is going on between all the characters at all times. Once I understand the story, I get a better idea of the character. I then decide how I want to bring him to life and add my own notes/actions to the script. If it is a super intense character, I will usually need to start getting in that zone the night before or a couple of hours before I start. My mom is my acting coach because we have been doing it together for so long, we have kind of fine-tuned what we do. If it is a really big role for a TV series or feature film, I will get professional audition coaching for that role to help me develop that character at a higher level.
What do you look for in a film role?
Once you have an agent at a manager, you really don’t do a lot of self-submitting anymore. My agent will do that for me. Some ideas of the roles they submit me for are “The friendly guy” characters for horror films and the “charming hottie” (which I find super funny because I’m really a dork).
What is your advice for keeping a healthy work/life balance?
My advice is to be able to handle a strong mom lol. My mom does not let up on me much when it comes to learning, chores, responsibility, and work. She is a tough cookie but balances it out with all the things I enjoy like doing nothing on the weekends but playing my video games, watching movies, and eating what I want. She is strict with my diet too but for good reason. It’s taken me years to understand how important it is to always look and feel your best in this industry.
Photo Credit: Personal Collection
Tell us something people would be surprised to learn about you.
I think people might be surprised to find out that I am a science type of guy. I also really love paranormal things, MythBusters, and stuff like that. My mom calls me the walking encyclopedia because I have so many random bits of knowledge in my brain.
People may also be surprised to learn that I am highly functioning on the Autism Spectrum. It used to bother me when I was younger because I thought it was something negative. As I get older, and I see what I am capable of doing, I’ve learned to understand that it’s actually a gift that makes me super unique and special.
What are your goals for 2023?
I’d like to get into sports a bit more. Soccer, archery, and stunt training would be my top 3 goals.
Any upcoming projects you can share?
Because of the strike that is affecting Actor’s right now, things are a little slow. There are a few projects not affected by the actor strike, so I have been able to book a few things. My most recent project is a music video for a well-known artist whose name I cannot mention. I will be sharing more about it once the video is released.
Where can we follow you on social media?
Instagram @jake_thekidventurist
TikTok @the_kidventurist
YouTube The Kidventurist
Photo Credit: Personal Collection