Victoria Anastasia is a special talent with all the tools to become a star in the coming decade.
The multi-talented performer stops by on Close-up Culture to chat about life in New York City, falling in love with performing, asking Shawn Mendes to prom, and much more.
Q: It has been just over a year since you moved to New York from Florida. How do you reflect upon your time in the city so far?
A: New York is so amazing. Ever since I was a little girl I always knew I wanted to be here. I was born in New York but when I was 3 years old, my parents decided to move to Florida. Growing up there I always dreamt of going back to NYC. I finally did, and I am so grateful. The city is such a unique and great place filled with all types of energies. I think it’s extraordinary.
Q: You currently attend AMDA and always seem to be busy with projects. Do you feel you are evolving as an artist and benefiting from living in this creative environment?
A: Attending AMDA has been such a crazy, tough, and amazing experience for me. I have grown so much as an artist. Studying and living in such an artsy environment definitely motivates me to strive for greatness. Being surrounded by people who are working towards some of the same things as you is a great and motivating feeling.
Q: Has anything – positive or negative – surprised you about life in New York since the move?
A: Well, being from Florida, I never realized how much I would miss the beach. Don’t get me wrong, I love city life, but I miss those moments where I could step outside my house and just enjoy the peace of nature.
But New York City is magical. I love waking up and hearing all the action going on outside as I am starting my day. I love being able to walk outside my apartment and go run errands if I need to. The subway gets a bit frustrating sometimes, I miss my car. I never thought I would be running from Columbus Circle all the way to AMDA because my train was delayed and I can’t be late. That’s fun.
Q: You’ve been performing since you were little. What are your early memories of performing and falling in love with the arts?
A: My father is a musician. I remember growing up, instead of playing with toys, I would play in my dads studio, messing around with his instruments and pretending I was a pop star. In one of my fathers recordings, he starts singing his song and all of a sudden you hear, “No! No Daddy! I want to sing!” Then a few seconds later, you start hearing me singing about firetrucks and cars. I was about 3 years old when I did that.
After that I started learning from my father and eventually started taking classes. I love it so much. That is how my life in the arts began, and I am so blessed for it.
Q: What has performing brought to your life? In what ways has it helped you?
A: I love what I do so much. It bring me joy and happiness. I wish that it can do the same to others. I love the feeling of being on stage and making people happy, and allowing them to escape reality for a little bit.
When I am feeling emotional, thats when my creative self comes out. Music helps in me in ways that I can’t explain. It makes me happy, sad, angry, lovestruck, emotional, and I am so amazed that we have this emotional escape. That is what is it to me, and I hope to be able to share my music and performances with others, and make them feel the same. I can’t image life without the arts.
Q: You are a triple threat with incredible talent in music, dance, and acting. How do you find balance between the three? Do they provide you different creative releases?
A: Being a singer, actor, and dancer, it takes a lot of hard-work and dedication to all. I started out as a singer first. Then I started getting into acting, and dance.
I practice all three every single day. It brings me so much happiness. All three relate in an emotional way. They all take a great amount of focus and creativity. The creative releases of each are very similar. You have to be 100% there and in the moment, and sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do. We get physically and mentally exhausted but I must do it, and I love it.
Q: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt in the last year of living in New York?
A: There are so many things I have learned since moving to New York. But I will have to say the one I go by every single day is, stay humble, work hard, and you can achieve anything. In a city like this is, with people doing similar things, and people who are better and more experienced, it is easy to get discouraged. We have to leave that aside and focus on ourselves and our journey.
Q: What has been the standout memory of your young career so far?
A: Honestly, my proudest moment was to sing my school’s Alma Mater at my high school graduation. The feeling of being surrounded by thousands of people in a huge arena was INCREDIBLE. I felt so good up there. Singing for my school, my graduating class, and everyone who attended, knowing that they picked me to sing, was such an amazing feeling. I felt so honored. That has to be the proudest moment of my career so far.
Other than that, something that made me standout was my courage to ask a singer named Shawn Mendes to prom. I was just messing around one day on the guitar, trying to record a cover of his song Stitches, when I got the idea of doing a parody to ask him to my prom.
It was a joke at first that I sent to all my friends, they loved it, so I said to myself why not post it? I did, and it went viral so fast. Within the day I had over 50 thousand views. I was on TV, ABC Action News, and all over the internet. I was so lucky. I never got to meet him but I did get a response that he saw it and liked it. That was a moment in my career when I really stood out. I don’t regret it at all, haha.
Q: What is next for you? Any upcoming projects or ambitions to share with us?
A: I have a lot of things coming up. I am so excited to say I will be graduating at the end of September, gonna go full out into this amazing industry. I do have a big musical showcase coming up at the end of August at AMDA. If anyone is interested and wants to see a great show then message me on any of my social media, that I will put down below.
I have a few project coming up like TV shows, photoshoots, and more. I will be going to many many auditions and working hard to build up my career. Some things that I will be going for in my career is, recording my own original songs, doing a lot of film and television, auditioning for broadway shows, and getting more into modeling. I have so many things planned for the future and I can’t wait to get started. I am so excited and I can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
Thank you so much! It was great talking to you.
Victoria’s socials:
Website – https://victoriaanastasia.wixsite.com/anastasia
Instagram – @itsvictoriaanastasia
Twitter – @victoriaaa117
Email – Victoria.anastasia@hotmail.com