Ayako Karasawa is an actor based in Los Angeles, California. She was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. She studied American play analysis at Osaka University and Performing Arts at University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, she came to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Her notable appearances are in Symphony of the Being, Autobiographical Fiction, White Orchids and many more.
Q1. What drove you to acting?
It might have been an influence from my parents taking me to the theatres and foreign movies from an early age. I was fortunate to be around performing arts and film. I don’t exactly remember when my dream became being an actress but it has been on my mind by the time I was in elementary school. I liked reading books, especially fantasy, and submerged myself into the stories. I would imagine being a character in the books and explore the many worlds when I was child. I was always interested in how people behave, think differently, and being a completely different person from me. That was probably my initial interest that drove me to acting. As time went by, I took more interest in telling the story as well as to try and explore how to embody the life of characters through my body, voice and utilizing my heart for them.
Q2. What is the life changing moment that persuaded your acting career in English?
I would say it came from the experience I had while I was an exchange student at UC Santa Cruz. I performed in some theatrical groups in Japan, but I wasn’t sure enough whether I should pursue acting in English as my career. I always had that dream in me, but wasn’t courageous enough. At that time, I was attending Osaka University and was mainly doing American play analysis (focusing on Eugene O’Neill, Neil Simon, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard) rather than acting. However, my passion for acting had never faded so I applied for an exchange program to test myself out. Through the program, I got casted for several productions and that helped me make my mind to pursue acting as a career here in America.
Q3. What kind of work have you done in the U.S?
I appeared in several short films and student films as lead and supporting roles. One of the first films I joined when I got to the U.S, Symphony of the Being, was nominated for awards in several film festivals as well as awarded in The Paus Premieres Festival. Another film, White Orchids, in which I played the lead character, was chosen as one of the finalists for the Sundance Ignite Program.
Q4. What is the most memorable role you played so far?
One of the most memorable roles in my career is when I played the lead in Autobiographical Fiction. The role required me to prepare a lot since the character was a completely different personality from me. However, from the performance, I was able to expanded my repertoire of human behaviors, and I enjoyed the experience I went through as an absolutely alternate personality.
Q5. Why do you keep acting and what would you like to bring in the future?
I keep acting because I just cannot live without it… or I would say I always somehow come back to acting. I always come back probably because I like the energy people feed off from my acting, connections, and creating something together with other people. Also, I like studying human nature. It’s very interesting to explore different people’s story and submerge myself into that person. I love the process of finding the truth of the story or the person’s life. It is a never-ending process of deep diving and exploring human beings and I think that excitement is one of the reasons I keep acting. Another reason is that I believe acting is one of the jobs that can spread positive influence to the greater society in a huge way.
In the future, I would like to be a person and as an actor who can encourage the genuineness of human beings and spread positivity towards society as a whole.
Q6. What is the current or future project you are working on?
I am currently working on several projects. One of them is involving 3 women’s life that takes place in Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles. It is challenging but also an exciting project. Another project I am working on is a human drama project that involves two people dealing with past traumas.