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Surviving The Toughest Times in Rural America

As told by Mario Telles
Socorro, New Mexico

Story Narrative:

My teachers have always been my inspiration. The good ones and the bad ones.

I started as a golfer at age 4. I signed up for the summer golf lessons and ended up with a college scholarship to the New Mexico Military Institute. I left NMMI early to help out at home with my Mom who was beating cancer up at the time. I couldn't go anywhere, so I began to play my Dad's bass. Slowly, I began to learn songs that I liked--metal, 70s songs, reggae,anything. I got to share the stage with world wide acts and even performed on network television.

Next came acting. I went to a casting call one day with a buddy who was getting made fun of for being an actor. I told him I would go with him and that he didn't have to take that kind of bullying. I didn't have any car,phone, nothing, and at the time I was a dish washer on weekends at a restaurant in Albuquerque. Now, I have over 30 different movies and tv shows on my resume, and I am now officially a Stella Adler Art Of Acting Studio Alumni as of 2020.


Asset ID: 2021.04.01
Author: Mario Telles
Themes: Lessons, rural life, acting, film, work, music, pandemic, resilience
Date recorded: February 22, 2021
Story type: Text story
Related traveling exhibition: Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: None, self-submitted

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