“Growing up, I was obsessed with the Power Rangers. I watched this movie called Motocrossed on Disney Channel when I was a little kid. The kids in the movie were dressed up as Power Rangers, but they were riding dirt bikes, and I was like, “What is that?! That’s the coolest thing ever.”
I asked my mom if I could learn how to ride a dirt bike, and she said, ‘No, that’s for boys. Girls don’t do that.’ That stuck with me, because I’ve always been the kind of person that thinks, ‘Well, if someone tells me I can’t do it, I’m gonna do it anyway.’”
And do it anyway, she did. Meet actress, painter, and self-taught motorcycle rider Carolina Cora. Multi-faceted and multi-talented, Carolina grew up in Miami, getting her start as a model and actress around age 15. After being scouted in a shopping mall, she found solace and a temporary escape from the halls of her high school in acting classes and auditions.
Post-graduation, Carolina packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where she’s lived for the past eight years, navigating the complexities and varied emotions that come with a career in entertainment. From casting directors trying to put her into a box to struggling to book roles, Carolina’s life in L.A. wasn’t all highlights. Like many paths to achieving a dream, hers came with challenges and setbacks.
“I think it’s in my nature that I don’t like to be put in a box. Growing up in Miami, it was like everybody wanted to book you for the music videos, and they wanted you to be on the yacht (...) I didn’t want to do that. And then, (...) for a while when I first moved [to Los Angeles], I was going out on auditions for mom roles. And I was barely 23 or 24.”
“It was a really different time because (...) ethical ambiguity wasn’t [accepted in the industry] back then. So, they always tried to put me in a box. It was like I either looked too Asian or looked not Hispanic enough for roles. I would book jobs here and there, but it was one out of maybe 50 jobs. It was definitely a roller coaster ride going through that.”
Carolina’s story is incredibly inspiring: even in a field where so much can feel outside of your control, she’s cultivated a healthy mindset and found balance. Her perspective is a reminder that there’s plenty of success to go around and nothing to lose by cheering for others.
“Over time, I just had to develop this [attitude of] give it your all, but then let it go. The girl that was booking the roles always looked like me, but (...) she was a size two; she was a little bit taller; she was (...) a little more Hispanic-looking. I never felt jealousy, but I was always just so sad. [But then I realized]... wait a minute? That’s her dream, too. Just because I have dreams, it doesn’t make someone else’s dreams less important. It helped me to be genuinely happy for other people.”
Dirt biking (Carolina’s childhood dream realized) started as a way to add balance to the stress of weekly auditions. She found a place to rent dirt bikes, booked a rental, and went out to learn by herself almost every weekend. While learning to ride brought its fair share of injuries (another reminder that setbacks are simply stops along the way!), Carolina discovered a true passion in the process.
And that passion? It eventually led to jobs, something she didn’t see coming. After casually mentioning she rode bikes to a stunt coordinator on a job, that coordinator connected her with another one, and she found herself riding commercially for a motorcycle brand. One job led to another, which led to another.
“It was just my hobby. It was something that I loved to do. And so, it was really nice to go from moving here and auditioning three to four times a week and not booking anything to then, suddenly, I was the girl that they were calling for jobs.”
If that doesn’t feel like a reminder to try new things, we don’t know what is!
“There are moments that I’m on set and I’m looking around, and there are all these cameras, and I’m on the bike, and it’s like, ‘Man, this is so cool. This is what I’ve wanted ever since I was a little kid.’”
While Carolina’s dream of riding bikes came to life, she refuses to stop dreaming. Even in an industry like entertainment, where there can be a lot of pressure to “make it” by 25 or even younger, Carolina stays true to one of her strongest beliefs: that there’s always time to chase your dreams.
“Who says that we have to make it by tomorrow and then be done with it? There’s no expiration date for your dreams, you know? You never know where life is taking you, and you never know who you’ll meet. The best advice I could give my younger self is just to work as hard as you can, but your destiny will find you.”
Whatever is meant for you will find you. Carolina’s story has inspired all of us at Full Bloom, and we hope it inspires you to take risks, to trust the process (even with its setbacks), and to believe that what is meant for you will flow to you.
