Interview with Elisa Lucia, Producer, Director and Writer

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Dreams have a peculiar way of shaping our paths, sometimes leading us across oceans and borders. For Costa Rican-born actress Elisa Lucia, a childhood fascination with Hollywood transformed into a life-changing journey that brought her to the very streets she once only visited as a tourist.

Elisa's story begins with movie nights led by her mother, who instilled in her a deep appreciation for cinema and performance. When given the chance to choose a destination for her quinceañera celebration, she immediately selected Los Angeles – a city she'd never visited but somehow knew was where she belonged. That first trip confirmed her intuition, leaving her in tears when it was time to return home. "I felt such a belonging in a way," she shares, describing the powerful connection that would eventually pull her back to pursue acting professionally.

The path hasn't been smooth. Elisa candidly discusses the challenges of building a career as an international artist in Hollywood – from the comfort of having her sister blaze the trail before her to the complex, expensive process of securing an artist visa. "It's a really tough process," she explains, detailing the requirements for press coverage, recommendation letters, and proof of future work – all while paying substantial legal fees. These hurdles came alongside the typical struggles of the entertainment industry, further complicated by recent writers' and actors' strikes.

Yet through persistence and passion, Elisa has carved out her place. She's produced theater shows at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, created a solo performance about pioneering journalist Nellie Bly, and now celebrates having her work featured at the iconic Chinese Theatre – a full-circle moment for someone who once visited as a starstruck teenager. When asked how she maintains her mental health through it all, her answer is beautifully simple: connect with loved ones, surround yourself with supportive peers, and remember that "the only voice that matters is the one inside your head." Ready to be inspired? Listen now to hear how one woman's determination turned a childhood dream into Hollywood reality.

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Produced and Directed by: Drew Glick

Hosted by: Drew Glick

Co-Host: Sam Ailewi

Edited and Arranged by: Drew Glick

Studio Intern: Elisa Hernandez

Intro+Outro created by: Music Radio Creative

Ambient Music Provided by: Envato and Music Radio Creative

Drops and Jingles Created by: Music Radio Creative

Cover Art and Episode Graphics Designed by: www.getcovers.com

Copyright 2025, 2026 by Iervasi Media Partners

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Outlaw Wisdom.
Outlaw Wisdom.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Elisa Lucia comes to Outlaw Wisdom.
Listen as Elisa talks in detailabout her struggles and reveals
how she beat the odds and didwhat no one thought she could.
This is Outlaw Wisdom.
Let's begin, shall we?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Elisa, how are you doing today?

Speaker 4 (00:24):
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me.
How exciting.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Help me say your name correctly.
Say it for me one time, willyou Please?

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Elisa, lucia, what I tell people.
It's almost like Melissa, butwithout the M.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Let's start by telling our listeners who you
are, what you do, where you'refrom.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
I am a Costa Rican, born and raised actress.
Actress.
I've been living in los angelesfor almost four years now.
I came here to pursue actingand I went to acting school, and
now I have been doing differentprojects, and one of the many
projects that I worked on when Imoved to la I met drew, and now
here we are.
I I'm losing track of time, butlast year I produced a show for

(01:07):
the Hollywood Fringe Festival,which is a theater festival in
Hollywood.
I was a producer of a showcalled Beautiful Little Fool,
which was about the life ofZelda Fitzgerald, who used to be
married to F Scott Fitzgerald,the author of the Great Gatsby
and so many other works Beforethat.
I also wrote and produced myown solo show about Nellie Bly,

(01:27):
who was the first femaleinvestigative journalist of the
United States.
My producing has been mostlytheater.
You know you got to startsomewhere.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
You've been listening to Outlaw Wisdom.
Outlaw Wisdom the outlaws arehere to stay.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Whenever I tell people I'm an actress, they're
like oh, what do you want to do?
You know, and like what kind ofgenre?
And I never have an answerbecause I want to do a little
bit of everything.
But that also means that notjust as an actress I want to
like work, every single genre,and I think right now we're in
an industry in which sometimesyou have to create opportunities
for yourself instead of just,you know, sitting down and

(02:07):
waiting for them to come to you.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Being somebody who moved here from another country.
Was it easy, Was it hard?
We never discussed that.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
It was difficult in some ways and very easy in
others.
Something that definitelyhelped me is that I grew up like
dreaming of LA I had never beento LA, to California.
Up like dreaming of LA, I hadnever been to LA, to California.
So growing up, you know, Iwould travel with my family,
with my parents and my sister,and we would usually go to I
don't know Disney World or stufflike that.

(02:35):
And I remember one year my dadwas like oh, we should, you know
, plan a trip.
And I was like could we pleasego to LA?
And he was like oh, but there'snot much to do over there.
And I was like okay, well, atthe end of the day, it's a
family decision.
But then my 15th birthdaybirthday came along and it's not
that I travel for every singlebirthday, we're not that kind of

(02:57):
family but it was myquinceanera, which is a very big
deal in Latin America.
Some people throw parties,other people go out on trips,
some people do both if they havethat much money.
But it was my quinceanera, so Igot to choose what I wanted to
do and I was like I want to goto LA.
And that's what we did as afamily.

(03:19):
We came to LA, we instantlyclicked, because maybe my dad
not so much, but we instantlyclicked with LA because my mom
raised me and my sister watchingso many movies, knowing every
single actor and actress's name,like he was just part of how we
grew up.
So it was like where we weremeant to be at and and, yeah, we

(03:43):
all instantly like knew thiswas the place to be at if we
wanted to pursue the career youknow that we dream of.
So, yeah, that was like it waseasy to come here as a tourist.
It was so much fun.
It was so hard to leave.
I remember crying when we wereleaving because I felt such a
belonging in a way and I love mycountry, don't get me wrong but

(04:07):
I felt such a belonging to LAso we went back home, we started
looking into moving here, likeways to study, acting and make a
living out here, and we foundthis professional conservatory
and my sister's, older than meby two years, so she started
first after she went to highschool and then a few years of

(04:29):
college, she went to theprofessional conservatory and
then covid hit and yeah, so shewas here before me and then I
got to have the same experience,and so it was way easier moving
out here, having her already asa huge part of my support
system and knowing that I wasn'talone and that I have my older

(04:53):
sister and that we're heretogether, my parents are back
home together and we all havesomeone.
So that was very easy in thatsense.
But, of course, you're alwaysgoing to like fear and it's
always gonna be a cultural shockand it's always gonna be
something new and different.
I had never lived without myparents, you know.
So that was scary in a way.

(05:15):
But I also, you know, made someamazing friends and when I
started school and you know, mybest friend, she's from Mexico
and she came here alone and likepretty much the same story of,
you know, being here, livinghere for the first time, and,
yeah, it's, it's.

(05:35):
It can be scary, but once youhave people around you, they
definitely make things, you know, not as scary anymore, and not
just it's a fear of like oh yeah, I'm here in a new place but
it's also excitement of likehere, where I've always dreamt
of being at.
So that's, you know, it's likea nice balance, but I think that

(05:57):
now I feel very comfortablehere and and I actually feel
more like a tourist when I govisit my parents back in Costa
Rica.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
The podcast is only the beginning.
That's right.
Outlaw Wisdom is coming soon tointernet shelves everywhere.
Join the official Outlaw WisdomPatreon and reserve your free
copy of the upcoming book, theGreater Book of Outlaw Wisdom.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Visit wwwoutlawwisdomcom to learn more
so what are you up to nowadays?
What are you working on?

Speaker 4 (06:35):
anything I've got some film festivals coming up
for some short films that I made, that I was in, and this week
one of them is showing at theChinese Theater, which is really
exciting, wow, because it'ssuch an iconic place, you know,
and it's like I'm going to bethere on the screen, which is,

(06:56):
you know, insane to think about.
But yeah, that's pretty much.
I don't have much acting-wisegoing on right now.
I've been busy moving and stuffand I was just back home
visiting my parents, but I'mexcited because I got my artist
visa, which is a hugeaccomplishment, getting my

(07:17):
artist visa, as amazing as it isand as rewarding as it is.
It's as rewarding as it isbecause of how hard it was and
how many things I had to likeget together and like how much
money, honestly, I had to spendon a lawyer, which I want to
give a shout out to my lawyer,alex Martin.
She's amazing.

(07:38):
Yeah, it was a really toughprocess because there's so many
requirements that they put foryou to get that.
It's a three-year work visa, sothis is not even for life, but
it is a tough process in whichyou have to get press, you have
to get articles written aboutyou and you have to get

(08:00):
recommendation letters and youhave to get letters, letters,
and you have to get letters thatprove that you're gonna keep on
working for the next threeyears and and you have to pay
your lawyer and you know, andit's not very cheap and yeah,
it's very, very tough.
And it was very tough when Iwas in acting school for, for
example, like thinking about thefuture, like sure, I'm here

(08:23):
studying right now and I can'twork, but once I graduate it's
go time and I have to work, work, work, work, work in acting and
everything related, and likeit's pretty much like there's a
ticking bomb, you know, and yougot to do as much as you can in
such a short amount of period.

(08:43):
And like the industry has beenthrough so much, you know, with
writer's strike, actor's strike,all of that, you know, and so
it's very unpredictable.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I would say it was very unpredictable, it was very
stressful, it was a lot mentallyand emotionally and even
physically, but yeah, now I dowant to ask I'm sorry, I do want
to ask you yeah, how did youcare for your mental health with

(09:14):
all that stress?
I'm sure it was overbearing attimes.
How did you make sure that,like you, weren't losing grip on
reality?

Speaker 4 (09:24):
yeah, I would say connecting with your loved ones
for sure like I have no bettercheerleader than my parents, for
sure they're, they're amazingand I talk to them.
I try to talk to them everysingle day and that has helped
me a lot mentally and alsoconnecting with my friends,
especially friends that are alsogoing through the same

(09:44):
situation.
You know, you gotta learn thatin life you have yourself,
sometimes no one else.
You know it's.
I believe it's all aboutenergies.
You give what you receive.
You should be giving whatyou're receiving.
You should be receiving whatyou're giving.
So not wasting your energy onnegativity or people that are
bringing you down or people thatare, like you know, not in the

(10:05):
same, in the same kind ofheadspace reciprocity.
Yeah, headspace and reciprocity.
I believe in all of that, forsure.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, like like I always tell people that the only
voice that matters is the oneinside your head.
Shut out the outside voices andlife will be a lot better and a
lot easier, you know.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Totally, yeah.
Yeah, I totally agree with you.
I'm back.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
So well, Elisa, it was great to have you.
Hopefully we get you back onthe show in the near future,
maybe for season two.
Yes, Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
You've been listening to Outlaw Wisdom.
New episodes drop every week.
Yes, bye-bye.