November 13, 2024 • 27 mins
This week, I had the chance to have a chat with the talented Cali Kira, a young actress from LA known for her emotional performances. She’s trained at top acting schools, appeared in numerous short films, and won awards like the 2024 J.O. Teen Scholarship. Cali also has a background in competitive cheer, loves gymnastics and surfing, and performs stand-up comedy.
Here are the things the we had dive into:
- Cali’s Competitive cheer experiences
- Her acting career and some of her standout roles
- The awards she's already won for her acting work
- Her role in the world of stand-up comedy and what it's like to perform on stage at such a young age
- Cali’s bold aspirations to make an impact in the film industry
_____________________________________
Cali's IG: Cali Kira (@cali.kira) • Instagram photos and videos
Cali's Landing Page: Cali Kira on Direct.me
_____________________________________
Link to all things Not in a Huff Podcast: https://linktr.ee/notinahuffpodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I really want to make films to help change people's lives.
(00:04):
I really think that the magic of like filmmaking
is you can make films that can make people think
that have the potential to solve these problems.
Because once you get people thinking,
some people will go and try and help out with that.
And even the smallest bit of help
can make a huge difference.
Welcome to Not in a Hoff with Jackson Hoff,
(00:26):
where we interview newsmakers, storytellers,
and all around interesting people.
Sit back, relax, unless you're driving,
and enjoy the show.
Here's Jackson.
Hello, hello, hello, I am Jackson Huff.
This is Not in a Huff.
Thanks so much for joining me.
As always, really appreciate it.
This week, speaking with Cali Kira.
(00:47):
Now, I was looking on Instagram for standup comedians
about a month, two months ago,
and I've already had one on.
I've got a few other lined up.
Cali was part of that, but then I realized,
Cali's got a lot more to her.
She is a standup comedian.
That's how she came up, but she's also an actress.
She is also somebody who,
(01:07):
I guess she's quote unquote retired now,
but she was involved in competitive cheer as well.
So we're gonna briefly touch all of these things.
We're gonna talk a little bit about competitive cheer.
I still need to have someone on from that world,
because I just think that's, I don't know,
it's unique and interesting.
I bring it up to her.
I don't know that she knew much about it from her response,
(01:29):
but I always loved bringing on as a kid
and in those movies, the original one anyways,
and I wanna have somebody on there,
but that's neither here nor there.
We're gonna talk a little bit about competitive cheer.
We're gonna talk about some of the cool movies
that she's been a part of.
We're gonna talk about some of the awards
that she's gotten for her acting already,
and then we're also going to talk about her standup comedy.
(01:53):
So a lot of really cool things to talk about.
She's already accomplished a lot,
and I just mentioned how she didn't really go
into too much about bringing on when I brought it up,
and that might be because it probably came out
before she was born because Callie is only 13 years old.
She's, I think you're gonna listen
and you'd have no idea if we didn't talk about it,
(02:14):
because she's extremely wise beyond her years there for sure,
but I really enjoyed speaking with her.
I think big things are in store for her.
Towards the end, she kind of threw a bomb out there
on exactly what kind of movies that she wants
to begin creating eventually and directing.
I think what she says there is really powerful
(02:34):
and the reason that movies exist.
So I really, really enjoyed speaking with Cali.
I think you're gonna enjoy hearing
from a young up and coming entertainer, actor, comedian,
all these types of things.
Before we jump into the interview, if you haven't already,
go subscribe, follow along on Apple and on Spotify
(02:55):
to this podcast, helps a ton.
You'll see more great people like Cali
and you'll be able to check out all
of the 200 plus episodes in the past.
Follow along on TikTok, Not in a Huff Podcast,
on Instagram, Not in a Huff Podcast as well.
But yeah, let's get right to this interview.
Here's Cali Kira.
Cali, how are you?
(03:15):
I'm good, how about you?
I'm good, I'm gonna let you do
the heavy lifting, just introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Cali Kira.
I am 13 years old and I am an actor
and influencer and standup comedian.
I love it, and we're gonna unpack all of that.
I wanna kind of, I guess, start just at the beginning.
You know, the beginning is a little bit shorter
of a time for you than a lot of the people I speak with,
(03:36):
but what made you, I guess, get interested
in the world of entertainment?
Well, I always really loved horror movies
and I always wanted to like make my own horror films
and be a person in a horror movie.
So that's how I kind of got into acting.
And then I realized that I actually do really wanna do
acting like dramas and like comedies, horrors.
(04:01):
And so I really leaned more into that.
Before then I did competitive cheerleading.
So that's how I got my Instagram and became an influencer.
And then for standup comedy, I used to perform
at the LA Comedy and Connection Theater for improv comedy.
And then eventually we found out about Sunday auditions
(04:23):
at Comedy Chateau and that's how I got into standup comedy.
I love it.
And I didn't even write a question about this
because I had forgotten that one part you talked about
and that was the competitive cheerleading.
I, you know, in looking at Instagram
and all that kind of stuff, looking at influencers,
there's a whole world of that.
What does that mean exactly?
So I know about cheerleading when it comes to, you know,
(04:45):
high school and that kind of stuff.
So is it just like, you know, in other sports,
you've got, you know, like, you know, travel teams
in AAU basketball and stuff.
Is that what it is?
Just a cheerleading squad outside of your school?
It's definitely way more competitive
than sidelines cheerleading
because I've gotten hurt multiple times.
Or we're throwing people up in the air,
(05:06):
making them do back flips.
We're doing really hard tumbling skills
and like all of this stuff.
And we, we travel all over the place.
Like I think I've been to Texas,
like 9,000 times already
because of cheerleading competitions.
Like you go to all these different places.
So it's definitely kind of like a mix,
(05:27):
I would say a mix of like a travel team
with cheerleading times 10.
It's really, really hard to do.
It takes a lot of time to learn all the skills
and how to put people up in the air like that.
But it is a lot of fun and I love it.
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to show my age right away,
but I mean, how similar is it to,
(05:50):
I guess the, the bring it on movies.
I was around when that first came out.
How is it similar to the bring it on movies?
Definitely like the cheerleading competitions.
It's very competitive like that.
And you kind of like, I remember like,
you kind of always are watching other people
kind of like practice their routines.
Cause we used to go behind like the stage to practice.
(06:10):
We did all these things.
You would go practice warmup jumps,
warm up the tumbling, warm up the stunts,
and then do like two times full out on a mat,
like a dead mat, which is basically not a spring floor.
It is a dead mat on like a wood floor.
And then after you would do that,
you would go out on stage and you would get to watch
(06:32):
everyone like practice their routines
and see what they're doing.
And you can kind of see people like,
it bring it on like how better they are than you
and it makes you nervous.
Super competitive like that.
I got you and you mentioned that you used to do that.
So I guess you're a retired cheerleader at 13,
(06:52):
which may be a new one because, you know,
I've talked to a lot of Olympic medalists who are gymnasts
and you know, they talk about, I retired at 19 years old,
which sounds always funny, but what made you stop?
Just the competitiveness, the injuries,
or you just found passion somewhere else or what?
When I started getting really into acting
after my first ever audition,
(07:14):
I realized that I couldn't do cheerleading
and acting at the same time,
because if I booked the first maybe audition for,
I would have to leave the team
and I wouldn't be able to go to any competitions.
And that isn't really fair to cheerleading
because everyone has to be a team on the competitions.
(07:35):
Like if you get out,
they have to find someone last minute to replace you
and they have to learn the whole routine and everything.
So that isn't really fair to the team.
So I had to choose between either cheerleading or acting
and I ended up going with acting
because I did really wanna be in these films
and I wanted to make my own films
(07:57):
to kind of like change the world, help people, you know?
So yeah.
I got you, I love it.
And I wanna make sure I get this right.
So we're talking about your kind of foray into acting
and you've already achieved quite a bit.
You were recently awarded a scholarship
from the American Arts Film and TV Academy.
(08:18):
First of all, congratulations.
Second of all, what is that exactly?
It is a acting conservatory and it was very helpful.
I actually ended up,
instead of it like a normal acting class
where you only get so many minutes with someone,
sometimes after the class,
they would take like all the way till next week
(08:40):
to finish someone from the previous class
because they spent that much time with everyone
and that was very helpful.
We learned how to get into touch with our emotions,
which is really important to know how to do
if you wanna be a serious actor.
And that was super helpful.
Like it's much easier for me to get into my emotions on set
(09:03):
in such a short amount of time.
After that, I realized and I love it so much.
And we also got to learn about all these different
like film terms they use on set.
Like if you hear someone asking about like,
if they want like this on flight,
we got to learn about that.
And I also got to learn Maddie Young,
(09:23):
amazing director, love them.
And I got to learn about like DP work.
We all got these little parts in one class.
Like we're filming an actual scene,
someone's scene as if we're filming a real movie.
And I got to work as a DP
and I got to learn all of this stuff about camera,
specifically a Blackmagic camera.
And I got to learn about like clean or dirty,
(09:45):
all this like these camera terms
that are so helpful for filmmaking.
Yeah, and I know that that group is LA based.
Are you, you live in LA now, correct?
Yes.
Are you a transplant?
Are you somebody who's always lived there?
What's that, what's that look like?
I moved to LA from Loomis, California,
(10:09):
which is a very small town,
probably no one really ever heard of.
So LA is much more different than where I used to live,
but I love it a lot
because there's so much more stuff to do.
I got you.
So was it, I mean, was it a family move
because of other things or was,
I guess was your family betting on your,
(10:30):
betting on your success and potential?
Well, we noticed when we were in Loomis,
I was getting a lot of auditions
and then we realized most of them were LA based.
So we ended up deciding on moving to LA.
So I could hopefully get more auditions
and more acting opportunities.
And it did work.
(10:50):
I ended up booking more when we moved to LA.
It was, it was, it was actually,
I would say it was probably one of the best decisions
we've made because if we didn't move to LA,
I don't think I would have booked as many like short films
as I have now.
Yeah, so let's talk about one of those short films.
Don't know whether you booked it in LA
or when you were, we're still in your hometown,
(11:11):
but I know that it's a film that won some awards.
So tell us about Pieces.
Tell us about the film, what exactly it is,
and then your partner at all.
I love Pieces.
I love the director.
She's amazing.
It was so much fun to work on.
I actually did book that when I was living in LA
(11:31):
and it's an amazing film.
I played Daisy, who was like a TV show host
for like a Nickelodeon kind of show,
but like, it's hard to explain.
Like one of those 80 shows I would teach kids
is about like Stranger Danger.
And it was amazing.
I loved it so much.
I'm so, so proud of the film.
(11:53):
I'm so happy for the director that won that award.
It's amazing.
Good, I love it.
Let's talk about one of your other films.
I know that was one that you're particularly proud of too.
It was a feature-length film.
Talk about The Calling.
It was it, that sounds scary.
Is that a scary movie?
I know you're into horror.
So The Calling is a feature-length film.
(12:17):
I had a small part in it,
but I'm so happy because I love horror movies
and it is a horror movie.
And it's basically about this girl
whose mother actually went around
kidnapping babies and stuff.
So that wasn't her actual mom.
And it is, really was so much fun to work on the set
(12:39):
and everything was amazing.
It was amazing.
Let's kind of jump to your time in standup.
We've already talked about cheerleading.
We've talked about acting.
That's enough for a lot of people,
but you've got another thing to you
and that's the standup world,
which is a little bit different than the acting world.
Definitely different than cheerleading,
(12:59):
but talk about how you got involved in standup.
So standup, I mostly perform at the Comedy Chateau.
Currently I'm doing a class at Colby's Comedy
in the Ice House.
And my showcase for that is coming up very soon
and I'm excited for that.
But how I got into standup was
I used to perform improv comedy
(13:21):
at the LA Comedy Connection Theater.
And every few months, I would say every eight months,
we would go perform at the Comedy Chateau
and that's how I met Felix.
And Felix is really awesome.
He kind of gives me, he's like my mentor
in standup comedy, I would say.
And I'm so happy he lets me perform at the Comedy Chateau.
But before that, eventually I stopped doing improv comedy
(13:44):
for about a year and then I auditioned for America's Got Talent.
And then we kind of found out about Sunday auditions
at the Comedy Chateau from there.
So we decided to go try it out.
I met Felix again, I did my set
and then I got onto a show there
and I kind of just really enjoyed being on stage,
(14:06):
making people laugh,
basically just kind of talking to the crowd.
It's very much like a conversation.
It pretty much is a conversation with the audience.
And yeah, I just, I loved it so much
that I have been doing it for a while now
and I'm happy with it.
I love that, Matt.
I wanna, I guess I wanna ask you this because,
you know, a lot of people are gonna think,
okay, you already mentioned that you're younger,
(14:28):
you're 13 years old.
That's, people are gonna wonder what they're getting
when they come to the comedy show.
You mentioned crowds, so is it mostly crowd work?
What should they expect?
I would say what they should expect
is a different set each time.
So far I have never performed the same set.
(14:50):
I am currently working on doing more crowd work in my sets,
which I think I love crowd work because it definitely,
you definitely are, you know,
you're definitely being more connected to the audience
and I love that.
It always makes the set a little bit better,
but definitely a new thing every single time.
(15:12):
Tell us a little bit about how,
because I believe,
I guess I don't really know your timeline.
Were you doing comedy before acting
or acting before comedy or they kind of went together?
I was doing acting before comedy.
So what, I guess, what skills from your world of acting
(15:32):
did you take into comedy?
Because, you know, like I mentioned,
they're, you know, they share some things.
They're both entertainment,
but they're also quite different.
So talk about how being an actor made you be able
to be a better standup comedian
and maybe how it maybe caused problems too.
So talk a little bit about that.
How acting definitely helped me
(15:54):
become a better standup comedian is,
I definitely include a lot of acting inside of my sets.
Like some jokes I have like hitting a Tesla cyber truck
because I really want to meet Justin Bieber,
involve acting out a mom,
basically just acting out all these different characters
(16:16):
into my set.
So that's kind of how I put acting into my standup comedy.
So you, I mean, you've found success.
We've already talked about, you know,
the awards that you won, the movies that you've been in.
Give advice to other young people
who want to get into acting or get into to stand up.
(16:37):
Talk a little bit about how they can,
how they can make their dreams a reality as well.
Well, first off, you definitely need to ask your parents
because if you don't,
you probably won't be able to figure out
how to get to auditioning and stuff.
And then you need to go, I would say,
you need to go onto apps like backstage and stuff
because that's definitely where you get
(16:58):
most of the auditions for films.
You can think you are the greatest actor in the world
and you might be, but always take an acting class
because acting classes definitely help so much.
Like I remember I used to be such a big actor.
Like I would do everything over the top.
(17:19):
And then I suddenly learned how to do more film acting.
And then I would still be able to do like kind of more
Disney, a bit more over the top acting.
So I definitely say do acting classes first
or find your favorite type of genre for acting
and try to go that route
because that will not only make it a lot easier,
(17:42):
but then you'll end up doing something really love.
And I will say you have to love acting.
You have to love being on set for multiple hours a day,
being around a ton of people,
doing the same scene over and over again.
You have to love creating to do it
because that will show on camera
and that will show through your performance.
And it always makes it like a hundred percent better.
(18:04):
You mentioned make sure your parents are on board,
but that's a kind of a good segue into talking about
just what your parents have meant to you
in this whole process,
because you just talked about how they move
to help you pursue your dream.
I'm sure they're your chauffeurs
when it comes to some of these auditions.
So talk about just their support
(18:26):
and what it's meant to you so far.
My parents have definitely supported me a lot.
And it means so much to me
because if my mom wouldn't have moved here,
I would have never got into acting
or into the Comedy Chateau.
And if she didn't drive me all these places like to set
(18:48):
or to the Comedy Chateau every other few weeks,
then I definitely wouldn't be where I am now.
Like I wouldn't be shooting a short film
that I'm going to be shooting very soon
if I didn't have the support from my parents.
So I'm very thankful for all of the things
they've done for me.
Yeah, absolutely.
So what's outside of the world of entertainment?
(19:10):
I mean, you are a young person.
What does life look like outside of this?
Are you still going to school?
Do you homeschool?
Just talk about life as Cali outside of standup
and outside of these movies.
I am homeschooled, but outside of acting,
(19:30):
I mostly just kind of hang out with my friends, with my dog.
I do watch a lot of movies.
Like tomorrow, me and my brother are going
to the Hollywood Cemetery
to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
I think I definitely really just like hanging out
with like my friends and my brother
going to all these different places.
I really, really like going to like kind of Halloween events
(19:54):
like Halloween War Nights at Universal.
So when I'm not acting, I love to go to like
those kinds of places, just have fun, chill.
I watch movies with my dog.
Yeah.
You talked about earlier too, about being an influencer.
It's funny that you mentioned about your, you know,
the Halloween world because I checked out your YouTube.
(20:15):
You haven't posted in a while.
The last time you posted, I think it was last Halloween
going to haunted houses and carving pumpkins
is are we going to get more videos from you this Halloween?
Is that what inspires you?
Yes, I am definitely, I think my social media
is definitely more Instagram based,
but I definitely want to start filming
(20:37):
more YouTube videos again.
So I think when we go to Halloween War Nights,
I definitely will be filming a YouTube video for that
because I love the houses this year.
They are so cool.
The Terra Trama's Blumhouse,
which is one of my favorite production companies.
So I definitely want to film that for YouTube.
But yeah, definitely I would say when I film YouTube videos,
(20:59):
it isn't mostly like Halloween stuff that inspires me.
It's just kind of like, if we're in a fun place
or like a cool little experience that I think my audience
will really like to see like me and my brother go through,
I will film a YouTube video for that.
Sure.
Well, you've, I mean, you've got to graduate high school.
(21:20):
So there's a lot of things that, you know, you're young.
So it's hard to answer this question,
but what do you hope the future holds?
Well, very first thing is in the future,
I want to make this one film.
I pretty much already kind of started writing
because I know it takes a long time to write
(21:42):
to get a perfect script based off way back
in the Edo period of Japan called Shinju.
And I, it's a really high budget film, I would say,
for what I want to do.
I want it to be very authentic, like filmed in Japan.
So that is something I really want to film
and really want to make.
(22:02):
And I'm really hoping that in the future,
I can make that happen.
I also really want to be in an M. Night Shyamalan movie
because I love his films.
The Sixth Sense is also one of my favorite films.
I love it so much.
I love the twists at the end.
I would just love to work on a film with M. Night Shyamalan.
I think that would be so cool.
(22:23):
And I think it would be the same with Tim Burton
is I would love to also be in a Tim Burton movie
and kind of work with my favorite directors
and learn more about their style of directing.
I think I would also really like to make a film
about a real problem in the world
to try and like make people kind of think
(22:45):
like about homelessness or something.
Because like I said earlier on,
I really want to make films to help change people's lives
in the world because stuff like homelessness
has become a big problem in today's world.
And I really think that the magic of like filmmaking
(23:05):
is you can make films that can make people think
that could have the potential to solve these problems.
Because once you get people thinking,
some people will go and try and help out with that.
And even the smallest bit of help can make a huge difference.
So that is also something I really wanna do.
(23:27):
And yeah.
I love that.
And you mentioned two directors that at the time
of this recording, both had a movie come out
relatively recently.
So what did you think of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
and what did you think of Trap?
I really liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
I just love Tim Burton style so much.
(23:50):
There's something so amazing about it
that in my opinion, if the movie isn't really your type,
you kind of go wow, just kind of admitting
that it still is pretty good movie.
And I love Beetlejuice so much.
Jenna Ortega did amazing.
All of the actors did amazing.
I love it.
Trap, I also really liked.
(24:12):
I liked how it kind of took place in a concert.
And I liked the plot about the concert
basically being like a trap for this serial killer
who took his daughter to the concert.
I...
Yeah.
I'm a big movie fan as well.
I'm actually going to movie after we stop recording here.
One of the movies that I mentioned
(24:34):
really, really enjoyed the other one not so much.
And I'll let you decide which one is which.
But yeah, I really, really appreciate your time.
I want you to tell people how they can connect with you.
Shout out how people are going to be able
to find the movies that you're in.
Shout out your social media.
Shout out where people can find you,
(24:56):
I guess live and stand up as well.
You can find me on Instagram at Kali.Kira or YouTube,
also Kali.Kira.
And for stand up comedy,
you can find me at the Comedy Chateau
or next week, next Sunday at the Ice House.
(25:16):
What about the movies?
Are they anywhere streaming?
I'm not sure.
I know a lot of the short films I'm doing
are in film festivals right now, such as Pieces.
So yay.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, people can stay tuned for that.
I really, really appreciate you.
Have a good rest of the evening.
Thank you so much for having me.
So that was Cali Kira.
I really enjoyed speaking with her.
(25:38):
Just like I said in the beginning,
anytime I get to speak with somebody
who is passionate about their work,
and as you heard right towards the end of this interview,
extremely passionate about the world of film
and trying to do some good in the world
through her filmmaking.
So I wish her all the best with that.
Yeah, she is a young person.
She's just 13 years old.
(25:59):
So so much is in store for her,
just with the passion that I could see
coming from her in our interview.
So I think this is an early interview
for somebody who is destined for great things.
So you wanna follow along with Kali.
All of the links to her social media
(26:19):
will be in the show notes.
Urge you to check all that out.
Urge you to check out the movies that she's been in.
She mentioned some of them.
I'll try to link some of them in the show notes as well,
but go check those out if possible.
If this is your first time listening to this podcast,
please go follow along on Instagram and on Spotify,
not enough podcasts.
(26:40):
Go leave a five-star rating on Apple and on Spotify.
Leave a written review on Apple.
Helps a ton.
But yeah, so many great guests in the past.
Everything from other actors to comedians to musicians
to Olympic gold medalists and true crime,
all kinds of people on.
Always enjoy talking to people
with an interesting story to tell.
(27:01):
So glad to talk with Kali this week.
We'll see you next week.
Take it away, Chris.
This has been Not in a Huff with Jackson Huff.
Thank you for listening.
Be sure to join us next time
where we will interview another amazing guest
who is sure to make you laugh or make you think,
or hey, maybe even both.
But until then, keep being awesome.
I really want to make films to help change people's lives.
(00:04):
I really think that the magic of like filmmaking
is you can make films that can make people think
that have the potential to solve these problems.
Because once you get people thinking,
some people will go and try and help out with that.
And even the smallest bit of help
can make a huge difference.
Welcome to Not in a Hoff with Jackson Hoff,
(00:26):
where we interview newsmakers, storytellers,
and all around interesting people.
Sit back, relax, unless you're driving,
and enjoy the show.
Here's Jackson.
Hello, hello, hello, I am Jackson Huff.
This is Not in a Huff.
Thanks so much for joining me.
As always, really appreciate it.
This week, speaking with Cali Kira.
(00:47):
Now, I was looking on Instagram for standup comedians
about a month, two months ago,
and I've already had one on.
I've got a few other lined up.
Cali was part of that, but then I realized,
Cali's got a lot more to her.
She is a standup comedian.
That's how she came up, but she's also an actress.
She is also somebody who,
(01:07):
I guess she's quote unquote retired now,
but she was involved in competitive cheer as well.
So we're gonna briefly touch all of these things.
We're gonna talk a little bit about competitive cheer.
I still need to have someone on from that world,
because I just think that's, I don't know,
it's unique and interesting.
I bring it up to her.
I don't know that she knew much about it from her response,
(01:29):
but I always loved bringing on as a kid
and in those movies, the original one anyways,
and I wanna have somebody on there,
but that's neither here nor there.
We're gonna talk a little bit about competitive cheer.
We're gonna talk about some of the cool movies
that she's been a part of.
We're gonna talk about some of the awards
that she's gotten for her acting already,
and then we're also going to talk about her standup comedy.
(01:53):
So a lot of really cool things to talk about.
She's already accomplished a lot,
and I just mentioned how she didn't really go
into too much about bringing on when I brought it up,
and that might be because it probably came out
before she was born because Callie is only 13 years old.
She's, I think you're gonna listen
and you'd have no idea if we didn't talk about it,
(02:14):
because she's extremely wise beyond her years there for sure,
but I really enjoyed speaking with her.
I think big things are in store for her.
Towards the end, she kind of threw a bomb out there
on exactly what kind of movies that she wants
to begin creating eventually and directing.
I think what she says there is really powerful
(02:34):
and the reason that movies exist.
So I really, really enjoyed speaking with Cali.
I think you're gonna enjoy hearing
from a young up and coming entertainer, actor, comedian,
all these types of things.
Before we jump into the interview, if you haven't already,
go subscribe, follow along on Apple and on Spotify
(02:55):
to this podcast, helps a ton.
You'll see more great people like Cali
and you'll be able to check out all
of the 200 plus episodes in the past.
Follow along on TikTok, Not in a Huff Podcast,
on Instagram, Not in a Huff Podcast as well.
But yeah, let's get right to this interview.
Here's Cali Kira.
Cali, how are you?
(03:15):
I'm good, how about you?
I'm good, I'm gonna let you do
the heavy lifting, just introduce yourself.
Hi, my name is Cali Kira.
I am 13 years old and I am an actor
and influencer and standup comedian.
I love it, and we're gonna unpack all of that.
I wanna kind of, I guess, start just at the beginning.
You know, the beginning is a little bit shorter
of a time for you than a lot of the people I speak with,
(03:36):
but what made you, I guess, get interested
in the world of entertainment?
Well, I always really loved horror movies
and I always wanted to like make my own horror films
and be a person in a horror movie.
So that's how I kind of got into acting.
And then I realized that I actually do really wanna do
acting like dramas and like comedies, horrors.
(04:01):
And so I really leaned more into that.
Before then I did competitive cheerleading.
So that's how I got my Instagram and became an influencer.
And then for standup comedy, I used to perform
at the LA Comedy and Connection Theater for improv comedy.
And then eventually we found out about Sunday auditions
(04:23):
at Comedy Chateau and that's how I got into standup comedy.
I love it.
And I didn't even write a question about this
because I had forgotten that one part you talked about
and that was the competitive cheerleading.
I, you know, in looking at Instagram
and all that kind of stuff, looking at influencers,
there's a whole world of that.
What does that mean exactly?
So I know about cheerleading when it comes to, you know,
(04:45):
high school and that kind of stuff.
So is it just like, you know, in other sports,
you've got, you know, like, you know, travel teams
in AAU basketball and stuff.
Is that what it is?
Just a cheerleading squad outside of your school?
It's definitely way more competitive
than sidelines cheerleading
because I've gotten hurt multiple times.
Or we're throwing people up in the air,
(05:06):
making them do back flips.
We're doing really hard tumbling skills
and like all of this stuff.
And we, we travel all over the place.
Like I think I've been to Texas,
like 9,000 times already
because of cheerleading competitions.
Like you go to all these different places.
So it's definitely kind of like a mix,
(05:27):
I would say a mix of like a travel team
with cheerleading times 10.
It's really, really hard to do.
It takes a lot of time to learn all the skills
and how to put people up in the air like that.
But it is a lot of fun and I love it.
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to show my age right away,
but I mean, how similar is it to,
(05:50):
I guess the, the bring it on movies.
I was around when that first came out.
How is it similar to the bring it on movies?
Definitely like the cheerleading competitions.
It's very competitive like that.
And you kind of like, I remember like,
you kind of always are watching other people
kind of like practice their routines.
Cause we used to go behind like the stage to practice.
(06:10):
We did all these things.
You would go practice warmup jumps,
warm up the tumbling, warm up the stunts,
and then do like two times full out on a mat,
like a dead mat, which is basically not a spring floor.
It is a dead mat on like a wood floor.
And then after you would do that,
you would go out on stage and you would get to watch
(06:32):
everyone like practice their routines
and see what they're doing.
And you can kind of see people like,
it bring it on like how better they are than you
and it makes you nervous.
Super competitive like that.
I got you and you mentioned that you used to do that.
So I guess you're a retired cheerleader at 13,
(06:52):
which may be a new one because, you know,
I've talked to a lot of Olympic medalists who are gymnasts
and you know, they talk about, I retired at 19 years old,
which sounds always funny, but what made you stop?
Just the competitiveness, the injuries,
or you just found passion somewhere else or what?
When I started getting really into acting
after my first ever audition,
(07:14):
I realized that I couldn't do cheerleading
and acting at the same time,
because if I booked the first maybe audition for,
I would have to leave the team
and I wouldn't be able to go to any competitions.
And that isn't really fair to cheerleading
because everyone has to be a team on the competitions.
(07:35):
Like if you get out,
they have to find someone last minute to replace you
and they have to learn the whole routine and everything.
So that isn't really fair to the team.
So I had to choose between either cheerleading or acting
and I ended up going with acting
because I did really wanna be in these films
and I wanted to make my own films
(07:57):
to kind of like change the world, help people, you know?
So yeah.
I got you, I love it.
And I wanna make sure I get this right.
So we're talking about your kind of foray into acting
and you've already achieved quite a bit.
You were recently awarded a scholarship
from the American Arts Film and TV Academy.
(08:18):
First of all, congratulations.
Second of all, what is that exactly?
It is a acting conservatory and it was very helpful.
I actually ended up,
instead of it like a normal acting class
where you only get so many minutes with someone,
sometimes after the class,
they would take like all the way till next week
(08:40):
to finish someone from the previous class
because they spent that much time with everyone
and that was very helpful.
We learned how to get into touch with our emotions,
which is really important to know how to do
if you wanna be a serious actor.
And that was super helpful.
Like it's much easier for me to get into my emotions on set
(09:03):
in such a short amount of time.
After that, I realized and I love it so much.
And we also got to learn about all these different
like film terms they use on set.
Like if you hear someone asking about like,
if they want like this on flight,
we got to learn about that.
And I also got to learn Maddie Young,
(09:23):
amazing director, love them.
And I got to learn about like DP work.
We all got these little parts in one class.
Like we're filming an actual scene,
someone's scene as if we're filming a real movie.
And I got to work as a DP
and I got to learn all of this stuff about camera,
specifically a Blackmagic camera.
And I got to learn about like clean or dirty,
(09:45):
all this like these camera terms
that are so helpful for filmmaking.
Yeah, and I know that that group is LA based.
Are you, you live in LA now, correct?
Yes.
Are you a transplant?
Are you somebody who's always lived there?
What's that, what's that look like?
I moved to LA from Loomis, California,
(10:09):
which is a very small town,
probably no one really ever heard of.
So LA is much more different than where I used to live,
but I love it a lot
because there's so much more stuff to do.
I got you.
So was it, I mean, was it a family move
because of other things or was,
I guess was your family betting on your,
(10:30):
betting on your success and potential?
Well, we noticed when we were in Loomis,
I was getting a lot of auditions
and then we realized most of them were LA based.
So we ended up deciding on moving to LA.
So I could hopefully get more auditions
and more acting opportunities.
And it did work.
(10:50):
I ended up booking more when we moved to LA.
It was, it was, it was actually,
I would say it was probably one of the best decisions
we've made because if we didn't move to LA,
I don't think I would have booked as many like short films
as I have now.
Yeah, so let's talk about one of those short films.
Don't know whether you booked it in LA
or when you were, we're still in your hometown,
(11:11):
but I know that it's a film that won some awards.
So tell us about Pieces.
Tell us about the film, what exactly it is,
and then your partner at all.
I love Pieces.
I love the director.
She's amazing.
It was so much fun to work on.
I actually did book that when I was living in LA
(11:31):
and it's an amazing film.
I played Daisy, who was like a TV show host
for like a Nickelodeon kind of show,
but like, it's hard to explain.
Like one of those 80 shows I would teach kids
is about like Stranger Danger.
And it was amazing.
I loved it so much.
I'm so, so proud of the film.
(11:53):
I'm so happy for the director that won that award.
It's amazing.
Good, I love it.
Let's talk about one of your other films.
I know that was one that you're particularly proud of too.
It was a feature-length film.
Talk about The Calling.
It was it, that sounds scary.
Is that a scary movie?
I know you're into horror.
So The Calling is a feature-length film.
(12:17):
I had a small part in it,
but I'm so happy because I love horror movies
and it is a horror movie.
And it's basically about this girl
whose mother actually went around
kidnapping babies and stuff.
So that wasn't her actual mom.
And it is, really was so much fun to work on the set
(12:39):
and everything was amazing.
It was amazing.
Let's kind of jump to your time in standup.
We've already talked about cheerleading.
We've talked about acting.
That's enough for a lot of people,
but you've got another thing to you
and that's the standup world,
which is a little bit different than the acting world.
Definitely different than cheerleading,
(12:59):
but talk about how you got involved in standup.
So standup, I mostly perform at the Comedy Chateau.
Currently I'm doing a class at Colby's Comedy
in the Ice House.
And my showcase for that is coming up very soon
and I'm excited for that.
But how I got into standup was
I used to perform improv comedy
(13:21):
at the LA Comedy Connection Theater.
And every few months, I would say every eight months,
we would go perform at the Comedy Chateau
and that's how I met Felix.
And Felix is really awesome.
He kind of gives me, he's like my mentor
in standup comedy, I would say.
And I'm so happy he lets me perform at the Comedy Chateau.
But before that, eventually I stopped doing improv comedy
(13:44):
for about a year and then I auditioned for America's Got Talent.
And then we kind of found out about Sunday auditions
at the Comedy Chateau from there.
So we decided to go try it out.
I met Felix again, I did my set
and then I got onto a show there
and I kind of just really enjoyed being on stage,
(14:06):
making people laugh,
basically just kind of talking to the crowd.
It's very much like a conversation.
It pretty much is a conversation with the audience.
And yeah, I just, I loved it so much
that I have been doing it for a while now
and I'm happy with it.
I love that, Matt.
I wanna, I guess I wanna ask you this because,
you know, a lot of people are gonna think,
okay, you already mentioned that you're younger,
(14:28):
you're 13 years old.
That's, people are gonna wonder what they're getting
when they come to the comedy show.
You mentioned crowds, so is it mostly crowd work?
What should they expect?
I would say what they should expect
is a different set each time.
So far I have never performed the same set.
(14:50):
I am currently working on doing more crowd work in my sets,
which I think I love crowd work because it definitely,
you definitely are, you know,
you're definitely being more connected to the audience
and I love that.
It always makes the set a little bit better,
but definitely a new thing every single time.
(15:12):
Tell us a little bit about how,
because I believe,
I guess I don't really know your timeline.
Were you doing comedy before acting
or acting before comedy or they kind of went together?
I was doing acting before comedy.
So what, I guess, what skills from your world of acting
(15:32):
did you take into comedy?
Because, you know, like I mentioned,
they're, you know, they share some things.
They're both entertainment,
but they're also quite different.
So talk about how being an actor made you be able
to be a better standup comedian
and maybe how it maybe caused problems too.
So talk a little bit about that.
How acting definitely helped me
(15:54):
become a better standup comedian is,
I definitely include a lot of acting inside of my sets.
Like some jokes I have like hitting a Tesla cyber truck
because I really want to meet Justin Bieber,
involve acting out a mom,
basically just acting out all these different characters
(16:16):
into my set.
So that's kind of how I put acting into my standup comedy.
So you, I mean, you've found success.
We've already talked about, you know,
the awards that you won, the movies that you've been in.
Give advice to other young people
who want to get into acting or get into to stand up.
(16:37):
Talk a little bit about how they can,
how they can make their dreams a reality as well.
Well, first off, you definitely need to ask your parents
because if you don't,
you probably won't be able to figure out
how to get to auditioning and stuff.
And then you need to go, I would say,
you need to go onto apps like backstage and stuff
because that's definitely where you get
(16:58):
most of the auditions for films.
You can think you are the greatest actor in the world
and you might be, but always take an acting class
because acting classes definitely help so much.
Like I remember I used to be such a big actor.
Like I would do everything over the top.
(17:19):
And then I suddenly learned how to do more film acting.
And then I would still be able to do like kind of more
Disney, a bit more over the top acting.
So I definitely say do acting classes first
or find your favorite type of genre for acting
and try to go that route
because that will not only make it a lot easier,
(17:42):
but then you'll end up doing something really love.
And I will say you have to love acting.
You have to love being on set for multiple hours a day,
being around a ton of people,
doing the same scene over and over again.
You have to love creating to do it
because that will show on camera
and that will show through your performance.
And it always makes it like a hundred percent better.
(18:04):
You mentioned make sure your parents are on board,
but that's a kind of a good segue into talking about
just what your parents have meant to you
in this whole process,
because you just talked about how they move
to help you pursue your dream.
I'm sure they're your chauffeurs
when it comes to some of these auditions.
So talk about just their support
(18:26):
and what it's meant to you so far.
My parents have definitely supported me a lot.
And it means so much to me
because if my mom wouldn't have moved here,
I would have never got into acting
or into the Comedy Chateau.
And if she didn't drive me all these places like to set
(18:48):
or to the Comedy Chateau every other few weeks,
then I definitely wouldn't be where I am now.
Like I wouldn't be shooting a short film
that I'm going to be shooting very soon
if I didn't have the support from my parents.
So I'm very thankful for all of the things
they've done for me.
Yeah, absolutely.
So what's outside of the world of entertainment?
(19:10):
I mean, you are a young person.
What does life look like outside of this?
Are you still going to school?
Do you homeschool?
Just talk about life as Cali outside of standup
and outside of these movies.
I am homeschooled, but outside of acting,
(19:30):
I mostly just kind of hang out with my friends, with my dog.
I do watch a lot of movies.
Like tomorrow, me and my brother are going
to the Hollywood Cemetery
to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
I think I definitely really just like hanging out
with like my friends and my brother
going to all these different places.
I really, really like going to like kind of Halloween events
(19:54):
like Halloween War Nights at Universal.
So when I'm not acting, I love to go to like
those kinds of places, just have fun, chill.
I watch movies with my dog.
Yeah.
You talked about earlier too, about being an influencer.
It's funny that you mentioned about your, you know,
the Halloween world because I checked out your YouTube.
(20:15):
You haven't posted in a while.
The last time you posted, I think it was last Halloween
going to haunted houses and carving pumpkins
is are we going to get more videos from you this Halloween?
Is that what inspires you?
Yes, I am definitely, I think my social media
is definitely more Instagram based,
but I definitely want to start filming
(20:37):
more YouTube videos again.
So I think when we go to Halloween War Nights,
I definitely will be filming a YouTube video for that
because I love the houses this year.
They are so cool.
The Terra Trama's Blumhouse,
which is one of my favorite production companies.
So I definitely want to film that for YouTube.
But yeah, definitely I would say when I film YouTube videos,
(20:59):
it isn't mostly like Halloween stuff that inspires me.
It's just kind of like, if we're in a fun place
or like a cool little experience that I think my audience
will really like to see like me and my brother go through,
I will film a YouTube video for that.
Sure.
Well, you've, I mean, you've got to graduate high school.
(21:20):
So there's a lot of things that, you know, you're young.
So it's hard to answer this question,
but what do you hope the future holds?
Well, very first thing is in the future,
I want to make this one film.
I pretty much already kind of started writing
because I know it takes a long time to write
(21:42):
to get a perfect script based off way back
in the Edo period of Japan called Shinju.
And I, it's a really high budget film, I would say,
for what I want to do.
I want it to be very authentic, like filmed in Japan.
So that is something I really want to film
and really want to make.
(22:02):
And I'm really hoping that in the future,
I can make that happen.
I also really want to be in an M. Night Shyamalan movie
because I love his films.
The Sixth Sense is also one of my favorite films.
I love it so much.
I love the twists at the end.
I would just love to work on a film with M. Night Shyamalan.
I think that would be so cool.
(22:23):
And I think it would be the same with Tim Burton
is I would love to also be in a Tim Burton movie
and kind of work with my favorite directors
and learn more about their style of directing.
I think I would also really like to make a film
about a real problem in the world
to try and like make people kind of think
(22:45):
like about homelessness or something.
Because like I said earlier on,
I really want to make films to help change people's lives
in the world because stuff like homelessness
has become a big problem in today's world.
And I really think that the magic of like filmmaking
(23:05):
is you can make films that can make people think
that could have the potential to solve these problems.
Because once you get people thinking,
some people will go and try and help out with that.
And even the smallest bit of help can make a huge difference.
So that is also something I really wanna do.
(23:27):
And yeah.
I love that.
And you mentioned two directors that at the time
of this recording, both had a movie come out
relatively recently.
So what did you think of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
and what did you think of Trap?
I really liked Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
I just love Tim Burton style so much.
(23:50):
There's something so amazing about it
that in my opinion, if the movie isn't really your type,
you kind of go wow, just kind of admitting
that it still is pretty good movie.
And I love Beetlejuice so much.
Jenna Ortega did amazing.
All of the actors did amazing.
I love it.
Trap, I also really liked.
(24:12):
I liked how it kind of took place in a concert.
And I liked the plot about the concert
basically being like a trap for this serial killer
who took his daughter to the concert.
I...
Yeah.
I'm a big movie fan as well.
I'm actually going to movie after we stop recording here.
One of the movies that I mentioned
(24:34):
really, really enjoyed the other one not so much.
And I'll let you decide which one is which.
But yeah, I really, really appreciate your time.
I want you to tell people how they can connect with you.
Shout out how people are going to be able
to find the movies that you're in.
Shout out your social media.
Shout out where people can find you,
(24:56):
I guess live and stand up as well.
You can find me on Instagram at Kali.Kira or YouTube,
also Kali.Kira.
And for stand up comedy,
you can find me at the Comedy Chateau
or next week, next Sunday at the Ice House.
(25:16):
What about the movies?
Are they anywhere streaming?
I'm not sure.
I know a lot of the short films I'm doing
are in film festivals right now, such as Pieces.
So yay.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, people can stay tuned for that.
I really, really appreciate you.
Have a good rest of the evening.
Thank you so much for having me.
So that was Cali Kira.
I really enjoyed speaking with her.
(25:38):
Just like I said in the beginning,
anytime I get to speak with somebody
who is passionate about their work,
and as you heard right towards the end of this interview,
extremely passionate about the world of film
and trying to do some good in the world
through her filmmaking.
So I wish her all the best with that.
Yeah, she is a young person.
She's just 13 years old.
(25:59):
So so much is in store for her,
just with the passion that I could see
coming from her in our interview.
So I think this is an early interview
for somebody who is destined for great things.
So you wanna follow along with Kali.
All of the links to her social media
(26:19):
will be in the show notes.
Urge you to check all that out.
Urge you to check out the movies that she's been in.
She mentioned some of them.
I'll try to link some of them in the show notes as well,
but go check those out if possible.
If this is your first time listening to this podcast,
please go follow along on Instagram and on Spotify,
not enough podcasts.
(26:40):
Go leave a five-star rating on Apple and on Spotify.
Leave a written review on Apple.
Helps a ton.
But yeah, so many great guests in the past.
Everything from other actors to comedians to musicians
to Olympic gold medalists and true crime,
all kinds of people on.
Always enjoy talking to people
with an interesting story to tell.
(27:01):
So glad to talk with Kali this week.
We'll see you next week.
Take it away, Chris.
This has been Not in a Huff with Jackson Huff.
Thank you for listening.
Be sure to join us next time
where we will interview another amazing guest
who is sure to make you laugh or make you think,
or hey, maybe even both.
But until then, keep being awesome.
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