Alba Diaz

Highlights

• Alba Diaz Gracie was born in Bristol to a Spanish mother and Scottish father in the Spring of 1998. Alba moved to the South East of Spain at age four and lived there until she was fourteen when she moved back to England.
  
  She began to be interested in film and acting when she took GCSE's in Drama, Film and Photography, her teachers were pivotal in her learning and sparking these interests, she soon realised that film and acting were the two areas that she wanted to study and work towards.
  
  At college she studied Art, Acting, Psychology and Creative Media. After her A-levels Alba went on to study a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design which would serve her to realise that what she wanted to pursue was filmmaking and acting, and not an art and design degree. 
  
  Alba was not sure what she wanted to study and decided not to go to University, she wanted to make sure that what she studied was the right choice as the cost of going to University was too high to not be sure. 
  
  Instead she moved to one of England's creative hubs where she would go on to explore what she wanted to pursue.
  
   At age 19 she moved to her birth town, Bristol, where she would do internships and attend the BFI Film Academy in Documentary Filmmaking where she co-produced and co-directed a short film about social inequality in North Bristol. Alba watched a lot of independent cinema and worked in paid positions as a crew member in documentaries, commercials, short films and music videos. Alba gained experience in a variety of roles, from the AD department, costume, art department, camera and sound assistant, production assistant and even some directing.
  
  During this time Alba worked along these opportunities in hospitality to make ends meet.
  
  Alba has gained work experience at the BBC in Current Affairs, gained a BAFTA mentorship in Production Design with production designer Jacqueline Abrahams as well as working as a translator, transcriber and subtitle supervisor for TV documentaries for Al Jazeera, BBC and Warner Brothers amongst others.                        
  
  After three years she realised that as much as filmmaking is a big part of who she is and what she loves it wasn't what fully made her happy, so she decided to look for courses and workshops in Bristol that would allow her to train and gain more knowledge in acting.
  
  Alba attended masterclass workshops at the Actor's Workshop in screen acting, the basics of Meisner and storytelling through movement.
  
  In the Summer of 2019 she came across a screen acting course taught by filmmaker Jack Price, this is a week long course which introduced Alba to the Meisner technique. She made friends with those of the course, it was a small group, they introduced her to a weekly drop in class for those who have trained or are training in Meisner, this class is taught by actress and teacher Ella Cumber. Alba learned a lot during the 7 months that she attended the class. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 it is no longer taking place at present.
  
  Alba went on to study with Scott Williams at The Impulse Company in January 2020 in London.
   Scott Williams learned the technique from Meisner himself in New York and now teaches all over the world.
  
  When the pandemic hit the UK in March 2020 Alba moved back to her parent's in Devon where she has been writing short scripts and doing self tape challenges such as the 21 day self tape challenge with casting director Manuel Puro. 
  
  In the month of November 2020 Alba has been cast in two short films and is currently awaiting news from a few other productions.  
  
  Some of Alba's favourite directors include David Fincher, Lynn Ramsey, Andrea Arnold and Ken Loach.