Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber (IRIE SOULE) Allen.
Hi Amber, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story really begins with my mother. She is Jamaican and was born in Jamaica, and got her citizenship in America in 2001 after marrying a mixed-race southern boy my father. I was only one year old knowing what I know now and the things that I have achieved I would have not been able to achieve them have my mother not gone through that first hurdle. She settled in Memphis, Tennessee where I was born and raised.
I always was a high energy creative spirit. I grew up doing local theater all over Memphis landed my first major role at Ridgeway high school that’s where I did my first ever musical called ” Once on this island”.
Ironic enough and I fell in love with the art of Acting singing and dancing from a very young age. From then on, I continue down that path in high school I joined Production and I did theater and TV production during my years at the Poplar Pike Playhouse at GHS.
Throughout my theater life, I felt unrecognized because the art style was mainly consumed with white actors and actresses and there were never really roles that fit me or what I looked like. I knew then my love for theater and Acting would have to change just a little bit and I had my sights set on a “Hollywood”.
GO BIG OR GO HOME I TOLD MYSELF!
Making films and movies and playing roles that looked more like “me” was my dream! Because I didn’t grow up seeing Disney princesses that looked like.
Through my years studying theater and work ethic at the Poplar Pike Playhouse. I learned a lot but, mainly what I took away from my experience there was I had to “Work hard and be nice”. If I wanted to be as successful as I imagined I could be. Because of my work efforts and worth ethic at Germantown High School, I was able to get into Columbia College Hollywood a film school in Los Angeles California.
With help from my family and mainly my father. I was able to afford to house and go through college. I knew I was talented but I knew I just had to find the right people to see my talents! Long story short, I made the right connections networking and landed a manager, and then Covid happened. Everything changed I had to move back home to Memphis and attend classes online. Not the way I saw my college experience going but, that’s life.
I’m always able to adapt to change and as an actor that’s a very important skill. I auditioned all throughout quarantine and had those long nights and emotional moments. But I never gave up I kept auditioning! And I am still auditioning to this day. Then time stopped. My efforts were finally noticed!!!!! I landed my first major role during Covid. I was able to fly back to LA to film my first ever movie titled “House Party”.
I continue to audition and I’ve been booking roles ever since, while still finishing getting my film school degree education is always first! I didn’t realize it until now, but my whole life has prepared me for my career and I will even go as far as saying my life has prepared me for Covid happening. I was in a place where I was alone most of the time in my bedroom putting out these auditions to agents and producers not knowing what they would think of me and I’m not going to lie I had a few mental breakdowns too, however.
I believed in myself and I prayed I gave it all to God and I persevered even through quarantine. I finally felt seen! I am proud to say that my first movie was booked with a predominantly black cast and I was directed the first time by a black director! I remember saying: “It’s only up from here lord we did it!” I also make music on the side and I model and I am a dancer. I have appeared in many music videos here and there but, my main love is Acting and I also enjoy making music as well!
I have currently one music video out titled “BAD OXYGEN” by (Irie Soule) that’s my stage name. I plan on making more music and videos in the future! As well as landing more movies too! To sum it all up I’m currently in my bedroom waiting for my next audition, which could be possibly life-changing for me and my career in this industry they call “ HOLLYWOOD!”
This is only the beginning of my story so you can only imagine there are still lots of pages left to be filled in my book I call the realm of – AMBER IRIE SOULE.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve always said you’re not going far if there aren’t a few bumps in the road. I am currently 21 and I will say this I have been through it! As a mixed-race Jamaican woman, I have dealt with my fair share of racism from both ends of the spectrum.
Growing my in Memphis, I have often been told I’m not back enough or I act too white. This can affect the way you see yourself. I had to grow a thick skin and of course, I went to public school and there were countless struggles I had to get through. I wasn’t the smartest student in math or science, but where I excelled was in the arts, and that’s where I found myself.
One of my main struggles I had friends that turned into enemies and I had people that didn’t want to see me win. My senior year in high school was probably the toughest. I knew my world was changing and I was ready physically for it but not mentally I had already lost all my friends and I was a loner with a dream. I had lost myself for a minute and I was mad at the world and how I was treated.
It’s hard to say, but my story is no different from a lot of other girls. I was sexually assaulted at a young age and I had suppressed it mentally so when I got to high school I thought I had made the right friends, I was wrong. I got hurt again and I was angry. How did I let this happen to me again? I went crazy and honestly, I had an out-of-body experience and I let the cat out of the bag.
I spoke my truth and what happened to me as a little girl and what currently happened to me to my family. I went to the mental hospital for a week and calmed down. “I was able to make peace with my nightmare”. That was probably one of the hardest things I have ever been through and it made me a stronger woman because of it and also a stronger actor. I got closer to God at that moment because that’s what saved me!
And the funny thing is I wouldn’t take any of it back, because it made me better, wiser, and tougher than ever. I use my pain in my art, my acting, and in life! By telling my story and what happened to me, I’m telling every girl there not alone. #metoo #survivor.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am most known for my acting I am a professional actress. I also write and sing and make music. I am also a self-taught dancer. I like to just say I am an artist because I also paint and create. I have social media platforms where I just express myself for fun and other like-minded individuals. I have a YouTube channel that’s a working process and I also model too!
I am most proud of where I started. I grew up in a divorced household living in one-bedroom apartments in the hood. with my dad and sharing bunk beds in the living room with my older brother. There were some days we had the lights go out or we didn’t have a lot to eat both of my parents worked hard for everything I have and that is a blessing.
I am most proud that I come from humble beginnings I thank God for that because it opened my eyes to the real world. I am a humbled individual because of it. And I am even more proud of the person I have become because of the struggle. What sets me apart from others is my “heart, mind, soul, and spirit” I am saved by God and I have a big heart and I only want to do good for myself and others around me and I do that by living my life by example and fearing nothing but God.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a drama queen and highly sensitive. I was always putting together shows in the living room. Dancing to MTV music videos with my cousins. I was never shy I was always trying to get to know someone and like imitating realities this was my way of acting at the time.
My father had a huge movie collection so I was always watching films and trying to act in the scene or recreate it. I was always singing and dancing ” waking up the dead” my mother would call it. So they put me in theatre and stage performances at a young age. My dad always tells me he always knew I was an actress because I was always telling stories or performing.
My interests have always been acting, singing, dancing, and modeling I can remember I even remember writing a manifestation when I was younger in my school binder in big letters and I still have that same minder with that note written on it. We now to have our family baking recipes in that same binder for safekeeping. But honestly, I still have the same upbeat creative goofy personality not much has changed with that and I still have my crybaby moments too.
Contact Info:
- Email: irie.soule@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@irie.soule_/video/7047242676835700015
- Instagram: @irie.soule_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbzgGeA1dkltUCgUmaPb1jA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-245323692?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
