Ebby Magazine


 

A RISING STAR:
ALLISON STRONG



BY ISABEL NAZARIO

Colombian-american triple threat Allison Strong is taking flight. A former broadway chorus girl and child vocalist, the young actress is now packing her bags to film a project in Los Angeles
 


WE GENERATE FEARS WHILE WE SIT. WE OVERCOME THEM BY ACTION.


Colombian-American triple threat Allison Strong is taking flight. The former Broadway chorus girl and child vocalist, the young actress is now packing her bags to film a project in Los Angeles just days before celebrating Christmas with her family in New Jersey. She shared the Images/Imágenes Outstanding Achievement Award at Rutgers University alongside veteran actor Luis Guzmán and Sony Latin Recording Artist Luis Figueroa. On the very same day she dropped a new single, Human Years, her first musical release since her dual-language debut album, March Toward The Sun, in 2014. Human Years, a folk ballad featuring Strong’s ethereal voice and a sweeping string and horn arrangement, speaks of personal evolution through failure, growing up, and growing bolder. In the chorus, she sings, “In Human Years, I am here.”

Yes, she is.

As a shy second-grader, Strong discovered her stage presence in musical theatre classes. At nine years old, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Children’s chorus, appearing in productions of Carmen and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a teenager, she made her Broadway debut as an ensemble member in Bye Bye Birdie and later went on to perform in the Broadway cast of Mamma Mia, while simultaneously completing her studies as a musical theater major and honors student at Montclair State University. She is the recipient of the 2019 Garden State Film Festival Rising Star Award and is an alumna of the prestigious Johnny Mercer Songwriter’s Project and ASCAP’s Pop Songwriter’s Project.

Allison gained wider exposure with her first feature, the 2018 Netflix Original Comedy The Week Of, playing the role of Sarah, Adam Sandler’s daughter. The movie follows the chaotic week leading up to Sarah’s wedding, and the competition that ensues between her father and the wealthier father of the groom, played by comedian Chris Rock. Strong also recurs as Talia Goldstein in Season Two of the Emmy-winning Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and recently wrapped shooting the independent feature Either Side Of Midnight, directed by Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies). Her television credits include NBC’s The Blacklist and Nickelodeon’s Dora and Friends. Her music and personal story is featured in Diego Luna’s Fusion Network documentary series Back Home, filmed in her family’s native Colombia.

Raised in Union City, New Jersey, Allison returns to local schools every year to participate in Career Day. She takes students through a day in the life of a performer, leading them through vocal exercises, stretching, and tongue twisters before delving into scenes from past auditions and jobs. At the end of the class, hands shoot up in the air for questions. “How do I become an artist?”

Practice, patience, perseverance y poco a poco llegarás—a quote from her late grandmother meaning “Little by little you will arrive.”

Her grandmother was right. Allison Strong has arrived.




{ MANTRA }

“Practice, patience, perseverance y poco a poco llegarás.”


A QUOTE FROM HER LATE GRANDMOTHER MEANING “LITTLE BY LITTLE YOU WILL ARRIVE.
A L L I S O N  S T R O N G