Eric Gonzalez was choreographing dance classes at fifteen, in the middle of high school, years before he ever set foot on an AMDA campus. Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, the multidisciplinary artist trained early in dance, musical theatre, acting for camera, singing, and piano — a genuine triple threat, and then some.
From Barcelona’s Dance Floors to a Broadway State of Mind
Gonzalez wrote a book, “Mi Amigo El Fantasma”, published in May 2019 and available on platforms like Amazon. In 2021, at fifteen, he began working as a dance teacher and choreographer while still in high school, competing in Urban Dance competitions across Spain. He entered six of the country’s most important urban dance competitions, including Hip Hop International, winning first place in four of them and second place in the other two.
A Scholarship, Two Coasts, and a Career Shift
In 2023, at seventeen, Gonzalez moved to the United States after earning a scholarship to AMDA, where he studied Musical Theatre across the school’s Los Angeles and New York campuses, graduating in June 2025. Since then, he has worked in movies, series, and commercials for platforms including Hulu, as both an actor and a dancer. He is now part of the world premiere musical Aguardiente, directed by Luis Salgado, which has already been through its developmental workshop and is coming to Washington, DC’s Gala Theatre from April 30th through May 24th. Actors looking to break into film and television work of their own may find this guide to self-tape auditions and this rundown of where to find acting auditions useful starting points.
Art as an Open Door
Gonzalez describes himself as creative, hard-working, disciplined, and professional — but kind and respectful above all. He says he loves getting inspired, learning, and throwing himself into whatever a project needs, and takes pride in creating a safe, collaborative environment for whoever he’s working with.
His mission, as he puts it, is to inspire people and spread a message of respect, love, and freedom: “Art is an escape door for many people, and we have the key.” He hopes to be a reference point for people who, like him, were once afraid to show who they were, and to open doors for international and Spanish-speaking artists. More of his work can be found at his website.
Interview
Having studied Musical Theatre at both the Los Angeles and New York AMDA campuses before graduating in 2025, how did experiencing both coasts influence your approach to acting and theatre?
"I loved getting to experience both cities and campuses. I feel like the training and experience are different, which is the reason why I loved it, and I would totally recommend it to everyone. Los Angeles gave me the more commercial side of performing arts—the biggest studios for commercial/urban dancers are there, the biggest commercial projects, the film industry, Hollywood, pop artists, music videos, auditions for backup dancers, etc. New York instead gave me the Musical Theatre side, training in dance styles focused on musical theatre like jazz, theatre jazz, tap, and ballet. They got me ready to audition, and in fact, I got so inspired by all the shows on Broadway and the musical theatre industry in New York that I changed my mind from just wanting to be a commercial dancer to now wanting to pursue my triple threat career and do musical theatre."
Since graduating, you’ve already landed roles in movies, series, and commercials for major platforms like Hulu. How do you navigate the transition between stage performance and acting for the camera?
"Since I started performing, I knew I wanted to be ready for everything—that’s why I trained in both acting for camera and theatre. Some people think it’s the same, but it is actually not. The main difference I find is the way of managing your voice and physicality. For theatre, we tend to exaggerate everything physically, making it bigger for all the audience to see what we’re trying to communicate. In film, less is more—we need to be as natural as we can, and our facial expressions are more important. We need to adjust our volume: for theatre we need projection, meanwhile in film our projection tends to be regular speaking volume or even low because of the mics. I love doing both, and both have their pros and cons. I love the pace of theatre—not sitting around and waiting as much as in film. I love seeing the audience and interacting during the show or talking to them after. I love having a different journey every night—the rush, the excitement. But I also love film and the power of being able to transmit everything through a screen, how intimate it can be, the major scale of people and places we can reach, and of course the fact that once it’s done, we can see it for eternity whenever we want."
You are currently involved in the world premiere musical Aguardiente, directed by Luis Salgado. What has it been like working through the developmental workshop, and what can audiences expect when it hits the Gala Theatre in DC this spring?
"It’s been a beautiful and inspiring journey. It’s an honor to be a part of the creation of Aguardiente. Originating new characters that no one has played before and putting our vision of them to create everything from 0 is a lot of work—research, discovery, study—but it’s totally worth it. In this show, we are also representing a community in a key moment, representing their roots, culture, insecurities, problems, worries, and sacrifices. Audiences can expect an inspiring, beautiful musical with a lot of messages, references, history, representation, fun, fantasy, and love that is going to make people reflect. It’s very rich musically—Aguardiente has a big variety of music styles, from Afro-Caribbean music to pop, rock, and R&B, and the band is absolutely amazing."
