Orien Elizabeth on Clubhouse

Bio

Orien Elizabeth has come a long way from needing to be bribed to dance on stage as a spunky 3 year old dressed up as a gold bird. Yes a gold bird, with a faulty beak that just wouldn’t stay on her head.

Orien is passionate about expressing herself through a myriad of artistic endeavors. During her college years at Norfolk State University, she mostly did her creative work behind the scenes. Taking and developing pictures non-stop and doing some modeling. This allowed her to flex her muscles as a creative, but deep down, Orien knew there was more for her in front of the camera, but was in the throes of a stable corporate job and felt that pursuing a career as a performer was risky.

In 2011, a good friend, and fellow model, mentioned that Orien should look into William Esper Studios acting school. At Esper, she honed her craft by learning the Sanford Meisner technique. By 2014, Orien had completed the conservatory program and was invited to join SAG. Her performing career was taking off.

She achieved a place with the Perry award winning Unstoppable Players theater group. This gave her the platform to perform as a principal actress on an off-off Broadway production where she played a supporting role of Annette. Orien was in many shows including Orange is the New Black, The Godfather of Harlem, Blue Bloods, FBI Most Wanted and New Amsterdam. Moving forward she felt it necessary to continue to add tools to her tool box and joined The Quiet Storm training group, run by UATW stunts. From weapons training to stunt basketball, Orien has had a wide array of training.

While working on the Get Down, initially as background, Orien was given her first speaking credit. She was Pappa Fuentes’ secretary, Pappa Fuentes who happened to be played by Jimmy Smits. As a young aspiring actress doing background and stand-in work she was grateful for the opportunity just to be on set weekly. Being able to finally do something I love to do. Being anxious to go to work and to see what scenes I will be working on. One day on set, sheI was told to do background work and a production assistant asked if I had gotten sides. She was confused because background actors don’t get sides. The PA responded by letting Orien know she had lines! Without an audition or an agent, Orien landed her first speaking role. She was thrilled.

Her goal is to be a leading lady on prime time TV and a role model for women on and off the screen.