Dreaming of his name on the Silver Screen and Pop Charts for most of his life, Tony Ramirez has put his abilities to the test in theatre, music production, singing, acting, video, design, photography and much more.

Excerpts from an Interview by Carrie Johnson:

Did you always have an interest in video and photography?

I actually started in front of the camera, I guess you would say. I did a lot of acting and singing. I didn’t grow up saying, ‘I want to be a videographer or photographer.’ But when I moved to California, the school year had already started and some of the classes didn’t have room for me. One of the available classes was in photography. But they were already midway through the course and the teacher didn’t want to re-start for me. So, to keep me busy, he said, ‘I’ve got this machine in the back. It’s a video editor. We’ve had it for two years and nobody knows how to use it. If you want, check it out.’ And I had it mastered in two weeks. The teacher referred me to a local producer and I started working with him while I was still in high school, making a killing filming and editing local commercials.

I have to go back a minute to the singing and acting. Tell us more!

One of my claims to fame was that I was in a boy-girl band: three boys and three girls. We were called TRAYC (The Respect of All Young Children). We toured in Texas and did a lot of competitions. Our biggest one was the Sammy Davis Jr. Awards in Houston, TX. I was also doing a lot of musical theater at the time, like Guys and Dolls, Working and Wizard of Oz.

When I moved to California, I wrote two plays and both got picked up and performed at my school. They both got really good reviews. We had actual newspaper critics come to the plays and review them.

You also continued to explore your creative side, correct?

In 2006, I won a writing award for a screenplay I created for Machinima, which is big in the video game world. Machinima flew me out to Los Angeles and filmed me as I accepted the award. It was a really cool experience and it helped jump-start my career again.

Then, in 2009, I opened a studio: Soundville Studios. I wound up picking up a contract with CBS Radio. I did all of their photos.