Who is she?!
Gabriella is a versatile actor/singer/dancer with a wellspring of depth, a lighthearted quirk with quick comedic timing and an earthy, animated youthful spirit. A lover of collaborative and intimate environments, Gabriella has great talent in building strong ensembles and creating work that is honest, vulnerable, and thought provoking. She has been consistently working since graduating from CAP21 May of 2016. She studied a multitude of styles and techniques such as Meisner, Shaw, Shakespeare, Chekov, Mask Work, Lecoq, On Camera Technique, TV/Film, Clowning, and Linklater Technique. She has a natural intuition that reads strong on stage/screen, loves all things that include a jam session with some dope in the moment harmony, classic rock and folk is a midwestern girl at heart and loves to make people laugh.
Gabriella grew up in St. Charles and Geneva, Illinois (about 45 minutes outside of Chicago) and spent most of her childhood playing in the mud and cornfields of Oglesby, Illinois at her grandma and grandpa's house. Very shy as a child, she spent most of her elementary school and middle school days holed up in her house teaching herself songs on the piano and guitar and creating intricate stories on The Sims or playing Barbies. Additionally, Gab loved writing scripts and filming an assortment of media from her solo talk show "Gab's Corner" to her Barbie Soap Opera "Average" starring the Mary-Kate Olsen barbie doll, to her legendary music videos (most notably her rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.)
The first time she stepped into the spotlight was when she first sang in front of a crowd at age 10. It started with her father persuading her into auditioning for the school talent show by buying her the Daphne (Ala Scooby Doo) Barbie Doll. From that moment on, Gabriella continued to be known for her shy exterior and powerhouse voice. She continued down the path of performing by becoming an avid community theatre participant, took acting/dance classes/piano and guitar lessons growing up and even assisted theatre classes for children at different theatre companies as a teenager, resulting in a more confident and extraverted version of Gabriella. Who would have thought putting an extremely introverted child in the arts would help her flourish and realize her full potential?!
In high school, she decided to take her career to the next level by applying to/eventually attending The Chicago Academy for the Arts as a Musical Theatre major. At The Academy she starred as Wendla in Spring Awakening, Olive in The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee, Bianca in Taming of The Shrew, and Hope in Urinetown. After high school, she attended The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University as a BFA in Musical Theatre before transferring to CAP21 in NYC to finish out her training. Since graduating CAP21 in spring of 2016 and the showcase practicum program in January of 2017, Gabriella has been working with the acclaimed NYC based children's theatre company Vital Theatre Company since April 2017 in a multitude of shows and tours, along with developing and starring new plays/projects with a multitude of companies Off-Broadway and beyond over the past couple years while continuing performing regionally and in the city. An actor first, she is actively seeking opportunities to perform and create with other artists in any medium, and definitely still plays The Sims as much as she used to 20 years ago. Most recently, Gabriella played Dawn in the 2nd National Tour of Waitress (2019-2022), and was recently seen in "Run Bambi Run" at Milwaukee Rep and the regional premiere of "Waitress" at Ogunguit Playhouse choreographed by Tim Tok sensations Cost n' Mayor. She is a proud AEA member! Check out Gabriella's Instagram! @gabriellamozzarella