Zola Cruz De-Rossi
Actor
ZOLA CRUZ or Cool Crews as he calls himself, is an 11-year-old kid extraordinaire, actor, musician, model, soccer player, born in Kampala Uganda, in 2009 to two beautiful people of Ugandan origin now residing in Los Angeles, California. His biological father is Colombian. Cruz moved with his mums to Los Angeles in December 2018, to pursue his American dream of acting at the age of 9. Cruz was exposed to the arts at an early age due to being raised by artistic parents in the mold of a DJ/Producer, fashion Designer and Engineers all around him. He had exposure to the modeling world since the tender age of 4 and was managed by JMM, one of the best model management companies in Africa. Cruz walked for the brand launching of Bossini and Mr. Price in Uganda and graced the runways of Bride & Groom Kampala, the Pink Catwalk for Malengo Foundation, Kids World Kampala, Seeds & Threads Italia and many more for years at a young age.
Cruz was a featured lead in the Riham commercial for Oner Juice in 2017. In Los Angeles he was straight away picked to model for the Kid’s Expo at the LA Convention center in 2019. Cruz is mostly dressed and models for his mum’s label, GOOTABINGI, on a free role as Ambassador, and whenever she premieres new collections for her label. Cruz has appeared in newspapers as a role model for his age group. He’s attended many festivals like Coachella (US) & the Nyege Nyege International Festival (Uganda) since age 3 where his dancing caught the attention of international media and went viral.
Cruz recently joined the famed Young Actor’s Conservatory at Gary Spatz’s The Playground: A Young Actor's Conservatory after auditioning and getting accepted in 2021. After impressing his acting teachers Cruz has been moved into the Pro-level at the Playground.
Since moving to California, Cruz has been leading in a number of short films like EVOL: Girl In The Mirror (horror film due for release later 2021), KUGEL (due for release later), Music video: Indestructible by Stranger Things the Band, TV series: Thoughts & Feels (due for release soon), a PSA film: No Hitting (a no-bullying film), and a 360VR short film: The Proposal, where he made his first lead role appearance. Cruz is also scheduled for a starring role in: When Jackie Met Julio, and several others in the pipeline. Every role he’s picked for, Cruz is highly regarded and lauded for his professionalism, humor, sensitivity for others, brilliance and outgoing nature and casting directors say he’s a dream to work with even at his young age of 11. Cruz is a brilliant impressionist and pulls off different accents perfectly like the British, Indian, African American, Australian and African accents, plus celebrity impressions like President Obama and the Queen of England, while giving off a serious but hilarious and affable impression.
Cruz went through the Musician’s Institute Youth Program in 2019 for Vocal Training where he starred as a lead singer for his school band, Strong & Wrong, at the Live House Hollywood. He has a strong Opera voice which he trains for on his off days. Cruz went through The Barbizon Acting & Modeling School, at the Los Angeles Centre Studios and completed the program with the highest honors in September 2019, prior to upping his game by joining Gary Spatz's The Playground, for more intensive on-camera acting training.
Some highlights of Cruz’s tender career include: appearing, singing and wowing the Judges and especially Simon Cowell on America’s Got Talent March 2020 without being a participant straight from the audience; being the first child to present an Award at one of Africa’s biggest & prestigious events, The A’Bryan’s Fashion Awards in 2016; receiving an award as best young player at the Liverpool Youth Academy workshop in Kampala 2015; being the first kid upgraded to Advanced Acting level after only one month as a beginner, at Gary Spatz’s The Playground; being the first child to read the News Report on Uganda’s best TV Network, NTV news in 2017.
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Cruz has been managed by his moms until two weeks ago, or early April, 2021, when he was picked up by a brand-new manager under AA&M Promotions.