April Mina Maven Christianne Christensen

Where are you from originally? Where did you grow up? And where are you currently living?

My mother's Family is originally from Denmark and my father's Family is originally from Spain but I was born in Nicaragua and have lived in North America since I was six months old. I grew up in Miami and my three younger sisters were all born in Miami. I think the best way to describe it is. I am 50% Danish 50% Nicaraguan and 150% American.  Miami Girl to be exact!  Who says things stop at 100%? My parents still live in Coral Gables, FL actually.  Even though I have traveled the world, home is in my old room fighting with my sisters over shoes. California is were I currently live and it is also part of who I am. I came of age here so I can't deny it has molded me.

What made you decide to pack up and move to Cali?
Dreams. Madness and my irrational sense of optimism

Tell me a little bit of the movie's you have been working on and your roles?

All the projects I work on are Special and I very much feel connected to them. My Favorite role so far has being Rosie, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador in the Movie Crosstown (not yet Released). Rosie reminds me of what we all are. She believes in a better life, in her family, in the man she chooses to live her life with. Unfortunately, life isn't always about what we desire but instead a journey that tests us every day. She is vulnerable, naive and falling apart but somehow she continues to believe for the people she loves. I think we can all relate.

What was the most challenging role you ever had to play in a movie and why?

One of the most challenging roles to play was Valerie Sinclair. This Character hit a sensitive nerve. She was a 19-year-old prescription drug addict who eventually ends up on the street because of her addiction. Someone very close to me has a very similar addiction and playing Valerie was very emotionally draining. I knew her all to well and the movie become very damaging to me personally. It's funny people often believe acting is easy but the reality is you live & breathe these characters for months and eventually become those people, letting go of them is hard. You need to go find yourself (Christianne) every time. I'll admit I get really bad post-production depression. Once a film wraps I feel a bit lost for a few weeks. This happened to me in Dance & Theatre productions growing up too. I just wanted to go home with all the dancers, my co-star and the choreographer once the final curtain was drawn. I wanted to do it all again or go live in a house with everyone on the bill. I guess the big challenge is to let go of your role and your set family. I am very sentimental and I always say I would cling to a non-stick pan if it let me. You form small little families and suddenly everyone goes their separate ways.  This is always a painful challenge for me.

What is the most interesting costume design you had to put together?

I was working with Adriana Fonseca a beautiful Latin American actress doing some publicity shoots. She is stunning and the challenge was not to make her look beautiful or sexy. I wanted to make her seem real and attainable not just a beautiful image. It was hard to put clothes on a perfect figure and distract from a beautiful face, believe me. I really loved working on her sensuality vs. her very obvious sexual appeal.  I often find myself trying to explain my vision to very predictable minds that fear the unknown.
The shoot really brought out soft feminine feeling for the actress and at the end everyone was happy nonetheless, I didn’t go without raising a few eyebrows in a main-stream money making machine that is the entertainment world where sex sells.  I wanted to provoke the audience not just get a quick rise.  

Tell us about your passed involvement in Beauty Pageants.

I participated in my 1^st pageant after someone approached my mom about it when I was 7yrs old. Miss Little Dream was the name and I won the local tittle in Miami and my father sponsored me to participate in the National competition in North Florida.  I was second runner-up and was quite pleased with myself. I didn’t participate in another until I was 16yrs and was asked to participate in Miss Nicaragua that was being held in the US due to political turmoil in the Country at the moment. I had being a child model for a few years by then and decided how hard can this be. My experiences for the following years were beautiful. I traveled the world representing my country; meet people from all over the world whom I still keep in touch with. More importantly it made me believe in myself. I was never the prettiest girl as you can imagine sometimes competing with 70 of the world’s most beautiful girls in the World for the tittle of Miss Amber World, Miss Atlantic. Miss World etc. I learned my looks were not the only thing that would guide me on my path. I knew intelligence was key and a pretty face and body may get you in many doors but it is your inner strength and spirit that make you soar. “I like intelligent women. When you go out, it shouldn't be a staring contest.” Frank Sinatra
I also learned to live among my direct competition The girls and I would board in Foreign countries for weeks and sometimes you would get lucky and have someone amazing like beautiful Michelle Minagorri, who to this day inspires me. Then there was the occasional girl that would do anything to bring you down. It actually prepared me for LA. Nothing is quite cut throat like the pageant world so very little surprises me in Tinsletown now.  In one occasion in Houston, TX I was treated so badly by my roommate I would cry myself to sleep and then wake up on my own at 17yrs to my own strength and carry on.  I definitely grew-up a lot faster that my friends back home. Surviving on my own in a very adult world was how my life manifested.  

With all the stuff you have going on I am sure it can get very busy. What do you like to do on your free time?

To be honest….there is no such thing as free time for a creative person. Unless, you have the ability to turn off your brain of course (which I don’t). Anything turns me on and everything in my daily life can trigger me to live a whole new life. I posses pretty intense emotions that I usually leap with.  Let’s think, outside my mind and a movie set….hmmm In California I love to just be with all my creative friends, write and talk about new ideas. I appreciate an intense Ballet class here and there too. I love my friends house in Granada Hills, CA (I think of it as my country house) sometimes I will just go over and sleep, since you can hear mother earth so clearly there and the peace helps to clear my restless mind. A girl needs to catch up on lost beauty sleep when she can in this crazy industry (I have been known to go weeks w/out sleep). In Florida I love to be home watching movies with my sisters, or riding horses on our ranch in the Redlands. I love being outside in the dirt in any part of the world. However, I wouldn’t be a real Miami girl if I didn’t confess to loving the MIA nightlife. Wreaking havoc in my Miami may be the most fun a girl can have.  This usually ends up with more earth and more crazy script ideas anyway…The beach in the Wee hours of the night is very inspiring and night swimming in the ocean in Miami is probably my one addiction. I feel truly blessed to grow up in one of the most dynamic, sexiest and artistic cities in the world that cultivates art.   

How did you hear about Mina Miami Beach?

As I mentioned Michelle (co-founder of Mina) was my roommate in Punta del Este, Uruguay for a pageant one whimsical spring and the rest is magical history. But really who doesn’t know the Minagorri sisters in Miami? You guys are the definition of beauty and class. You three are truly living the sunny Miami life-style dream.  I just adore you girls and the fashion lifestyle concept you have created.

You are writer for an online magazine www.yogiinstilettos.com that the girls over at Mina read and loved! What exactly do you do for them?  

Thank you. Well, I actually co-founded the site with one of my very good friends Misha Starr. We went on a hike about 3 years ago and the idea came about very organically. We thought to ourselves what a great concept it would be to write about all the things people ask us advice on. We also wanted an outlet to showcase the struggles a girl goes through in the “time of her life.” Can you imagine a Yogi in Stiletto? We were wacky enough and did.  Everything from fashion, music to what charities to look for we’re writing about. People seem to really like the conversational tone we write in and we are glad it makes people smile if nothing else.  

What advice would you give to young girls that may want to get involved in the industry?

Don’t get caught up in the nonsense. You don’t need the best this or the perfect agent or the most magnificent head-shoot all you need is to believe in yourself.  The universe will catch up. You will shine on your own nothing dimes light.  My first theatrical agent meeting in LA when I was only 19yrs old said I would never work a day in my life because I had an accent and my look could not be categorized as anything.  Go figure. Being ethnically ambiguous is beautiful oh, and about those accents. Well, I am going to switch from playing a girl from El Salvador to a Louisiana princess for my next film.  What I mean to say is everyone will have an opinion about you but at the end it is you who can prove to the world you have talent. Many doors will be closed before the right opportunity comes along. You want it….Wake up every morning and go get it. Hard Work.

Tell me a little about the non-profit work you have done in the past.

Karitas is a non-profit organization that was set up by my father informally many years ago. I come from a very philanthropic family. When we were kids we were always aware of what we had and how there were people less fortunate and there were also people who were more fortunate. The Robin Hood life was simply what we believed in. My Dane mother believes even water should be conserved for other generations. It’s pretty safe to say my parents are hippies and everything we owned had a life span in our lives. All our old clothes and our old toys eventually ended up in much needed hands. If we had dinner set for 6 and 9 more arrived my family made sure everyone’s tummy left full. It’s just how I grew up. I have been working with many different charity events thought-out my life. I was even asked to come to Washington DC at age 22 as an ambassador for peace as Miss Nicaragua. Karitas grew to be the little charity that wants to help anyone and everyone in need. Last years campaign collected used crayons at chain restaurants. I personally collect and then deliver them to different parts of the world where children have no “Color” or crayons. It’s not a ploy or a PR campaign. For me it’s just what you do as a fellow human being. We are all one. How can I pretend to be happy and ok if my fellow man is not? That simple.

 To donate crayons you have collected please mail to:

833 Alton Road
Miami Beach, Fl 33139

If you wanted to create awareness on one current issue in the United States what would it be? And what would be your steps to resolve it.

 I think people believe America is the land of the plenty. The truth is most Americans are living today consuming bad foods, depressed, without health care and living very un-productive lives. Food plays a major role in someone’s frame of mind and by food I also mean what people consume internally, spiritually and visually. Awareness is key. How to change it…Make someone’s life different with a simple gesture of Kindness. Become involved in a child’s life, create things that manifest a sense of belonging to a bigger entity other than what we drive or where we live. Realize we are the Earth and everyone who co-habits it should be fairly treated. Small things make a big impact. Also, People need to stop asking what the world needs but instead they should do what they love. Because what the world needs is people who do what they love.

How many language's do you speak fluently?

Spanish, English and French but I also understand Portuguese, Italian and Dansk.

Who inspires your style and designs? 

I don’t own a TV or believe in many of the images people are being fed these days. I do however, love to read books, magazines, and memoirs. I love to go for really long walks many a time to get lost in my mind. Mostly, my mood dictates my life, style and choices.

Leave us with your favorite quote.

“Life is a big canvas. Choose your colors wisely, as you want your configuration to appear beautiful but never unreachable or distorted.” Christianne

This moment only….