ShortStory_021018_Mirella

During her Sophomore year at NYU, a friend persuaded Mirella Cardoso to go to a music video audition for the Charlie Puth/Selena Gomez’s song We Don’t Talk Anymore. Mirella thought it would be fun to try out, but never expected to land a part, let alone end up as the video’s female lead. “There was a scene where I was supposed to be upset that the relationship had ended,” Mirella says of the filming, “I asked the director if he wanted me to cry. He said, ‘Can you?!’” She could, and she did. See her shed a tear at the 2:17 mark in the video which has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.6 billion (with a B) times.

Since then, exciting opportunities just keep popping up for the Brazilian American film student. Her paintings and photographs (mostly self portraits) have caught the attention of major marketing companies, and she recently worked on an advertising project with Vogue and Chanel - not bad for the Florida native who turns 22 this month. Yet Mirella stays grounded through it all. When a photographer recently asked her, “Who cuts your hair, it’s magical,” she smiled and said, “my grandma.”