‏Ilena Love‏

Ilena Love was born as Ilena Marie Pacheco in New Bedford Massachusetts on July 28,1989 to parents Elsa Pacheco and Joseph Morais (both deceased). At the age of 5 she was adopted into the home of Michelle and Bryan Arruda also of Massachusetts along with her older biological sister Elizabeth. She gained another last name (Arruda) upon adoption. It was in this home Ilena's creative spirit was nurtured and thrived. Her mother would always tell her that whatever she wanted to do in life she was able and she would be supported. An avid lover of music, the arts, and acting Ilena began her life as an entertainer by singing on a karaoke machine gifted to her and her sister and appearing in school talent shows to sing. As she grew up Ilena shifted her attention to both music and acting. In 2015 Ilena made the decision to change her last name to Love to use exclusively for performance related projects - that is mainly music and acting. For all other creative endeavors (of which she has many) Ilena still uses her lawfully given name of Arruda, this is sometimes shortened to I.A. Most noticeably her photography and painted works reflect the initials along with a symbol she created herself. Ilena began acting by looking up small roles and open casting calls in the New England area before expanding to New York City. She first appeared in a project called Plaga Zombie: American Invasion as a reoccurring extra cast as various zombies. She first speaking role she auditioned for came in the film Momento Mortis as a wayward youth named Romona who is preyed upon by photogenic murderers. After this film Ilena focused on acting training and vocal training. She participated in numerous online and video courses as well as taking individual classes at local institutions. She has visited NYC to attend open houses at the New York Film Academy with plans to attend part time in the future. Ilena Love stepped into the world of extra casting when she signed up with her first casting company- Boston Casting. From here she was called to work on her first big screen production- Central Intelligence, staring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Following this she was offered extra roles in Chappaqquiddick, Dr. Marston and the Wonder Women, and Brad's Status- all of which are slated for a 2017 release. Her other works include small parts in the short film Bankably Nuts and the online series The Devils Orphans (playing the role of Ilana Kronos). Ilena is continuing to hone her acting skills with more in depth courses and expansion to other casting companies such as Slate Casting of Boston and Central Casting in NYC in 2017. She took a brief hiatus at the end of 2016/beginning of 2017 to finish up her bachelors degree in Psychology with a minor in history at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and focus on her musical studies- she intends to release finished music leading to an EP in 2017 as well. She maintains that doing both music and acting fulfill her desire to entertain, explore her creativity, and create experiences that she hopes ultimately will improve the lives of others.