Into the Wild With… Lorenza Izzo

Photos: Lorenza Izzo

“Is that fake Picasso sustainable?”
 
That’s my first question to Lorenza Izzo. You’ve probably seen the actress floating through your Roku promo screen for the murder mystery Confess Fletch, which sees the Chilean actress scrambling to claim a priceless painting. She’s also on Hacks and often on hikes, which she takes on location, vacation, and her backyard in Los Angeles.
 
We called Lorenza to talk about her career wins, her favorite food from home, and why Big Virgo Energy is essential for long walks in nature.
 

What’s your wild element—earth, air, fire, water?

I have very little fire in me. I did a whole reading of my astrological chart, and it said—and I believe this—that I'm mainly ground. It made so much sense, because literally my feet need to be grounded in order for me to participate, and be curious in life. I’m always stepping on grass or sand just to feel connected to myself. I’m a Virgo who wants to plan everything. That’s tricky when it gets into feeling like I want to control everything—I can’t!—but it’s also great for spending time outdoors, because I can be prepared with sunscreen, water, all of those essential things. And then when I’m in nature, I can say, “Sorry Virgo. You can’t control everything. You can’t control nature. Time to give into the flow.”
 

You had a birthday recently! How has your relationship to nature changed as you’ve hit your 30s?

I grew up in Santiago, Chile. In that city, we had nature all around us. It was readily available—40 minutes to the Andes mountains, or an hour to the Pacific ocean. Nature was a huge part of life! I spent my childhood covered in sand, covered in mud, touching flowers, playing with the leaves… Nature was just how I learned about the world… I’m also very much a city woman. I love living in a busy place. But once I grew up and moved [to Los Angeles], I realized I need my escape into nature. I can go a little bit crazy otherwise.
 

True or false: Hugging trees is part of your wellness routine.

Hugging trees is amazing! That's a real practice. My mom loves hugging trees, and then I took that on. It’s really grounding. We recently went to visit family in Portland, and the trees there are so majestic. You feel so little next to them, but also so connected. It’s nice, in a way, to understand that nature is so much bigger than we are. That you matter so much, and you also don’t matter that much. Those screens can pull you away from what is actually happening right now.
 

Is that a mantra for you?

I do like to think, “Your life is not happening anywhere else. That thing you’re looking for is happening right here, right now.” And I think that's what nature does for us, which is why it’s so important to me.
 

How does the natural world or the animal world influence your creative process as an actor?

A lot of it is subconscious. There's a real craft of approaching characters from an animal perspective, and you can study animal movements to influence how your character moves, which I find very cool. But for me, it’s more like, the first thing I do when I show up on a film set is to light a candle, and use some Palo Santo because it reminds me of home and it also reminds me that I do the work, and then I come back into myself once it’s done.

 

Can you please share your favorite animal fact?

In third grade, I had to do an animal report, and mine was on the African Tiger. I was obsessed with tigers then, and a fact I learned about them is that they actually spend a ton of time in the water. They’re great swimmers, and sometimes they find their mates while swimming.
 

They’re tigerfish!

They’re trying to be!
 

What’s a swap you’ve made on behalf of the planet?

We stopped using plastic baggies to hold things around the house. We use cloth ones that come with a reusable rubber band. You can also put the cloth bags on top of a glass bowl and use that for leftovers instead of plastic wrap… Also, we stopped putting a plastic bag in our recycling bin, because that’s literally throwing out plastic when you’re supposed to be recycling it. We rinse things out beforehand instead.
 

At Wild Elements, our motto is “let good grow wild.” What does that mean to you?

I think that’s karma, man. I was taught from a very young age that you only have control over your own actions and reactions. Things will happen; people will come in and out of your life. But how you treat others, and how you treat the planet, is an active choice. So to me, letting good grow wild means making sure my choices are putting good out into the world. It’ll run wild eventually—you can’t control everything—but choosing kindness and understanding as often as you can means that even small actions will eventually turn into good.