Angel Monroe has never followed one straight path. Her world moves between fashion, film, music and writing, each offering a different space for expression. Now, life brings another change. In front of the camera, she appears confident and glamorous, yet there is also a new softness to her presence. It feels less like a reinvention than an evolution. She remains ambitious, expressive and deeply connected to the creative life she has built. But today, she sees herself from a different place.
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam meets Angel Monroe at a personal turning point, as one chapter expands naturally into the next.
HARPER’S BAZAAR VIETNAM (HBZVN): Angel, you have worked as an actress, model, singer, rapper and writer. Of all these different versions of Angel Monroe, which one feels most like you today?
ANGEL MONROE: I don’t think I can separate one from the other anymore. I started as a model because I was discovered, but ironically, I never actually wanted to model. Music was always where my heart was. I started very young with a manager and was offered a recording contract before I was old enough to sign the deal. My parents weren’t ready for me to pursue music professionally at that age, but they were comfortable with me acting. Acting came naturally to me – I was already the lead in my school play, and I wasn’t even trying to be. Acting became my gateway into the entertainment industry, with the plan that it would eventually lead me back to music.
Rapping actually came later and almost by accident. Music and singing came first for me; rapping was just this fun, natural talent I had. I would sometimes sing or rap at auditions when people asked if I had any other talents, but I never initially thought of it as something I would pursue professionally. In fact, that was part of how I booked an acting job—when they asked if I had any other talents, I sang for them.
Then one day I was in the studio with Sony Records for a television show I was doing. I was there to sing, I messed something up and jokingly said, “Don’t make me start rapping.” [Laughs.] I had always deeply loved Eminem’s rap style and would sing and rap along to his songs, so I started rapping in the studio. The reaction was basically, “Wow, why don’t you do this professionally?”
That opened up a completely different side of me as an artist. My rap style became this unexpected combination of Britney Spears and Eminem – sex appeal mixed with anger and intensity. From there, rapping really took on a world of its own. I was presented at the Billboard Music Awards as Feminem, and people started comparing my rap style to Eminem because of the similarities they heard in my delivery and clever lyrics.
What’s funny is that none of these different sides of my career really happened according to some perfect plan. Modeling found me. Acting came naturally to me. Music was always where my heart was. Writing was there from the beginning, too—I was winning poetry competitions as early as second grade, and later, when I started pursuing music, that evolved into writing music and monologues. Rapping almost discovered itself along the way, even though I’d had the skill and had been doing it for fun since I was only eight years old. Through doing all of them, I learned to love each one in its own way. They’ve all become part of my identity, and I think what makes me unique as an artist is my ability to create across so many different mediums.
Acting, modeling, singing, rapping and writing have all been different ways of expressing the same person. But today, I’d say the version of Angel Monroe that feels most like me is the storyteller.
Whether I’m in front of a camera, writing something, dressing up for a shoot or creating music, I’m always telling a story. I’ve evolved through every chapter of my life, and right now I feel more open and transparent in allowing all of those sides of myself to exist together. I don’t feel the need to fit into one title anymore. Angel Monroe is the artist—and everything else is simply a different way I choose to express her.
HBZVN: Modeling was one of the first doors that opened for you professionally. What has it taught you about beauty, confidence and being comfortable in your own skin?
ANGEL MONROE: I always thought I was beautiful, but interestingly, I never wanted beauty to be the most interesting thing about me. I was much more interested in music and performing. I wanted people to see that I had real, raw talent—that I could play any role, create music and transform into different characters—not just see a beautiful face and body.
If anything, there were times when I intentionally downplayed my looks because I wanted my natural beauty and my talent to speak for themselves. I would walk into acting auditions with no makeup, my hair pulled back and a collared shirt because I wanted casting directors to focus on my performance and take me seriously for the part. I didn’t want to walk into every room and immediately be seen as another blonde bombshell. I wanted them to be able to see the natural girl next door, too.
Modeling also taught me not to let limitations define me. There were things I was told I couldn’t do because of certain industry standards. Early in my career, I remember making it very far in the selection process for Victoria’s Secret only to ultimately not meet the height requirement. I never interpreted that as me not being enough—I just found the limitation annoying. [Laughs.] Eventually, I stopped listening to all of the reasons something supposedly wasn’t for me and started going for things anyway. Almost a decade later, I found myself walking some of the most prestigious runways. That taught me that sometimes a limitation is only as powerful as you allow it to be.
I really have to thank my mom for helping me understand that. I remember being called in to audition for a show on E! Entertainment, and I almost didn’t go because I didn’t think I was in good enough shape. My mom told me, “They don’t see you the way you see yourself.” We really are our own biggest critics. She told me I might be exactly what they were looking for, so just go.
I went. During the audition they asked if I had any other special talents, and of course I had to sing. [Laughs.] I had actually been paid to perform as Britney Spears, so I did a little Britney performance – and I booked the job. I couldn’t believe it. My mom told me, “You don’t wait on these things. You’re perfect the way you are. If you wait on perfection, you’ll always be waiting.”
That stayed with me because for a long time I thought I had to be perfect for everything, and that was exhausting. Confidence really became less about striving for perfection and more about realizing I don’t have to be perfect to walk into the room.
Motherhood has probably changed my relationship with beauty the most. In my career, I would hide my pregnancy from the industry or turn down opportunities because I didn’t want to be scrutinized, viewed differently or sometimes even reveal that I was pregnant. Over time, I realized I didn’t have to separate being a mother from being an artist. Seeing women like Rihanna perform on one of the biggest stages in the world while pregnant reinforced that for me—pregnancy doesn’t diminish what we’re capable of.
So lately, I’ve changed that narrative for myself. Instead of hiding pregnancy, I’ve chosen to embrace it and celebrate it through my work. Motherhood has become one of the most beautiful chapters of my life, and now I allow that part of me to be seen.
And as much as I love the transformation and glamour of modeling, I’m probably most comfortable in my own skin when I’m at home, dressed down and just being myself. Glamour takes intention and effort, and I love that too. It’s an art form. I’ve learned there’s beauty in both – the woman underneath it all and the woman who decides to turn the glamour all the way up. And of course, people love the glamour as it’s art.
HBZVN: Acting allows you to step into someone else’s life. Of all the characters you have played, which role left the strongest impact on you, and why?
ANGEL MONROE: The role that left the strongest impact on me was playing the lead in Great American Dream, Formerly released as American Asian. It was my first time auditioning for a lead role, and I believe it was actually my first time auditioning for a movie at all. The casting director didn’t think I was ready to carry the lead, so he challenged me to memorize the entire script—even though that’s not traditionally how filmmaking works. So I did. I memorized the entire thing, showed up looking like the character, and proved that I was ready.
I remember going through callback after callback, and eventually I told him, “You can’t just keep calling me back. You need to decide whether you want me or you don’t.” I had a lot of confidence. I knew I was perfect for the role. That night, he decided I was perfect for it, and after we made the film, he was incredibly impressed with what I was able to do.
That role challenged me because I had to reach so many different emotions and really bring this young woman to life. There were parts of her that were similar to me, but I also had to do things outside of myself. I had to play baseball, cry on cue and reach emotions that I wasn’t necessarily feeling in real life.
I remember there was one scene where I needed to cry, but I wasn’t sad. Right before filming, I put my headphones in and played a song that reminded me of my breakup in high school. The second they were ready to roll, I took the headphones out, went into the scene and cried. And I did it. I remember surprising myself with how naturally I could access that emotion and then put it into someone else’s story.
Film acting taught me something very different from performing onstage. You don’t have to be overly dramatic. The camera catches everything. Sometimes the entire emotion is in your eyes. Learning how to feel something deeply without trying to show the audience that you’re feeling it was something I discovered I could do really well.
There’s also something I love about taking on another person’s life for a while. You learn them, coexist with them and eventually bring them to life. In a strange way, it gives you a break from yourself. For that period of time, I wasn’t Angel Monroe trying to play a character—I got to simply exist as someone else. I think that’s when I really understood what I loved about acting.
That experience stayed with me creatively, too. Afterward, I started writing some of my own scripts. I realized I could not only write material that I was proud of, but I could tap into the emotions behind what I had written and make them believable on screen. There’s something really powerful about being able to create a story on the page and then bring those same words and emotions to life as an actress.
Ironically enough, I had always wanted to use acting as a gateway into music because music was my first pursuit and love, while I continued as an actress because it came so naturally, and acting was something I knew I was good at. What I didn’t realize at the time was how prestigious the craft of acting really is. Then I made the transition into music, and music came so easily to me that I realized I never needed a gateway into it at all.
Later, when I wanted to return to acting, I started hearing, “Well, it’s been a while since you’ve done a role.” Suddenly, I realized that breaking back into acting was actually harder for me than breaking into music had ever been. It gave me a completely different respect for acting and for the work it takes to build and maintain a career as an actor. I would absolutely love to step back into that world and play more roles.
HBZVN: After spending so many years around fashion and beauty, how would you describe your personal style today? And what makes you feel beautiful when there is no stylist or makeup artist around?
ANGEL MONROE: I am so in love with fashion. I love everything beautiful. People laugh when they come into my house because they say it’s like walking into a store. What’s funny is that I used to say the exact same thing to my mom.
My brother always said my mom’s greatest gift was her beauty, and she actually went on to open a day spa. So I really have to thank my mom for teaching me that our beauty is another gift from God and that it’s something we can appreciate and take care of.
I think that love of beauty extends far beyond what I wear. Every part of my home is curated and crafted to match my personality. I look at it almost like living art. I love that I can showcase different parts of my personality throughout my home and surround myself with things that inspire me and feel like me.
I have five closets in my house and an entire beauty room that’s filled with designer pieces and curated into basically everything I could have dreamed of – almost like my own version of what an iconic designer store would look like. I wanted to create a space where the fashion and beauty itself became part of the art. And yes, I love having all of these beautiful things waiting for me when I’m ready to dress up.
As much as I love fashion and beauty, it’s also my job. Because of that, I equally love the days when I can just relax. When I’m home, I genuinely love being in sweats, comfortable clothes and no makeup. My personal style really depends on where I’m going. At home, my style is comfort. But when I’m dressing up, I love every single detail, and I gravitate towards designers like Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel.
I also grew up professionally in an era where you didn’t necessarily learn how to do everything yourself. You went and had your makeup done. You had your hair styled. I became so accustomed to working with stylists and glam teams that it became part of the creative process for me. If I have a shoot in the morning, I’ll get a knock on my door at the crack of dawn, and suddenly there’s a whole crew – hair, makeup, styling and wardrobe. I love it. It makes the job so much more fun because they can present all of these different looks and characters to me, and then I get to bring them to life.
That’s one of the things I love most about fashion: the creativity. You can completely transform yourself and tell a different story through every look.
But I also really love just being in my own skin. When there’s no makeup artist around, I’m very into taking care of my skin. I love my skincare routine – I even have a skincare fridge. [Laughs.] Good moisturizer, my eyelashes and definitely lip gloss are probably my essentials for natural beauty. I also believe hydration and eating healthy make such a difference because beauty isn’t only about what you put on your face; it’s also about taking care of yourself.
So my personal style today is really both sides of me. I love the full transformation, the fashion, the wardrobe and the glamour, but I’m equally happy at home in sweats with a fresh face. I love having all of the beautiful things there for when I want to dress up, and I love having my chill days when I don’t have to. There’s something beautiful about being comfortable with both.
HBZVN: What does luxury mean to you now? Is it something beautiful you own, an experience you remember, or simply having the freedom to spend your time as you choose?
ANGEL MONROE: I think luxury is all of the above. I still love beautiful things. I love designer fashion, beautiful spaces, traveling and being able to experience things I once dreamed about. That hasn’t gone away. I’ve also always known that money is just paper. It’s an amazing tool because of what it can give you, but it isn’t what truly completes me, and it can’t buy my heart.
What money can give you is help, convenience, privacy, travel, more time, opportunities and, ultimately, freedom. I’m fortunate to have a whole team and village around me, both in my career and in my life, and that kind of support is a luxury in itself. Having people who help make everything possible gives me the freedom to do more of what I love.
I’m definitely still excited by designer things. But when you’ve been around them for so long, some of it does start to feel normal. My taste has evolved, and of course my purchases have gone up with it, so somehow I always manage to find the next thing to challenge myself with. But I’ve also reached a point where I’ve had so many of the things I really wanted, and that makes you realize that some of the greatest luxuries aren’t things at all.
At this point in my life, one of my greatest luxuries is a quiet morning. Being able to sit peacefully, go through my content and look back at everything I’ve created—to see all of that hard work showcased and actually have a moment to be proud of it—is luxury to me. Travel is luxury. Sleep is definitely luxury. [Laughs.] Time is luxury.
But I also think the greatest luxury of all is seeing your hard work pay off and realizing that your name can become a timeless name that is remembered because of accomplishments you once only dreamed about. Watching those dreams become reality is the ultimate luxury to me. Hearing a song I created come together is the ultimate luxury. Seeing a movie I’ve made come across the big screen is the ultimate luxury. Opening a magazine and seeing an article I worked so hard for is the ultimate luxury. Those are the moments when something that once existed only as an idea or a dream becomes real, and there’s nothing you can buy that replaces that feeling.
I think when you’re working toward something, luxury can feel like finally being able to buy or experience what you once dreamed about. But once you’ve had those things, luxury starts becoming the freedom to actually enjoy the life you worked so hard to create – the accomplishments stamped in history, and the privilege of seeing the things you once dreamed about become part of your legacy.
HBZVN: You have experienced fashion, travel and the glamorous side of entertainment. What is one luxury you would never give up, and one thing people consider luxurious that you could happily live without?
ANGEL MONROE: The one luxury I would never give up is the ability to pursue my dreams and see them become a reality. To me, that’s the most rewarding luxury of all. My songs, my writing, my storytelling, the movies I’ve acted in, my magazine covers—those are the things that become part of my legacy. I would trade any material possession to keep those things. I could lose all of the designer pieces and all of the material luxuries tomorrow if it meant I could still create and continue seeing my dreams come to life.
And ironically, the thing I could happily live without would probably be all of those designer things. Don’t get me wrong, I love them. [Laughs.] I love fashion, I love beautiful things and I enjoy everything I’ve worked hard enough to have. But they don’t mean as much to me as leaving behind something timeless.
A designer piece can be beautiful, but ultimately it’s something I own. A song I created, a character I brought to life, something I wrote, or a magazine cover that captures a moment in my career—that’s something I did. There’s a difference to me.
If you told me I had to choose between keeping all of the beautiful things I own or continuing to make my dreams a reality, I wouldn’t even have to think about it. Take the things. I’ll keep the dreams. Because at the end of the day, what matters most to me isn’t what I leave behind in my closet – it’s what I leave behind with my name on it.
HBZVN: Away from cameras, fashion and entertainment, what does Angel do purely for fun? What is your perfect lazy day?
ANGEL MONROE: My perfect lazy day is honestly so simple. I’ll lay in bed in my pajamas, take a bubble bath, DoorDash sushi – and there has to be a lot of wasabi and soy sauce. I love sushi. [Laughs.] I’ll put together my bucket list of places I want to travel, listen to music and scroll through my pictures.
And I mean really scroll through them. I can look through my pictures again and again and again. [Laughs.] It’s honestly one of my favorite hobbies on a lazy day. It’s almost like watching my own movie—my own life—playing back through all of the different shoots, memories, places and moments I’ve experienced. I think sometimes life moves so fast that a lazy day gives me a chance to actually sit there and enjoy it all.
And of course, online shopping! There’s always some designer piece or beauty product I’m eyeing. I’ll contemplate whether I should buy it for so long that eventually it sells out – and then suddenly I’m on Mercari at midnight trying to find it. [Laughs.] It happens way more often than it should.
I also love spending time with my family. When so much of my life involves creating, working, planning and thinking about what’s next, I really appreciate the simple moments when I can just be home with the people I love and not have anywhere else I need to be.
Then I’ll start dreaming about where I want to go next, what I want to accomplish next, checking my to-do list and schedule, adding places to my travel list, listening to music, and doing absolutely nothing I actually have to do in that moment. Pajamas, sushi, online shopping, music, pictures and dreaming about my next trip – that’s pretty much my perfect lazy day.
HBZVN: You are now preparing for perhaps your biggest role yet – motherhood – and this one comes without a script. What has made you happiest about expecting your child, and what has surprised you most?
ANGEL MONROE: What surprised me most about expecting this child is that I wasn’t expecting a child at all. It really came out of nowhere. There was even a point when I convinced myself that the pregnancy might not be real or that I was miscarrying. So when I went in for that first ultrasound and they told me, “No, everything looks healthy. You’re definitely expecting,” I was almost in shock. Something that had been completely unexpected suddenly became very real.
There’s so much excitement. It’s such a beautiful thing, and once I knew everything was okay, I really wanted to embrace every moment of it. I became incredibly grateful for what my body was capable of—carrying this child while still allowing me to continue being myself and doing what I love.
One of the things that has made me happiest has actually been embracing this pregnancy publicly through my maternity work. That was a completely different experience for me. In the past, I was much more likely to separate pregnancy from my career or even hide that part of my life professionally. But I chose to celebrate pregnancy publicly through my work.
And I modeled through it. That meant so much to me because I realized I could experience motherhood without feeling like I had to lose a piece of my career in the process. I didn’t have to choose between the two. I could be pregnant, be a mother, be an artist, be a model and still be completely myself.
Ironically, for someone who loves planning and creating stories, this was one story I never planned. There really was no script. It was a surprise from the very beginning, and maybe that’s part of what made it so beautiful. Instead of trying to control every part of it, I learned to embrace what was happening and let this chapter become part of my story.
I’m excited, I’m anxious, and I’m grateful. And after allowing myself to celebrate pregnancy this way, I hope that if I’m blessed with more pregnancies in the future, I’ll celebrate those just as openly – maybe even more.
HBZVN: When you imagine your child growing up, what kind of person do you hope they will become? And if they come to you one day with a wonderfully crazy dream, what kind of mother will you be?
ANGEL MONROE: I would rather my child attempt an enormous dream and fail than choose a safe life because they were afraid to try. I truly believe anything is possible. If I hadn’t been willing to try some of the things I’ve tried in my own life, I would never have made it this far. I believe your dream life can be just around the corner – you just have to have enough courage to believe it’s possible and be willing to go after it.
The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead,” and I really believe in that. To me, there are two key pieces: having faith and believing in yourself, and then being willing to work hard for what you believe in. You need both. Faith without putting in the work won’t build the dream, and all the work in the world becomes much harder if you don’t first believe that what you’re working toward is possible.
A lot of those values were instilled in me as a child. My dad always taught me that honesty is the best policy. He would tell me that he would rather I tell him the truth, even if the truth disappointed him, than lie to him – because the lie would upset him much more. That stayed with me, and honesty is something I want my children to value just as deeply.
He also used to tell me, “What your mind can believe and you can conceive, you will achieve.” The message was always to believe in what I could accomplish and never give up on my dreams.
My grandfather, who I’ve always looked up to, reinforced that throughout my life. He was a photographer, and when I was eight years old, he took photographs of me and told me that I would grow up to be a model. I remember telling him that I wanted to do movies and music. He revealed he had done music too, record deal and all- and that became something we had in common and could connect through. Long before any of those dreams became my reality, he believed I could make something of them. He would always tell me, “You’ll make it, as long as you never give up.”
Those are the kinds of things that stay with you. Now I want to be able to give my children those same voices in their heads – the words they remember when something feels impossible or when they’re tempted to give up.
As for the kind of person I hope my child becomes, I hope they are strong, independent, kind, humble, respectful, creative, God-fearing, ambitious, loving, caring, nurturing, loyal and honest. I hope they’re fiercely protective like I am, organized and clean, and that they learn to take really good care of themselves and the people around them. Most importantly, I hope they grow into genuinely good people who know how to communicate.
And when they come to me with those crazy ideas and their wildest dreams, I want them to know they can come to me both as their mother and as someone they trust. I don’t want to be the person who tells them their dream is unrealistic. I want to be the person who asks, “Okay, how are we going to make it happen?”
I hope my children look at my life and realize that no dream is too wild. I want them to see that I didn’t accomplish everything I ever dreamed about because I knew for certain it would work—I accomplished things because I was willing to believe, try and keep going.
And beyond all of their accomplishments, I hope we stay close. I hope my children remain around me as they grow up and build lives of their own, and that we always come back together to celebrate life. At the end of the day, I can encourage their dreams, teach them what I’ve learned and give them every opportunity I can – the legacy that would make me proudest is raising good people who aren’t afraid to dream.
HBZVN: Women are often expected to be successful professionals, devoted mothers, supportive partners, and somehow look fabulous doing all of it. As you enter this new chapter, how do you hope to balance motherhood with your career, and what do you want your child to learn from watching you live your life?
ANGEL MONROE: I remember talking to my mom and telling her, “I don’t know if I’m ready for a baby.” And she said, “If I thought that, you wouldn’t be here.” [Laughs.] She also told me, “You can have both – a career and a child. Why not?” That’s how my mom is. There were basically no limits.
Of course, balancing all of it might be very hard, but I also think that’s one of the best parts. It gives you purpose. You’re no longer doing everything just for yourself or for the world. You’re also doing it for your children, so they can see it and remember it.
Believe it or not, I’ve always struggled with balance. I tend to put my all into one thing at a time. Even though I’ve taken on so many different roles throughout my career, I’ve usually focused intensely on one or the other at different points in my life. As I enter this new chapter, I want to learn how to make room for all of them: acting, modeling, music, writing, motherhood – and hopefully a little time for myself, too. [Laughs.]
I absolutely believe having a team and a village is important. Having resources and accepting help are important, too, because they allow you to utilize your strengths without completely exhausting yourself. I don’t think doing it all has to mean literally doing every single thing alone.
What I hope my children learn from watching me is that they can become devoted parents one day without losing their dreams, their careers or themselves. I hope they see me embrace every part of who I am: my career, my individuality and being a mother.
To me, there’s something incredibly empowering about being able to hold all of those identities at once. More empowering than being defined only as a professional, only as a devoted mother or only as a supportive partner. The empowerment is in knowing that I can be all of those things and still be myself.
And yes, I want to look like I have it all together. [Laughs.] I want to have it all together—even on the days when I don’t feel like I do. Sometimes making something look effortless takes an incredible amount of effort behind the scenes, and I think there’s beauty in that too.
My children will always come first, but I don’t believe putting them first means that my ambitions have to disappear. I still want the time and space to succeed, grow in my career and continue becoming who I’m meant to be. I want my children to grow up knowing that loving them never required me to lose myself. If anything, becoming their mother gave me even more reason to become everything I’m capable of being.
***Creative Team***
Talent: Angel Monroe @angelmonroeofficial.
Photo: Oxana Alex @oxanaalexphotography.
Makeup: Suzette Valdez @sav_artistry using @chanelbeauty.
Hair: HNL Studio @hnlstudio.
HMUA on set: Aleksandra Lukianova @muartbyalex using @diorbeauty.
Fashion: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, KH.Fashion @kh.fashionhouse, Zara.
Shoes: Chanel, Steve Madden.
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam
