Candace Mizga: From Vertical Drama Pioneer to Creative Force

Candace Mizga's love of storytelling began long before she stepped onto a film set. Today, she's helping shape the future of vertical dramas—not only as an actress, but also as a writer, producer, and creative force behind the stories she believes deserve to be told.

Long before she became one of the recognizable faces of vertical dramas, Candace Mizga was a child with an endless imagination growing up on a small farm in rural Michigan.

Today, the actress, writer, producer, and co-founder of Chera TV is using that lifelong love of storytelling to shape not only the characters she plays, but also the kinds of stories she hopes audiences will see in the future.

Where a Love of Stories Began

For Mizga, storytelling has been part of her life for as long as she can remember.

Raised on a small farm in rural Michigan as the second eldest of five siblings, she grew up in a household where creativity was woven into everyday life. Television and video games were discouraged, leaving room for books, music, imagination, and hours spent outdoors.

"My upbringing was peaceful, creative, and deeply rooted in nature," Mizga shared in an interview in January 2026 . "Art was never optional in our house. We painted, learned pottery, knit scarves from wool that we spun ourselves, made candles, built fairy houses in the woods, went to museums and art galleries, and spent a lot of time creating."

Her creative side was nurtured by her mother, who encouraged her to pursue singing and acting lessons despite Mizga describing herself as "shy and strange" while growing up.

She also credits her childhood for shaping the work ethic she still carries today.

"From a young age we were expected to help out. I spent early mornings feeding goats, chickens, horses..." she recalled.

Although creativity surrounded her, one particular experience convinced her that acting was what she wanted to do.

"I decided I wanted to act for the rest of my life on a sticky summer night while watching Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' in a frigid Stratford Shakespeare Festival theatre," she said in June 2024. Before long, she packed up her life and moved to New York City to study acting.

Mizga went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, training at both the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Stonestreet Studios before eventually relocating to Los Angeles to pursue a bicoastal career.

Creating Opportunities Instead of Waiting

Like many actors, Mizga faced uncertainty when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the entertainment industry.

Rather than waiting for opportunities to return, she and two fellow NYU classmates decided to create one themselves.

Together, they co-wrote, produced, and starred in the horror-comedy anthology series "Trauma Bond," a project that became Mizga's first experience as a writer and producer.

"We're artists. Our job is to create," she said in another interview in December 2025, explaining the mindset that led them to develop the series during a period when much of the industry had come to a standstill.

Looking back, Mizga considers "Trauma Bond" one of the defining milestones of her career—not because everything went perfectly, but because it challenged her to embrace risk and creative growth.

"Our entire series is on YouTube and we're currently working on a pilot as we speak!" she said, describing the project as "a learning curve, a risk, and a creative exploration."

The experience also reinforced something she continues to believe today: there is no single roadmap to success as an artist.

"The most difficult thing about being an artist is that there is no one right way to do it," she explained. "

Everyone's path is so different and being an artist demands risk taking, trying new things, and embracing the potential of failure."

Helping Build the Vertical Drama Industry

Mizga entered vertical dramas at a time when few people knew what the format would become.

After booking one of the earliest U.S. productions, "Never Divorce A Secret Billionaire Heiress," she watched the series gain millions of views and receive attention from publications including The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

"It was incredibly exciting to be at the forefront of that," she said.

Since then, Mizga has starred in dozens of vertical dramas, including "Temptation of the Ex-Wife," "After Divorce: I Become Hybrid Alpha's Luna," "Wild for My Boy Toy," "Ms. Swan, Teach Me Love," "Love Trap with My Dashing Knight," "The Rejected Luna Is the Alpha," "Three Chances, I'm Gone Forever," "The True Heiress's Perfect Revenge," "Watch Out I'm the Lady Boss," "Boss, Your Executive Secretary Has Resigned," "Ashton Heights," and many more.

Although she hadn't initially planned to work in vertical dramas, the format transformed her career.

"My main goal was never to be famous or to be huge. It was always just to be a full-time working actor," Mizga said in February 2026. "So for that to happen, it changed my entire life."

The fast pace of production has also strengthened her skills as a performer.

Working on vertical dramas has taught her to memorize scripts more quickly, adapt rapidly on set, and trust her instincts as an actor.

Despite the demanding schedules, she credits the format with accelerating her growth in ways traditional productions rarely could.

Expanding the Stories She Can Tell

As Mizga's career evolved, so did her ambitions.

While she continues acting, she has also embraced writing, producing, and creative development, believing storytelling extends far beyond performing in front of the camera.

That philosophy eventually led her to co-found Chera TV alongside fellow actor Kylie Karson.

The company was created not only to produce vertical dramas, but also to build the kind of creative environment Mizga wished existed when she entered the industry.

"I have been working as a lead actor in the vertical space since early 2023, and while it has been incredible to be at the forefront of an explosive new format, I've also witnessed some deeply concerning trends," she said in January 2026.

Among the concerns she identified were a lack of diversity in casting and storytelling, unsafe set practices, gender-based pay disparities, and narratives that romanticize violence against women.

"Art and entertainment carry enormous cultural influence," Mizga said. "When the same perspectives are elevated repeatedly while others are excluded—or when violence is romanticized—the work loses its meaning and humanity, and can ultimately become a harm to the audiences it reaches."

Through Chera TV, she hopes to help create stories that feel more thoughtful, inclusive, and emotionally meaningful while also fostering productions where artists feel respected and supported.

More Stories to Tell

Even with an expanding list of accomplishments behind the camera, Mizga's passion for acting remains unchanged.

She hopes to explore more comedy, action, and horror projects in the future and has jokingly declared that she's ready for her "villain era."

But regardless of the genre or job title, storytelling remains at the center of everything she does:

From building fairy houses in the Michigan woods to helping shape the future of vertical dramas, Candace Mizga has never stopped finding new ways to bring stories to life. And as her career continues to evolve across acting, writing, producing, and creative leadership, that lifelong passion continues to guide every project she takes on.