Latest / Dos Amigos / Finding Her Funny - The Melissa Fumero Interview Part 1

Transcript

Finding Her Funny - The Melissa Fumero Interview Part 1 · Dos Amigos

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, This is Freddy Rodriguez and I'm Wilmer Balderama.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to those amigos. Today is a very special, very special,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: very special episode. Yes, because we've never had a dear,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: dear amiga the show, and we want to welcome the
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: first ever Amiga, the first ever Amiga Melissa Fromta.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: You know, everybody in the car who's listening in the car.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I was like, you, we hope you did not.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Sorry, it's just there's so much that song in this
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: well we're so happy.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Look, you know, I'm gonna lead with this that that
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: we don't you know, we don't tend to have guests,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you know, so when we.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: Have, you were going to say we don't tend to
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: have women. I was like, because you hate women.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Accept me.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Mouth, I know that, I think, I think.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Know what what I'm what I'm trying to say is
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: is what I'm what I told the very few uh
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: friends that.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Very few women before that.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: You know that when we have a guest, the guest
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: has to really represent something that's been special, that has
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: been you know, really uh you know, not just memorable,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: but impactful in our lives. So the guests that we
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: have are people that are like really individuals that I
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: know are not just only like minded, but I can
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: provide so much context to the history.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: And you know, also yeah, the female persuasion.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: But we're just so happy.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: And you know, I've told you this before many times,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: but I'll tell you again on the air office that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I've always admire you so much, and I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: think you're one of the most talented actresses on the planet.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And from someone who like has done a little bit
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of comedy, a little bit of drama, to talk to
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: somebody who has, you know, who has like this same
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: amount of expertise and capacity to be so free to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: be dramatic and so free to be comedic. Yeah, it's
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: really really really rare in our industry.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: And you process all of that. And by the way,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: you're a beautiful woman.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You know, you're an incredible mother, and you're an amazing
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: producer but also an amazing director. So like to have
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a dear sister of ours coming in.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Best our show really really excited.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And also you are the host of another Sister you
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: know episode Another Sister a podcast too, you know, to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the family of Michael Tuda more Better with Stephanie Mitrice
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: as well. Who's another one of our sisters too, who
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: also by the way, you both of you are like
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: just weapons of mass laughter because they you guys are
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: just so so you two together is like Laverna Chirley.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, thank you so much, so.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Just so excited, and thank you for accepting our invitation.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: This conversation will be painful, but.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I dare you.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Was where are you from?
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: I am from New Jersey, from born and bread born
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: and bred.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: In New Jersey, northeast, New Jersey.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: By what was formerly Giant Stadium for those who are wondering,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: close ish to Manhattan.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: My parents are Cuban.
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Both Cuban, born in Cuba.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Both born in Cuba. Came when they were teenagers. When
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: my dad came and he was like twelve. My mom
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: came and she was fifteen. They were high school sweethearts
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: in Cuba. In Jersey, yeah, they met in New Jersey.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: My mom met my dad like very soon after she arrived,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: because she was in New Jersey actually with her dad
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: and stepmother while her mom, uh like kind of found
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: a place for them in Miami. But then she met
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: my dad and it was like a kind of like
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: a love at first sight sort of thing, and she
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: was like, Mommy, I want to stay I'm at this boy.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: And so then she ended up staying with her dad
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: instead of her mom and her stepmom, uh for those
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: like high school college years and then they got married
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: super young, and yeah, so.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: He was she was destined to go to Miami. She
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: was supposed to.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Ye, she was supposed to go to Miami, but she
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: ended up staying in New Jersey.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: What did your grandparents do in Cuba?
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, my.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: On my mom's side, my her dad was a carpenter,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: and I believe her mom and her mom was I
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: think just to stay at home.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Mom.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: The woman, the man that my grandmother ended up marrying
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: when she came here was like really my willow.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: I didn't see my mom's dad that much. He was
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: the matre d at Fountain Blue in Miami.
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: No.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: And when I was a kid, I thought that was
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: so fancy.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I was like, that was the time.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: That was the time, Like we're.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Talking like eighties, early nineties like, and I just thought
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: it was like so cool, like a very charismatic guy,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: I think until he retired yeah wow.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: And then my dad's my dad's side of the family.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I don't know that much about it, to be honest.
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: Goshcha, did you ever see your grandfather in action at
• 5:40
  Speaker 7: the Fountain Blue.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: I do have a memory of being really little and
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: like seeing the lobby and that grand staircase of the
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: Fountain Blue, and like seeing him in a suit, But
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: I think it was like really quick. Yeah, I never
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: liked super ought to see him. It's just like the
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: title was cool, you know.
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, he was almost like an actor and right you
• 6:07
  Speaker 7: ever see those matrix.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: And he was. He was so charming.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: He could make me laugh so much as a kid,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: and he was like the sweetest man and he was
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: the best.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Uh, the anyone in your family dabbled in entertainment at all?
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Not entertainment, But my mom's side of the family has
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: a lot of visual artists, a lot of painters, a
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: lot of sculptors. I have a cousin who was like
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: a music prodigy, a couple other cousins that like danced
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: so that were younger than me for a while, but no,
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: no one in entertainment.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: It was all like visual you paint.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: I did start in painting classes when I was like
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: nine and ten.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: I did it for a few years I did the
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Bob Ross technique.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Wife would be excited to hear that, really.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Yes, which is like not paint by numbers, but like
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: it's very like, you know, it kind of makes like
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: anyone can paint a little bit like anyone's or it's
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: like those painting studios that people go to, you know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: they got a certain ways whine and like yay, yeah, yeah.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Everyone's painting.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: One's good and you're like, everyone can't be that good
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: at painting.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: It's like there's a certain tricks. So no, I did not.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: Inherit the family gene, but I did always love like drawing,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: and I wasn't that good at it though, But my
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: kid is good.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: At it really yeah.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it gives.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: It gives a generation exactly, and my husband has it
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: on his side too.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: How young did you get got the bug to perform?
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Were you like super young or were you yeah?
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: My mom put me in dance classes like all women
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: do with their daughters. And as we as I got
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: older and like my friends started quitting, I kept going
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: and then I followed a dance teacher from the rec
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: center to a dance studio, and then I just wanted
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: to do all the classes. It was like a dance
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and theater studio in my hometown. And when I was ten,
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: my parents took me to see my first Broadway show
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: and I lost my mind.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: What was It?
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Was The Secret Garden starring Mandy Patinkin.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: And Daisy Egan and Rebecca Luker Broadway icons.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: It was amazing. It was a Secret Garden.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: And then I got like, uh, I wanted a Secret
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: Garden journal after that, and I got like all the
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Secret Garden stuff and I was just like and listen
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: to the soundtrack all the time and subsessed with it.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Thing as well.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: The complicated it is.
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: So when I was a kid, I fully believed that
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: I was a singer, and I took voice lessons and
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: I got up on stage many times and sang when
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: I got older, and I listened to those performances that.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Your voice change as your girl.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Do you think no, I was just fully delusional, Okay,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: I was like, I can totally sing, and I could not,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: but I could when it came time to like audition
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: for colleges, and I knew I wanted to be I
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: knew I wanted to be a theater major.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: And at the time. I felt very much like an
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: actor and a dancer for a while.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: At first, when I was like a freshman and sophomore
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: in high school, I thought I would major in dance
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: and like go that route or like try to audition
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: for dance companies right after high school.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: But then I fell in love with acting during high.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: School, and somewhere along the way, I sort of told myself, well,
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: if I learned how to say well enough, I won't
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: have to choose because I could do musical theater and
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: I could just keep acting and dancing and I'll like
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: figure out the singing part.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: So I was like, I am a singer.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: And then while I was in college and I went
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: to college with like crazy thing like people that are
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: on Broadway now, I was like, oh, where'd you go?
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: I'm not a singer, actually a singer. I'm actually not
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: that good at this. I yeah, yeah, so yeah, yeah
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: I was.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: You know, Freddy was a rapper?
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: Are you past life?
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: I was like you.
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: I got around some like real ones, and I was
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: kind of like, oh, yeah.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: That's what happens, right, You're like I am crushing this
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: crushing that.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I was so bold in high school.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: I remember there was a musical theater program I was
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: in at that day school, and I basically like lobbied
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: to get the lead, but like in a way where
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: I was like, so I deserve this.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: I'm a senior and this we all know this role
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: should go to me.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Like I'm cocky as fuck, right right, And like I
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: kind of figured out how to sing it. I was
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: just like impersonating the person that had sung it before
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: and kind of it was in my range enough that.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: But like there were lots of other parts.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: I was like, that doesn't and like when it didn't
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: sound good, I was like, what, I'll just sing low,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: no one will hear it.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Like I was so confident a.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: No audition.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the American Idol was around when I was in
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: high school.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh yeah. I was like this is happening.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: And then very quickly after getting to n y U
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: and like being in vocal performance class with these.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I mean but I mean it's not in the back
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: and you.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Just feel yourself shrinking in your chair. But it's not
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: everything I knew.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: It's not fair.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: It is not real.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: It's not real, and it's not fair, you know, like
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: some of these people, uh that are extraordinarily talented and singing.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: They have been doing.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Vocal pull ups for their entire life, entire life, you know,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: society like the notes they can hit his.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Insane and singing like you know, like like painting is
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: I think like comedic timing. I think is like you
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: can't there's a big chunk of it cannot be taught,
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: like you either have it or you don't, you know,
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: And I yeah, it just it was very humbling.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: And then so then did.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: You change gears into them? Like I think I'm an
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: actress or.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: You know, I was in the musical theater program at
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: ed Yu.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: But you must have learned to hole the No, yeah,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: don't give yourself more.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: But I know that. I was like, how did I
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: get here?
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: And well, you got there for a reason though, I
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: mean I did.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: But here's the thing. I did I sing for my audition,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I must you have to Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did sing.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: But I sang a song.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: What was the song?
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Oh? God, do I remember?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: N is Low?
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: I sang?
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: And no I care, I'm like, what was my go
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: to change?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: That's why we're not in the program.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: No, it must have been some music. Who knows. It
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: might have been like part of Your World or some shit.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Yeah, that's always the go to. Is
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: that Latin? Or or the Little Mermaid?
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was probably a Disney song. So I sang
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: for the audition and I did a monologue.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: So anyway, so then when I'm in the program and
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: I'm watching all these singers, I'm like, holy funk, how
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: did I get here? I kind of quickly realized that
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: there were three groups within the class. Right, most people
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: were extraordinary singers and they were there to become better
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: actors and better dancers or be comfortable get better with
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: that movement. And then the medium to small size group
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: was the extraordinary dancers who and a lot of them
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: could sing and they were there to like become actors.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: And then the small it's great, the one that I
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: think I was in was people that were actors who
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: could were there to get better at singing. And I
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: was also a dancer, so you know, I had I
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: had I think that helped.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Well kind of dancer were you?
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: How did you see like ballet and contemporary and so
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: you were a dance minor theater jazz. I wanted to
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: be a dance miner, but the way the program was
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: structured like there literally wasn't time to do it. But
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: in my program, I had like three hours of dance
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: three or four times a week.
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: That's kind of they included it in.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: It was included in a program.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: I would start every morning with like three hours of
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: dance classes and then have acting and singing, and it
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: was a great program.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Were you consider doing a musical now?
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: No?
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Maybe?
• 15:11
  Speaker 7: No?
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, live, Yes, it's different, it's different. Television have destroyed
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: my voice. First of all. I would have to completely
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: relearn how to.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: Sing and how to project yeah, and like how to
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: sing with this voice, because you know, hours and hours
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: on a TV set, Like I literally speak lower than
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: I did when I was younger.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: And that's just kind of happens with our gig.
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: But but I'm sure, look, I'm sure you could say
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: you might have not been yeah good as.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Yours bleed, But I don't know.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I don't give me, give me a part of your world,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: give me give me.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: Kind of like I could like sort of yell on
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: pay you know, it's kind of that.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: You could yell.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: I can yell a question.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I have a question. If you go to karaoke and
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: you pick, what's the karaoke.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: Oh no, not part of your world?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: On your world? Would you murder that?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: No?
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: What's your what's your?
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: What?
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You would? A hundred percent you would.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: No, I'll tell you a go to what's your go to?
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Like job? What from r from.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Rock Rocky Hard? Picture show? Touch me, Bro? That's so hard?
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: How does touch that heart? How does it go?
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to say.
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: How does we're trying to get to Come on, we're
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: trying to get the melody you said, that'll be the one.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: How does somebody play it on their phone? This is
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: a trap? No, it's it's you know the one that's Instagram?
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, but I yeah, I just I yell it
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: on pitch.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: But how does it?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: But how do you yell?
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Though?
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: What do you? What do you get out of here?
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Let me see no way out of here?
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I hate you both. I have an older brother. Okay,
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: I know this game. I know all your.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Moods America, and we're gonna move on. But did you.
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: Did you speak Spanish?
• 17:29
  Speaker 8: So?
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: We did? We so? So the story is.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: My parents only spoke to us in Spanish until my
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: brother started elementary school and he had a tea and
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: one of his teachers called my parents in and she
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: was like, what are you speaking to him at home?
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: And they were like Spanish, Like, it's really messing him
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: up at school because he was speaking in Spanglish.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: But this is the eighties and like, so they scared my.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Immigrant parents and they still spoke to us in Spanish,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: but they stopped making us respond in Spanish. So I
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: grew up like I always say, I'm in my ear,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: I'm my brain, I'm fluent, but the connection from here
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: to my mouth is not fluent because I grew up
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: hearing Spanish and responding in English all the time, and
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: so it's gotten a little bit better over to yours.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: I keep saying that I'm gonna like, really.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: It's honesty.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Your brain has to kind of just lock back in
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: and say, hey, I'm going to tap into what I
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: know this is in there.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: It's just about flowing with it.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Every time I'm immersed.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I went on a trip to Costa Rica once with
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: a friend and she didn't speak any Spanish.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: By the end of the trip, my Spanish was like
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: so much better.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: You know, every time I go to Florida, like it's
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: in there, it comes back.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: But it happens when you have to switch back and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: forth from England to Spanish because I do junk is
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: in English and Spanish, and I would I start, dude,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: if I start in English and then I have to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: do now another ten in Spanish. My brain is like,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you know, like it's just like really really hard to
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: kind of click it. And I grew up Spanish my
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: first language, and I didn't want her to speak English
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: unce I was fourteen.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, so.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: You have no excuses, but I do feel like I
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: have the vocabulary of a fourteen year old.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: But no, you don't in Spanish. Oh in Spanish.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Oh thank god you didn't agree, Thank god you didn't
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: agree them.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: That fourteen year old English.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: She was like, you do because I know the words
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: like a compromise and constitution in English, and so yeah.
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: Those are tough in Spanish, those junkets because it gets
• 19:41
  Speaker 7: so technical.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: I could hold the conversation.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: And fast, and they want to, you know, they want
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: to kind of like make it fun and snappy, and.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: You're like, I'm trying to remember my sentence, right.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to give you some flowers because you
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: have been so consistent and showing up for our community.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: You you know, you really show up for your brothers
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and sisters, and specifically in entertainment, and how we continue
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: to not just tell our stories but really civically engage,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: you know, our cultures and values. You know, so it
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: continue to be you know, amplified and what we make
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: as artists. But you know, but you have been very
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: consistent in reminding people that you are Latina and you're
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: very proud of that. And you know, at a time
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: where we were doing television, you know, and where we're
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: all still doing television, but at the beginning when we
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: started television, you know, Freddie and I talk about this
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: all the time, where we were the only Latino in
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the room, right, Like that's like you were, they only
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: gave you one, right and you know, so god forbid
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: there's two Latinos because they're like they.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Can be in the same show because there's too many.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but the conversation has really kind of evolving and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: and with Freddie and I have been really trying to
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: discover and one of the explorations of this show is
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: also to create enough perspective to say that we're we're
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: trying to redefine main stream by uplifting the most mainstream
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: audience there is, and that is the Latino audience. The
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Latino audience is the most mainstream, the most loyal, the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: most trusted. When it comes to the opening box office weekends,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: we're the first ones day.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Now on Thursday night, watch all the show.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: You tell us nine pm, We're there at nine pm,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: you know, And so so in cultivating that, we we
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: also as a as an audience, as we demand more
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: representation is the man, more roles or stories that speak
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to us. We gotta continue to cultivate our home, homegrown heroes.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: You know, we can take down the individuals that are
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: breaking the barriers and making it more commercial for us
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: to see ourselves. Because if there, if we're not commercial,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you know, it's not investible. And if it's not investible,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: it cannot be made.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So that's the type of stuff that I think is
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: so interesting, and you know, I would say, I want
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about your your trajectory as
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: an actress, because you have been a consistent, you know,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: performer and many of our not prime time by daytime too.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: You started in soap operas, right, we could have used
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: her and uh, those heads on Camino, but those head
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: is Camino with Eric Strata, but maybe it was before
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: The truth was I feel like I.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Don't remember it, but I have definitely heard that is Camino.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: It was Eric Strada had the brightest idea to learn
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: how to kind of speak Spanish, flew to Mexico and
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: shot a Spanish soap opera and he was one of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the biggest purposes was Erica Strata had. You know, the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: last thing you remember him doing was punch and chips.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So when he went down there and he played opposite
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: two of the most beautiful Mexican actresses of that time,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: and he was in Spanish where those mohad is comino
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: means two women and one one way, only one road.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: So the whole thing was about him having to pick.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Having to pick and the two women. The whole thing.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: It's like fighting for the protecting, you know, the fighting
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: for that love and.
• 23:08
  Speaker 7: The two.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: But you know, going full circle to telenovelas, which are
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: such a big part of our culture. I mean, they
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: are our mission impossibles, like they are our star Wars.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know when I was on the so I
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: was on the soap opera. It was just my first job.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I was at right after college.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: It was right after college. So I my last semester
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: there was One Life to Live first, One Life to Live.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: That was the first one.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, I actually wasn't on. I was the All my
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Children episodes. Uh were like crossover episodes. So I was
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: playing my One Life to Live character episodes of All
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: my Children?
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: How did that happen?
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Crazy?
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: How do you?
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: How do you?
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: You were doing Marvel comics crossovers before Marvel Comics.
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: Yes, I was.
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: I So my last semester at n y U, I
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: was in the film and Televis studio and they it
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: was great because every week they would do a showcase
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: and they would invite a casting director or an agent.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: I met my first agent through that, and then the
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: casting director. First, the casting director for Guiding Light came
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: in and I screen tested for Guiding Light, me and
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Katie Low's because I went to college with Katie Lows
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: and we didn't get it. Both of us didn't get it.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: And then the casting director for One Life to Live
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: came through and I again I was a confident teenager.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: So you would have a one on one with them.
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: You would like read a scene and then they would
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: talk to you for a little bit, and so I
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: read the scene and while she was talking to me,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I went, oh, yeah, and I just screen tested for
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: Guiding Light last week, like just dropped that in.
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: Like yeah, like like for leverage, like.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like like like in case you don't know, you
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: know what I mean. It was just like and I
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: said it all like yeah, and it was really great.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: It was a great you know, I didn't get it,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: but it's okay, it was a great experience.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Like I just made sure to mention it.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: And then three days later they called me in for
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: like an audition and uh, there was a role that
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: was being recasted. Yeah, and it was on One Life
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: to Live. There was a token Latino family, and so
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: she was it was it was a Latin role.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: This is two thousand end of two thousand three, okay, and.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Very forward thinking for daytime.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: By the way, yes, well yes, on One Life to
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Live there was a token black family and there was
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: a token Latin family. So we were represented, we were represented.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: We were very progressive. It also meant all of the
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: black characters were related and all of the Latin characters
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: were related.
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: Just related.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so like we know, you know, because we live
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: in the same neighborhood. We make babies with the each other.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: It makes so much sense.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: So the other four Latino characters on the show were
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: my aunt, my cousin, my other cousin.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Like yeah, and then it was the same.
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: Deal with the black family, you know, So there was
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: no like, I don't think there were any All the
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: couples were mixed, do you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah,
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: there weren't enough.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Character couldn't take the same color, you know, Yeah.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: No, no, no, no. But like David's character had like
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: two of his girl my husband. That's why I met
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: my husband. He was on the show.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: He was my cousin.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: He played he played your cousin.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: So that's so mainstream.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: And so but two of his lovers on the show
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: were black, So that was you know, how they would
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: at least get couples of color.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: That was very scandalous for daytime vary scandals.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and then I ended up screen testing, and I
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: think I screen tested twice. And then the crazy part
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: of the story that I've told many times is I
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: got the call that I got the job on the
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: day I took my last exam for college.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so then I was on set like a week later.
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: Now you got to graduate, right I did.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I finished a semester. Well, I finished a semester
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: early because I was poor and couldn't afford the tuition.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I barely graduated high.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: I did maths credits and a summer session and I
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: could graduate early and saved my parents a lot of
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: moner and myself. So yeah, so I so then the
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: graduation ceremony that was in the spring, I had already
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: been working.
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: Oh wow.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: So soap operas were your first introduction to to on screen, yes,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: which is crazy because it's single handedly probably the hardest
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and most taxing thing you can do as an actor. People,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think I understand now how many pages of
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: dialogue are you shooting a day?
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: And how many episodes you're shooting a week?
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: And like you're doing six episodes a week, you're doing
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: on average thirty to forty.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: Pages a day.
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: Cow Because they shoot so it's shot like a multicam
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: right where the fourth wall is your cameras and it's
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: three to five cameras and it's live editing.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: There's someone in a booth going camera one camera.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Do you do it sitcoms?
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: Just like you do it sitcoms, right, and you shoot
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: each scene one or two times and then you move on.
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: So how do you learn all that dialogue within that period?
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: You hide your script in a sofa and you look.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: At it really because that's before self.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: Unless you really fuck something up, they're not going to
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: correct you. If you basically say the thing, they're going
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: to move on. Yeah, and also if you say the
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: words but your performances.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Never, we're going to move on.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's it's super fast and so you
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: you know, so you can do.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: Five or five scenes in an hour or more, you know,
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: and so you just fly, fly, fly, and then when
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: they're done with that set, they move all the cameras
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: to the next set and they do all those scenes.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: And you're shooting six episodes a week, so everything is
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: also from like different episodes. They would try to do
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: things like in order at least, like but you're just
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: jumping around. But it's also their short scenes and they're
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: very and a.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Couple of people in the scenes, so everybody kind of
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: balances line.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, there were, It wasn't like I don't remember
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: it being even No, it's like three four page scenes
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: it's they're short, and it's like, I.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Mean, look, let me tell you something. That was your
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: first introduction. They didn't feel as hard, but it's like
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: a very no.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: It was really hard, And I think the biggest thing
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: I learned was, you know, it wasn't just about the
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: performance part was really hard because there were a lot
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: of days I would leave and go I just did
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: the worst fucking acting money and that's going to be
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: on television.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I was like, what is this job?
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: Like I And I'm trying to figure it out. I'm watching, like,
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: you know, the vets that have been there for a
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: long time. Some of them are crazy.
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: They can just turn on water works like literally action
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: and they're like water coming down their face and they're
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: crying and you're just like, oh, they can just do
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: that like and you're so you're trying to figure out
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: like tricks basically for yourself. But the biggest thing I.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: Think I learned was the working with so many cameras
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: and what that how that blocking is? And then the
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: biggest biggest thing I think I learned was it's like
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: a twenty person cast and a rotation of like seven
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: to ten directors and you're working with, and then you
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: never see the writers. You only see the head writer ever. Uh,
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: and then you're just working with all these different personalities,
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: And that to me was like the biggest best thing
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: I walked away from.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: That job with just why because it was I mean,
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: toxic is like a.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Strong word, but I complex navigation.
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: It's a complex It was a very at twenty one
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: years old, a very complex thing to navigate of. Like
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: you had these older actors that had been there forever,
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: you had younger actors that were just starting out. You
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: had actors in the middle that, like, some were happy
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: to be there, some were fucking miserable to be there.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: Like you just there were so many different dynamics going on,
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: and you're constant and you're not working. You're working with
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: the same people a lot, but you're also like thrown
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: into scenes with people you've never worked with before, and
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: then you're trying to figure that out. So I think
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: I felt like it made me, uh, sort of more
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: flexible and like leaning into just like maybe observing people
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: or you know what I mean, like when to hang back,
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: when to be a little bit more of like a
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: showman and like you know, entertain and like you know
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: how to kind of read a room, and you know
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: how to deal with someone that might be difficult, or
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: you know someone that's like screaming at props because they
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: don't know their lines and they're trying to stall, you
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: know what I mean, and like how to handle yourself
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: in those situations.
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: And I was so young, right, and I think nothing
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: shook me after that.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because as soon as you enter the industry, the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: industry was a fool of all these personalities, right.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: I still see plenty of that as you go along.
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: And so I think for my first thing and then
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: when I did like Brooklyn nine nine, which was.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: This, did you go from the soaps to that?
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: No, there was like six years in between.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, and what happened in those six years.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: Barely working of like recurring guest stars.
• 32:53
  Speaker 5: Collectors, Like what recurring?
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: I did a recurring on Gossip Girl?
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: Would you play?
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: I played a minion of Blair, a minion of Blair
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: during the Columbia school years. I think it was like
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: season six or something. I did like six or seven episodes.
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: It was very fun and that was like wild because
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: uh there there was they were such a hit show.
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, that was like there would.
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Be paparazzi when they'd shoot outside. There would be yeah,
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: gaggles of schoolgirls like outside the trailers, just like waiting
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: to see Layton or Blake, Like it was insane.
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: It was that for you, Like experiencing that for the
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: first time, I sort of.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: Was like mesmerized by it all and I was like, Wow,
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: this is crazy, and it just felt like it felt like, uh,
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't know how. It's hard to
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: describe because it was like at that point they were
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: like a well oiled machine. They were just like making
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: the show, but it felt like everything was so much
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: more more about like the hype and the gossip girl
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: of it all, and you know, you be. I got
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: a little yelled at one time for like leaving my
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: sides on a chair, you know, like and that kind
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: of thing. And then there was one time sometimes they
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: would give me scripts and sometimes they wouldn't, and then
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: I had a scene that made no sense and I
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: you had an all and I had no script and I.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Was like, can I get a script? I don't understand
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: my scene. They were like, oh.
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: My god, and I was like what is there?
• 34:29
  Speaker 7: You know?
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Was it also the contrast of doing that many scenes
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: and that many pages and a soap and then going
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: to do this guess.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: Oh it felt easier, Yeah, easier two scenes today, you
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: know what I mean? Like one two cameras, like.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: All right, Like then you go to a movie and
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: you shoot a three page scene for a week, you know,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Oh my god.
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's like did you find the acting styles? Like
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: did you did you?
• 34:54
  Speaker 7: Did you feel that coming from a soap you had
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: a very specific acting style that you had to do there?
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: Did did you find it you had to adjust while
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: doing a show like well?
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: I did? In terms of Gossip Girl was very specific
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: because they had a very specific cadence to the dialogue
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: on that show and you had to be word perfect.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Oh really you dropped the or an and they would
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: tell you.
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: They would tell you, so you had to be the
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: word perfect and everyone just there was that there was
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: like a musicality of cadence to that show that I
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: could sort it that I heard when I was watching
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: the show before I did it, and uh, and then
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: when I got there, I remember they were like because
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: our first episode was almost like an audition, and they
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: were like basically like if we like you, guys, if
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: you do well today, we're going.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: To bring you back. I community around.
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: The no pressure and they were like, oh, by the way,
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: don't drop any words.
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: All right, So they told you that, right?
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe they did tell us.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: And what's crazy is that it was Gossip Girl. Yeah,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: and it was like just chill out.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: I definitely like during my time there was a little
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: got a little like disenchanted with like is it like
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: this on every show?
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: And do I want to do this?
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: Like M going to be happy and fulfilled doing this.
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: But then, you know, like life sends you things sometimes
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: when you most need them. I was like at a
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: low point and I booked a guest star on Royal Pains.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, with with Mark is a gift? Can we talk
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: about Mark?
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: Can we talk about Mark? Can we please?
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: Do you break it down?
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: I have wanted to see him in person ever since
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: this because.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: I was like, they're rebooting it and he's coming back.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Oh my god.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: Mark is the kind of number one on the call
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: sheet that arrives, knows everyone's name on the creuse, everyone
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: everyone's name is, you know, going up to a grip
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: and being like, how is your daughter's birthday party, like
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: the best fucking guy completely memorized, has like this crazy
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: monologue medical monologue that he's doing like first up in
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: the day and like spits it out and likes so
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: collaborative with everyone.
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: My storyline, there was like a few of us. It
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: was like a it was like a girl that crashed
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: on like a jet ski and he saves me and
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: then we're like part of this little party group.
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: So there's like five guest stars and this learns all
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: our names every time we're sitting, you know. Sometimes guest
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: stars are set like yeah, a little separated like regulars. Yeah,
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: would come over and talk to us and just it
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: was the loveliest week and everyone was so happy on
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: set and having so much fun and it felt creative
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: and fun.
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, this was in New York. Yeah,
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: And I was like, if this is what it's like,
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: this is what could be like in I'm so in.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: And that experience was so magical because I felt like
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: it gave me something to visualize to like hope and
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: dream for. And it's actually what materialized on Brooklyn nine nine.
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: Like that was the vibe we had. And when when
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: Brooklyn first started, I remember thinking, oh my god, I
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: got my role pains, like this is that vibe? What?
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: And why do you think that is?
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: Melissa, Like, like, how do you think a vibe like
• 38:23
  Speaker 7: that is created? Do you feel that it's created from
• 38:26
  Speaker 7: the top and it trickles down like who dictates?
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: Like I'm Brooklyn nine nine?
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: Right?
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: Was it was it? And like who who?
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: It was? Andy and Andre?
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: So every it was Andy and Andre and and I
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: think to an extent the showrunners, you know, and like yeah,
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: and they and they also are like this, this is
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: a no asshole space, you know, Like but when you
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: have the number one and the number two being so gracious,
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: so kind to everybody walking on set, greeting the crew,
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: treating everyone with respect. Act when a guest star rolls through,
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: no matter how big a star they are, they see
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: that and there's no room for tomw Like, no one's
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: gonna try ship.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: In your show speaking of Brooklyn, and what is very
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: evident is that you were doing something that felt like
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the first time of something in a long time on television,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: like tonally, to be that kind of outgoing and innovative
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: to say, hey, we're gonna do a show about this,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: you know, it's like there's elements, there's elements of things
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: that really effortlessly worked in some amazing comedies, and they
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: were all combined into one formula, and then you had
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: the perfect cast that was so liberated by just trying
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: things that that's what it really came across. That it
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: was you guys are were out there just you're not
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: going to give up until it was funny. Yeah, you know,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: and I and it was that's that's what that was.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Grouper evident. Do you feel like that's kind of the
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: environment that the producers and the showrunners they're like, let's
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: let's try this line or let's try this thing, Like
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: let's like wire, you guys say, improving at times, We.
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: Were improving at times, and we would do a lot
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: of alts, And again I think that tone was set
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: by Dan and by Andy too. Like Andy, if Andy
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: hears something in a in a scene that's not working,
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: that's not as funny as it could be, he cannot
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: let he cannot move on, you know. And he would
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: pinpoint moments and he would pinpoint just dynamics that needed
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: needed tweaks and needed reworking. And that was my Those
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: were my favorite moments, right like, that's what I love
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: about single camera comedy, is like if something's not feeling
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: right or landing, everyone just kind of comes together and
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: is like, what what can we do?
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: You know, should we play? Should we improv? Should we
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: you know?
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: The writer comes with an alt like well we had
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: this idea, you know what I mean, And it's like
• 40:59
  Speaker 4: all these people coming together, and then you just fucking
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: try ship. Then you try like three different versions of
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: the thing, and sometimes you find something crazy magical that
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: you're like, oh my, you know where you say cut
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: and the whole crew laughs and it's the best.
• 41:13
  Speaker 7: You know.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: It's like such a high and and he really from
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: day one like set that tone. Like I remember when
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: we did the pilot, he was there every day, like
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: he took his producer role like so seriously.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Also for him, the stakes were really high.
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: I mean yeah, he was just coming off that snel.
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: He was like, is that where you met Stephanie was
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: on the show?
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, So Stephanie and I we got cast and
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: at the time, like you guys were saying, you know,
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: it was always just one this for us, this was
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: like we were like, this is really the first time
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: they've had two Latin latinas on one show and we
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: were freaking out and we both knew Gina Rodriguez. So
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: when we booked the pilot, Gina, uh, if you even
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: been on like Facebook, like this is like pre Instagram,
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: right like.
• 42:05
  Speaker 8: Yeah, like mighty yeah yeah, like like dm us both
• 42:08
  Speaker 8: and was like, hey, I know you both, and you
• 42:10
  Speaker 8: both just booked this thing, and we exchanged numbers through that,
• 42:14
  Speaker 8: and then we were so scared about them deciding to
• 42:20
  Speaker 8: get rid of one of us that for the Network
• 42:23
  Speaker 8: table read, we decided to wear our hair very differently
• 42:26
  Speaker 8: because we were.
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: Afraid they would confuse us, even though we looked nothing alike,
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: right right, No, and we both have wavy hair, and
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: I remember like we talked about it and we were like, yeah,
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: how and she was like, well, I'm definitely gonna dress
• 42:43
  Speaker 6: in all black, and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: wear like maybe I'll wear white, like something light colored.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: And then I was like, maybe we could do our
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: hair different and she was like, well, she was like,
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: my curls don't really Like I was like, my hair straightens.
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: I can straighten my hair. I was like, I'll wear
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: my hair straight. And that's literally the reason why Amy
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: has straight hair on the show and Rosa has big,
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: curly hair is because from the beginning we just no
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: one told us to but me behind the scenes made
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: that decision out of fear, because we just wanted to
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: look very, very different.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: So you're providing two different perspectives of two different characters.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: By the way, your characters can not be more different,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: but more different.
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: We sound different, we look different.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: But at the time we were just so used to like,
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: oh there's already we already have a Latin character, or
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: like people just you know, confusing you like.
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: Out of fear, but it was also rooted in reality, right, Yeah,
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: it was a little bit.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: This is how it goes to point.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: Out like no one ever does this, like someone's going
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: to change their minds.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I got to point out something that's like you know,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: we we we should have a moment for it to
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: echo for a second, that the two Latina actresses talk
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: to one another instead of the clearing a competition, who.
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: Stays yeah, yeah and yeah.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: In the common world where they only get one like
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: and most people have resources or opportunities, and they're like,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know where I'm going to get this next,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: so I can't share with anyone.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: That's the thing that we have to learn from.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: The example of the two of you coming together and
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: be like, how do we both stay here? How do
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: we set ourselves for success? Is where I feel like
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: a community really needs to continue to resonate, like it's
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: not a company.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: Never even thought about how that could have Yeah, you're right.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: Gone to souse.
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: You could have not talked to each other, right like
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: the table read yeah yeah.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: Or not be Caddy, but just like in the back
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: of your mind also like.
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: You could be Caddy.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: Like could there are people that might have.
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: The perspective of, like I'm a show up. Make sure
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: I'm funnier than her, right, you know what I mean,
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: that I outshine her, like just in case they get
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: rid of one of us, they're going to keep me,
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: like you know, but we that never even occurred to us.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: We clung.
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: The reason we got so close so fast was we
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: were both new to like this was both our first show.
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: It really yeah, it was both our first show and
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: both first time seeing two Latin characters on a network show.
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: And we just like clung to each other.
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we were just like we are going to survive
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: this by like holding onto each other for dear life,
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: and that's what we did.
• 45:19
  Speaker 7: And but but but there's also you two have this
• 45:22
  Speaker 7: incredible chemistry, right, Like was that instantaneous? Was that something
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: that I mean really like I'm not saying this to
• 45:30
  Speaker 7: like blow smoke up your ass, right, but like I
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: remember hanging out with when us four hung out in.
• 45:35
  Speaker 5: Austin, I was like, whoa, they're really they really have
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: that chemistry like in real life. Yeah, it was. It
• 45:43
  Speaker 5: was very Laverne and surely very like and I mean
• 45:46
  Speaker 5: that in the most.
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: Time, so different.
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: We're so different Jesus, like Texas girl, like I'm from Jersey,
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: Like we could not we have different we have different tastes,
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: we have different But but yeah, like the chemistry was
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: always there, like we.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: Would there's a DNA structure you guys are connected to,
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: you know, like the esthetics and the and the interest
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: could be different. There isn't like there's like a sisterhood
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: that's like rooted in blood.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just it's like a soulful.
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: Kid is like we knew each other in a different life.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: That is the feeling.
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: Yes, for sure, And we definitely have when it comes
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: to comedy, we're very aligned, like the same shit makes
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: us laugh. And I think also we both started in
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: theater and so we had kind of similar coming up.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: The seventies was a little different because she stayed in
• 46:42
  Speaker 4: theater for longer and kind of just did some little
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: guest stars and then like got Brooklyn. So she was
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: like very very very new to television, whereas I had
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: worked a little bit more in TV.
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: So like in the very beginning was.
• 46:57
  Speaker 4: Like, you know, like whispering that, you know, like like
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: this is you know, the cameras over there, like do this,
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: you know, like technical things. But I also just thought
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: she was such an extraordinary actress and she was so
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: freaking funny, and you know she was like so had
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: that character, like the voice, the way she stood, the
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: way she wore those leather pants, like.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Everything was character trade she built for It is amazing
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: and so reminder of our audiences. Stephanie Beatrice, uh you know,
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: coach star in Brooklyn nine nine. She went on to
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: do some extraordinary roles and in the Heights she was
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: made a Vela and Kanto. I had the honor of
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: playing her father on Encanto. And she's just a gifted singer.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: She very gifted sing singers. She has the opposite story.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: She didn't think she was a singer. And I was like,
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: you're a freaking singer. You better fucking audition during the heights.
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: I've heard you sing on set.
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: You could sing?
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 47:56
  Speaker 5: She was like, no, I can't.
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: I was like, no, trust me as someone who thought
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: she could sing, and then was with you.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, bro like the fact that she's saying all
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: those uh linn Manuel Miranda composed and lyrical songs.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Those songs are very.
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: Very hard to see our generation song time. It is
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: not easy to sing his songs.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: So she's so reflecting on the both of you. Now
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: we're talking about both of your chemistry. You both host
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: a show called More Better, More Better.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: So I'd like to talk.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: About More Better next because it's not only a sister
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: podcast to us, but it's also one of the biggest
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: hits and Michael to the podcast network. So excited to
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: hear how that came about, and uh and the gift
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: that you guys have brought to the people who are
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: in search of more Better. Wilmer Valderramai Rodriguez and this
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: was part one of two parts with Melissa for Meto.
• 48:55
  Speaker 7: Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
• 48:59
  Speaker 7: Michael That podcast network hosting