She likes flowers, incense, candles… She has always wanted to be an actress. She has put a lot of effort, training and desire to achieve it, she who admits to being “insecure” and “transparent” in her day-to-day life. “It was my dream and I have achieved it”, affirms Teresa Riott, with the involuntary sigh of relief of someone who has overcome a difficult challenge and takes a second –no more– to enjoy the moment. When the phone doesn’t ring or the cast resists, she keeps “her body busy and her mind and heart working, even if she doesn’t get paid,” she explains. Training characters like who goes to a gym of emotions. “Sowing. You have to keep the tools oiled for when a test comes along,” she says.
Luck is on your side: the third season of Valeria about to premiere on Netflix and filming in sight of the second season of El Inmortal for Movistar. In the first, she is Nerea, the only character that introduces changes to the one in the books by Elísabet Benavent, and in the second, she plays La Rubia, a real narco from Madrid in the 1990s. Two roles that are pure contrast. On her Twitter, she presents herself as an “actress in disaster mode”, drawing on irony and humor. In this she does not believe her, although she sometimes gets confused, she takes the bus that she does not touch and thinks that her head is in the clouds. She has an iron will.
Is it easier to play a fictional character, like Nerea, or one based on a real character, like the Blonde from El inmortal?
A priori Nerea is easier, because it is only written, no one has seen it. Also, in the series his sexuality is different and I felt free to create it from scratch. La Rubia is a real character, very defined, from which you can get a lot of information and you have images, and that makes things easier because you have a clearer orientation. Both have been just as difficult and just as tasty.
Third season of Valeria. Ready to meet her Nerea again?
I have never left her behind: it has been three consecutive years with her and I have never completely disconnected. She is a character that I am very fond of and with whom I feel very identified. We are friends with Valeria’s girls on and off the set and we have a very lively relationship. It is a season of personal growth and full of love for friendship.
How is Teresa Riott when the camera is turned off?
If I open my heart, I am a person with many insecurities, it is difficult for me to trust myself. I give everything on set, I want to show that I am worth it. My mind analyzes a lot what I have said, what I have done, how it has been perceived. I enjoy nature, with my puppies, doing yoga… I am an animal lover, vegan… I live in the dichotomy of doing many things and appearing perfect in my public facet, and trying to calm down all the demands and exposure that this job has in my personal life.
That “obligation” to be perfect…
It is a way of looking for validation outside, because it can sometimes seem that, if not, people are not going to like you. I imagine that people can connect with that, because sometimes we do not stop doing things to like and seek recognition. Showing weaknesses is not carried.
If you made a t-shirt with a message, what would it be?
Contribute or separate. I want the people and things that are in my life to make me grow, to make me happy, to bring out the best in myself, to make me laugh… Those that don’t, with all the pain in my heart, I have to put them away. I’m trying to be practical in life.
He has trained with Juan Carlos Corazza, one of the greats. What is the best thing he has taught you?
With him I learned to look for the depth of things, not to be superficial or do things in a light way, but to fully immerse myself in whatever is there, whether it’s a character or a relationship. To show who I am, instead of uniting with the whole world. To find what makes me special as an actress.
And what makes it different?
I am hypersensitive, very analytical, hyperexpressive. It’s hard for me to hide what’s wrong with me. In real life I’m not a good actress, because I don’t know how to pretend. I am super transparent. I have a hard time disguising my thoughts or my emotions, and that has caused me problems because people see how I react to what they say or do. I know how to transform myself into a character, but I don’t control my own; In my real life I can’t act.
Who do you tell about your problems or what’s on your mind?
To my best friend, who has been since we were 15 (now 32). He does not dedicate anything to this, he lives in Barcelona and we have completely different lives, but trusting each other unites us.
Any landing plan B with such an unstable profession?
I am without network. You have to put your energy into one thing and trust. I am this, and this is what I want. Although the work of an actor generates anxiety and insecurity. People don’t get an idea. When you don’t work there is a very large void of professional and economic recognition.
Are women finding their place in the cinema?
We have always been there, but there was a lack of space and visibility. As a child I had no references to film directors, but neither to philosophers, or fashion designers, or cooks…. Many boys have not seen Valeria because the four protagonists are women. It’s like there’s a part of society that if something is done by women, it doesn’t matter. Because? Luckily today girls can already imagine themselves in the role of great directors like Carla Simón or Pilar Palomero, among many others.
Do you have any reference?
Carmen Machi has always inspired me as a strong, powerful and chameleon-like woman.
Makeup is good. Do you ask professional makeup artists for tips?
I learn many tricks in the sessions: what brush they use, how they use it, what they put before and after… For me, makeup is a way of expressing what I feel. I like to take my time, stand in front of the mirror, see my gestures, the shape of my eyebrows, get to know myself a bit and experiment. It is a very intimate moment that I love to savor.
Fulfill a dream…
Participate in a musical. If they did a Spanish Moulin Rouge I would be very happy.
