With a fragile appearance, powerful gaze and intense emotions, this 26-year-old young woman from Alicante has lived the last four years “as if they were months”. She took off with You Will Not Kill (2020) when director David Victori discovered her on Instagram and she was nominated for a Goya for Revelation. The following year, Parallel Mothers made her the new Almodovar girl. Success and stress, anxiety and new jobs. The Snow Girl, a series about Javier Castillo’s bestseller, and now Tin and Tina, Rubin Stein’s first film, a thriller with hints of terror. And behind them, a pause for this young woman who, before becoming an actress, was a waitress, shop assistant, babysitter, receptionist and operator, as well as a model, and today she combines fashion with acting.
We see her suffer in The Snow Girl, and even more so in Tin and Tina, its theatrical release. A film, by the way, not advisable for imminent parents…
It has been a very intense journey, yes. Auteur cinema, a very personal universe created by the director, Ruby Stein. It is a very aesthetic film and it touches on sensitive issues, religion, motherhood… My character was very difficult for me because she has many conflicts, she yearns for a family that she did not have, she adopts children educated in a magnified faith…
I want to see her in a comedy after so many tormented roles.
They tell me about it a lot, I always play roles of traumatized women. It is true, they are women who suffer and the trips I take with them are intense.
And more interesting?
Not only that, but also, but I feel that I must give visibility to that type of women.
Do you want to add value to this work?
That’s right, giving a voice to women who have suffered, for example, mistreatment, assault, rape or perhaps the loss of a child and how they are later questioned. For me that is a priority over other characters.
He has spoken, without taboo, of his insecurities.
Actors are sometimes put in the wrong place, in my opinion, just because we have a special job. Like anyone, we have suffered blows in life and have dealt with them. Making it visible conveys the idea that it can be overcome. Mental health must be normalized to stop the dynamics of generating unnecessary taboos.
How do you currently feel?
I feel very at peace. It had been many years in which I have lived through things that have not been easy. People think that you become a successful actress and your life is solved. Nothing to see. I have finally found a vocation, something I longed for, but it does not mean that everything is a bed of roses. Luckily I have been able to choose projects in which I have learned, enjoyed and met wonderful people. I feel like the most privileged person in the world. But I have also suffered the effects of continuous stress, brutal anxiety, impostor syndrome, because people overnight do not recognize you for the person you were.
Three years of non-stop, since you will not kill.
With that film my life changed. These years have passed me as if they were months, without time to assimilate what was happening to me. That literally drives you crazy. It makes you neglect many aspects of your life. That’s why after La chica de nieve I told myself, we’ve been filming several projects, some brand new, so I’m going to stop for a bit. Although you can’t help but think… What if they stop calling me? The eternal doubt. It’s a bit dizzying. But I was very clear that if I didn’t stop I wouldn’t come back. So for a while I’ve been doing fashion-related engagements. I have stopped, so that everything falls into place, to find calm and remember how much I love what I do.
What sentence does the idea recur to reassemble if you are discouraged?
To which a great friend told me, who was my coach in You Will Not Kill, Gerard Oms. If there was a bad situation in my life, he would tell him about it and he would say: “Mile, this too shall pass”. He stuck with me and sometimes he appears to me as a lifeguard. Visualizing myself once the situation is over relieves me a lot.
What would you say is your greatest virtue?
Ugh, how difficult to talk about yourself. (He hesitates… and turns to her boyfriend, who is with her). “Diego… What would you say is my greatest virtue?” My vital energy, my generosity (he says), that I am positive and I always try to make others feel good. Yes I agree.
And a defect that complicates your life?
I am often my own worst enemy, I beat myself up if something doesn’t go my way. I’m too self-demanding. It’s something I’m working on because it’s very important how you talk to yourself.
A moment of total happiness.
For example, enjoying my nephew Enzo, 1 and a half years old, my little sister’s baby. When we met up with my sisters and took him to the park.
Do you want to be a mother?
Yes, I `d love to. It is a life project for me. As it happens to Lola, my character in Tin and Tina, it is something that I am very clear that I do not want to miss. Now with work you realize that it is difficult to find the moment. If I didn’t dedicate myself to this I think I would probably be a mother. My boyfriend is the one who convinces me to wait a bit, the one who puts my feet on the ground. I can wait, I’m still young. But these are not birds in my head. I got pregnant when I was 19 years old and obviously the conditions were not optimal and I decided that it was not the moment. That little thorn has always stayed there.
What can’t you stand about others?
The lie, the falsehood, the hypocrisy, the lack of honesty. I usually push those people out of my life. I neither connect nor do they do me good. They stir me up, they take away my energy. I try to be as I would like them to be with me.
A wish to fulfill this year.
Look, this year I want to take care of my health. I have neglected healthy habits, sleep routines, exercise. I want all of this back, for mental health. They pick on me because I’m very skinny, but that’s who I am. It’s my complexion. I consider a diet, but to remove sugars and add foods that help generate serotonin, dopamine, for mood.
A trip to remember.
For example, the one that Diego and I did this summer with the caravan, touring the coast of Portugal, camping there. Maybe you arrived at night and at dawn you found yourself on a cliff facing the ocean with impressive views. It was wonderful.
Fond of writing, I understand. For therapy, for hobby?
Yes, yes, I write that it was very small. A bit like survival. As a child I have been a very solitary person, I always tried to write my thoughts, what happened to me and little by little as I was more educated and read a lot, I was giving it shape and transforming into something more poetic. Now I have gathered my poems, I have written much more and I am going to publish it with Penguin, the same publisher as Javier Castillo (The Snow Girl). A super nice connection.
A book you have enjoyed?
For example, The art of keeping calm. Or The House of Force by Angelica Liddell.
She has been a model before an actress. What is the look with which she feels most comfortable?
Well, I’m usually in my pajamas (laughs), it’s something that no one expects. If it were up to me I would go everywhere in my pajamas. As soon as I get home, dolled up with an incredible look, I grab my Minnie pajamas, put them on, remove my makeup, and that’s me. To go out, I go quite oversize, I don’t get too hot with the issue of clothes, I wear whatever is comfortable.
What music accompanies it?
I listen to a lot of music every day. I like everything, from the typical 90’s pop like Britney Spears, to rap, electronic music. And I like the classic too.
What would a perfect day be like, without filming?
What I would do is have a quiet breakfast (yogurt with cereals) in the living room at home, with sunlight, go out on the balcony, clean up the house, leave my room tidy, do some pending errands, perhaps a session with my therapist, with my physio , because my back is made a picture. And then a walk with my boyfriend. Or we would go climbing. Savoring all those things that make you enjoy and at night you go to bed and say: “What a good day I had.”
What new role is on the horizon?
I have a ton of projects this year and next. But I can’t say anything at all.
Can’t pinpoint one?
Nothing, it will be out soon.
So they are ‘fat’.
Yes they are, yes.
