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