I kind of wanted to be a waitress in New York City. I thought it was fun and glamorous in its own way. Like in the movie 'Beaches,' when Bette Midler is banging on the radiator, and it's cold, and she's poor. I kind of thought that would be fun to be, like, a poor, struggling actor.
When you watch someone on TV go through something that you're going through that's difficult, it lets you know that you're not alone, and there's nothing to be ashamed of.
When people see a Spanish last name, they have an image in their head of what the typical Latina looks like. I think it's important on television to have different representations of people. And I'm so proud of being Latina. I love it.
When I go to audition for voiceovers, I do dress as if I'm going to an on-camera audition because that's my way of showing that I do care and it means something to me.
When I go into 'You're the Worst,' I'm very glammed up, and my hair and makeup is va-va-voom. Now what I'm having fun with in 'Grease' is, honestly, I go to rehearsals with zero makeup. When I get pimples, I get excited about it, like 'Yay! It helps the character!' The frumpier and uglier and grosser, the better with Jan.
We're taught as a society what is acceptable for women to look like and what's not. And where fat should be and shouldn't. And I think it's important to sometimes reprogram ourselves and recondition ourselves to not have so much negativity toward our own bodies.
Sometimes I catch myself if I'm shopping, and I'm like, 'I want to hide my thighs and my arms.' And then I kind of take a minute where I'm like, 'No, that's not really being kind to yourself. Maybe learn to embrace things that we're taught as women not to like.'
My father was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. His family is from Spain. My father never taught me how to speak Spanish when I was little. That's very disappointing to me. I'm still planning on learning it on my own. I really want to travel to Spain and immerse myself in the culture and learn it on my own.
In real everyday life, I don't walk around feeling fat, and if on TV I'm considered fat, honestly, I kind of like it, because I'm a big advocate of positive unique representations of women in media. And so I like how I'm able to represent a curvier body and still be beautiful.
I've experienced, in general, in New York, people cut to the chase a little more, and they're a little bit more straightforward. In L.A. I've experienced more wishy-washiness. I will say, though, that the people that are actually from L.A. - like, born and raised in L.A. - are the real nice and genuine people.
I remember watching 'I Love Lucy' with my little brother. We were obsessed with 'I Love Lucy.' And I just remember thinking, 'I want to do that.' I love old comedic actresses - Madeline Kahn, Lucille Ball.
As a feminist, just to speak to what women go through, I think women are put in a box way too often. What I love about 'You're the Worst' is that no female character is portrayed as a black-and-white cartoon character. We're all complicated, messy human beings.
All four of the actors in 'You're the Worst,' we all have strong theater backgrounds. We all play off of each other in that way that you would in theater. You kind of are up for anything out of the blue happening and getting it on film, you know? We're all just open to playing.
