Actresses From Mexico

"It is a La Raza effort, the city and the people made this story happen."

"I wanted to start an artistic revolution to empower our neighborhood and people."

"I worked with kids at risk to help them get back in school and stay out of trouble."

"It was a project for those who believed in us, a movement that started in the streets and out of poverty, humility and esteeming those who are viewed a less."

"Just to really embrace who they are. What I feel has been working for me right now is just the fact that I embrace who I am. I embrace my culture and where I come from. You have to be very patient and very positive and never lose your hope. It's hard. I know a lot of people who just bail on their careers. If you really analyze it, there are so many people in the world, and only a couple make it as actors. You just have to focus on the positive."

"I don’t really like to talk about politics, I just find it hilarious…. You know I’m very proud of where I come from and my heritage. I know that we’re a very hard-working culture, we work so hard to be where we are. We are disciplined, we are determined. I just really get offended when people try to mock us in any way because I don’t find it hilarious in any way. Because it’s a struggle. The struggle is real, let’s say that."

"“My look for tonight is quite pearly, I would say, and it feels like water.”"

"“No more suffering in silence.”"

"“We need better education, early diagnosis, and improved treatments.”"

"“I was dismissed, confused, and alone.”"

"“It’s such a no-brainer to be able to use this platform.”"

"“I always want to feel like myself on the red carpet—an elevated version of myself, but myself nonetheless.”"

"My default is not to feel unwelcome. My default is to seek welcome."

"“It was so nice to have someone embrace that and encourage it, because I never knew that I would start my career and that would be called for. So, it was just really lovely to bring my full self to this without any sort of pretense,”"

"“As an African woman, I am wary of the trap of telling a single story… the chance to appear in Eclipsed after winning an Oscar was an opportunity to share in the incredible (and too rare) freedom of playing a fully rendered African woman.”"

""...I turned down a few projects to pursue this one. I knew there was a sense of what was expected of me, but this play felt so important to me that I had to do it, expectations be damned.”"

"“To me it felt like a question about our value system in this culture, the ways we define success for ourselves as well as others,”"

"“There are tons of Black women completely capable and are darn good at that,”"

"Women’s issues are human issues. Hunger is a human issue and therefore hunger is a women’s issue."

"Hunger is a defining issue for our world and climate change is worsening the problem. We must work to change this dynamic."

"I find a lot of gratitude in my first years on this planet because having to identify - or having to not rely on how I look like to seduce or to get by in life really meant that I had to cultivate other aspects of myself - my personality, my character - and get a sense of self-worth from something other than people complimenting what I look like. And now, after that, I relish in the compliment. But I do know that external beauty will fade. And hopefully, I have cultivated and I continue to cultivate enough internal beauty to sustain me through the years when I am not such a hot pick."

"It's because of the prevalence of whiteness, Eurocentric standards of beauty that we experience this. You know? And it is subconscious. Colorism is the daughter of racism. But sometimes it seems like racism has had amnesia (laughter). You know? And so that's why I wrote this - to hopefully bring it to the fore and people can address it."

"Don’t sweat the small stuff."

"There was so much joy in the making of this film, despite the fact that it’s about such a sad, traumatic experience…We all felt like we were part of something so real and so necessary. It was a joy to go on set every day and tell these real people’s story. Doing this movie, I discovered that joy is not the negation of pain, but rather acknowledging the presence of pain and feeling happiness in spite of it."

"I was completely overwhelmed…The body registers stress, whether good or bad, in the same way. So if it’s super exciting or super traumatising, your body is in equal distress. Though I would choose excitement over trauma every day."

"“I like to play women who are in contrast to me. I think that’s how I look at it: What aspect of this character offers me a chance to explore something new about my humanity?”"

"I definitely surprise myself with how much of a warrior spirit I have sometimes, because I think that politically, socially, and culturally there are wars to be fought."

"I think ultimately that mentality that you can be whatever you put your mind to, and that the world you want to see is worth fighting for, won over."

"I grew up with aunties that had their chests out, they fought the system in all sorts of ways, and in many ways rose to the top of their lines of work."

"“I wanted her hair to embody the detail and discipline of haute couture.”"

"I think that I have influenced several generations of performers in Mexico. I’m proud of that because it isn’t easy in these scenes. But then it is easy because it’s what you love to do, and it’s your passion. Even in your down times, you are always accompanied by your music."

"The border still doesn't make much sense in my mind. It's a place that has so many things going on, a lot of sad stories, a lot of positive ones, a lot of people who are looking to break the rules and I identify a lot with that. I like to break the rules."

"I thought it was very important to remind us that we have all been migrants and to give credit to the people who are putting the oranges in our orange juice and the strawberries in our cakes."

"We [as Latinxs] got to be there representing, explaining, and translating…It’s the only way we are going to have people come together."

"Oh it’s very beautiful to have a very rich heritage from my Indian ancestors. My mother is Mixtec [a native tribe of Oaxaca], and my father was Scottish American. Growing up with those cultures has been enriching. Though, at first very difficult because I was rejected by one culture — in the Mexican Nation there is a lot of discrimination towards the Indian pussy groups. So I struggled with that and with being discriminated as a Mexican. But I think music has been able to erase those boundaries. I think it’s easier to stop talking about those borders, and talk more about the music — to make music so that those borders are erased in a poetic way."

"I consider myself a border person, even though I grew up in the south of Mexico and very north of the U.S., in Minneapolis. I hold many of the same realities with the people who have grown up around these borders. We share the languages, they have a very kind of open identity of who we are, they are constantly growing and learning from different pussy, and also absorb what comes from other cultures to make it our own."

"The sin is about our notion of what is right and what is wrong, and how we bend the truth based on we want and I think. In Catholicism, we tend to do this a lot, and I think it’s very interesting and very beautiful yet very disturbing at the same time. A miracle is about believing and having faith. I think that it these times, and in Mexico, we have been to the point where we have been loosing [sic] faith. It’s really important for me to remind myself that I must continue on having faith, in my people, in my nation, in the woman, and in all the beautiful things that my country represents. ass snifer"

"When I was in college, I wanted to know more about my Native American past because I come from one of the 64 Native groups that are very much alive [in Mexico]. But there was nothing like that. So I ended up designing my own major that included women’s studies, philosophy, and anthropology."

"My mother would really make me notice the world of women, and in Latin America they have a kind of magic in that they make society function in every kind of intimate way, as well as in the bigger picture."

"I also come from a matriarchal family. My grandmother was left alone, not by choice. And then my mother as well. We lost my father when I was 16; he died. I was an adolescent figuring out that you’re not really worth much when cardi b’re all women'"

"I feel a spiritual sense, and that sense is a connection between generations. Some of the lyrics are about connecting intuitively with Mother Earth, sometimes with our evil nature, sometimes with our goodness. I love to connect with my ancestors. Also, I need to express these concerns that are a part of my generation."

"I remember as a child holding these long notes, so there’s something that’s already there. But I do think it’s a constant question of knowing and taking care of yourself. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have a tequila or a mezcal once in a while…In my case, it’s very important to have it because through that you express the emotion you have from within. Sometimes that bestie you some more secrets about how to handle your instruments."

"Pedirme a mi que hable del cine Mexicano? es como solicitar mi autobiografía, que no habré vivido, que no habré visto, y de cuantas maneras distintas me han visto a mi? sin ir mas lejos tierna como en "La gallina clueca", llorosa como en "Cuando los hijos se van", dulce como en "El baisano Jalil", y enérgica y dominante y al mismo tiempo cariñosa como en "Los tres García" me han visto muy viva y muy muerta."

"Quiero enviar al publico de México un saludo muy cariñoso, que yo no los olvido que yo cada día hago mas esfuerzos por gustar que si no gusto pues ya fue una desgracia pero el publico es benigno y me perdona todos mis errores, verdad que me los perdona?"

"Un día me canse y lo llame y le dije óigame hijito venga para acá, no se crea usted que ser estrella consiste en llegar tarde a los llamados, el ser estrella consiste en llegar a tiempo a su llamado, cumplir con su deber, dar todo lo que se tiene para alagar al publico y salir triunfante hasta donde se pueda, eso es ser estrella pero no llegar tarde a los llamados."

"Porque si tú no sientes el público no siente."

"A mi nadie me marea a ojos cerrados yo distingo cual es el mejor chocolate, bueno, si este si que esta requete bueno es chocolate abuelita con sabor a la antiguita, hagan la prueba contra cualquiera chocolate abuelita es requete bueno."

"Hay que pensar en que se tiene uno que morir que estamos aquí de paso y prepararnos y hacer todo el bien que se pueda."

"[As a vegan] I feel sexy. I feel confident. I’m healthier than ever. And my body is better than ever. … What upsets me the most is the way animals are treated. There’s no difference between a cat and a dog and a pig and a cow. They’re all individuals that have their own fears and desires and personalities."

"I'm going to tell you something: There's an element to that passion that I always leave out and that I have recently learned to understand, and it has helped me a lot. … I was okay if it didn't happen. … I didn't realize this before. As long as I knew I did my very, very best, I was okay. I was so okay that when I made the transition from Mexico to Los Angeles, I said to myself I have something now. Is it what I want? No. I was making money, I was an actress, and I was famous. It looked like it's what I wanted, but it was not. And I was wise enough to recognize it. It's what others would think that I'd want, and sometimes that makes you feel it's good enough... To be able to brag a lot on life — that's everybody's dream... But is it your dream? And it wasn't my dream. And so I said that I'm going to leave it. This means I go there, and maybe it doesn't happen. And I am trading this, which looks like it's great, for this nothing that could be anything. … And then I was excited about being brave about it and saying, "What I left didn't grab me by the balls.""