Joaquina Gentil on Acting Internationally
Nicholas and Derek talk to Joaquina about her International acting journey, and how she found her way to Hollywood.
Transcript
This is Film Center.
Speaker:Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derrick Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Hey, welcome to Film Center.
Speaker:My name is Derrick Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we have a very special guest.
Speaker:We're here with Joaquina Gentil.
Speaker:Also known as JoJo.
Speaker:Also known as JoJo.
Speaker:And, it is possibly a JoJo reference, we don't know.
Speaker:That could possibly it could be a JoJo reference from two different cartoons.
Speaker:It could either be JoJo's Bizarre Adventures.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Or Powerpuff Girls.
Speaker:Oh, that's true.
Speaker:Or, isn't there a JoJo and Josie and the Pussycats?
Speaker:I feel like there was one in there too.
Speaker:Have you ever gotten a Mojo JoJo reference?
Speaker:All the time.
Speaker:I'm sure you Especially when I'm angry.
Speaker:They're like, Mojo JoJo coming out.
Speaker:I've gotten a lot of JoJo Rabbit lately as well.
Speaker:I've gotten a lot of JoJo Oh, what's Jojo Rabbit?
Speaker:The movie.
Speaker:The movie.
Speaker:Jojo Rabbit.
Speaker:I don't know what that is.
Speaker:Oh, you haven't seen it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:To be fair, he's not really into that kind of stuff.
Speaker:He's more into New Girl.
Speaker:Nicholas.
Speaker:Oh!
Speaker:That's Nicholas bread and butter.
Speaker:He's more into New Girl.
Speaker:I love New Girl.
Speaker:Do you like Big Bang Theory?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Yeah, Big Bang Theory was ours.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That says this some more.
Speaker:Sitcoms.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's his more his speed.
Speaker:So you want to tell us about a little bit where you're from?
Speaker:Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker:I'm originally from Argentina.
Speaker:I would say born and raised, but it's not really true.
Speaker:I was actually raised in Brazil 10 years of my life.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:All around the world.
Speaker:So you were born in Argentina.
Speaker:Which city in Argentina?
Speaker:Buenos Aires.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then you moved to Brazil.
Speaker:When I was like A little kid.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Was raised there until I was like 12, 13.
Speaker:Where in Brazil?
Speaker:In Rio and in Sao Paulo.
Speaker:Oh, Rio, that's so busy.
Speaker:It's such a busy city.
Speaker:But you guys should go to Sao Paulo.
Speaker:Sao Paulo it's bigger and it's I've been to Minas.
Speaker:Minas Gerais?
Speaker:Ah, Minas Gerais.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I've been there too.
Speaker:For the cheese bread.
Speaker:Don't they have, they're famous for cheese bread.
Speaker:For pão de queijo?
Speaker:Does that translate to cheese bread?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I used to date a girl from Minas.
Speaker:Oh!
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Oh, you dated a Brazilian girl?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:She was also the first Latina I ever dated, too, so that's I, when I used
Speaker:to wear construction the scaffold builders were like, bro, you went
Speaker:from just being white to just dating a bangled tiger, man, you gotta tip
Speaker:your toe in the pool first, man.
Speaker:Yeah, Brazilians are intense, but in the best way.
Speaker:We're both from we're both from the South, so I was like, bro the
Speaker:likelihood that He's not even from New Orleans, you're from Baton Rouge.
Speaker:Yeah, Baton Rouge.
Speaker:So Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker:It's oh yeah, I'm dating this person from Brazil.
Speaker:And everyone's what?
Speaker:And I went to, I went there for a month.
Speaker:I went to Uruguay, which I found out that's how they pronounce it.
Speaker:They don't say it Uruguay.
Speaker:And then Argentina.
Speaker:And then I was in Buenos Aires.
Speaker:Oh, what do you do in Uruguay?
Speaker:I don't know, wherever the I took a cruise.
Speaker:I paid I did a cruise.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And it didn't speak English.
Speaker:Which I was really upset about because I told her make sure they speak English.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You should just learn, Portuguese and Spanish overnight.
Speaker:Portuguese is so hard to learn.
Speaker:It's it's The sounds are complicated.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I lived there for 10 years of my life and I have Brazilian
Speaker:friends and we speak to them.
Speaker:Sometimes I'll like I don't remember how to say this.
Speaker:Like the sound happen.
Speaker:You know what's crazy makes is hello friend.
Speaker:But you can't say that to a guy.
Speaker:'cause then that's like fruity.
Speaker:What again?
Speaker:Oy Meeks.
Speaker:O me O.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oy Meeks.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know that It must, it might be term, it might be like a slang Yeah.
Speaker:Slang terms.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's interesting because then like to a lot of Americans when they're like.
Speaker:It Portuguese is not Spanish, but to a lot of like uneducated
Speaker:Americans, it sounds similar enough.
Speaker:So they're like, you sound like you're just saying Spanish words.
Speaker:I've never heard of, but it's not even Spanish at all.
Speaker:I think Brazilians and Argentinians, we can definitely understand each other.
Speaker:Like in a way, like we'll get our points across.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like we can definitely hold a conversation, especially
Speaker:if it's about soccer.
Speaker:We'll go all in.
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Guys, let's not start on soccer.
Speaker:I'm really passionate.
Speaker:I used to really like to mess with her though.
Speaker:Like she would be talking with her friends and I would just say a couple of words
Speaker:in Portuguese just to make her sound like I know what it is they're saying.
Speaker:Be like, Oh, because they, I am, he, my name is Nicholas in like Portuguese.
Speaker:And they, no, I used to just say like random words and then they'd
Speaker:look at each other blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:Nicholas, can you understand what we're saying?
Speaker:And I was like, Nicholas, you did that thing from a family guy where
Speaker:that that Spanish speaker tells Brian, he's no, I only know how to
Speaker:explain that one sentence in English.
Speaker:So you spent growing up in Brazil and then went back to Argentina.
Speaker:Went back to Argentina.
Speaker:I did end of my high school.
Speaker:Years, first years of university.
Speaker:And then I decided from one day to the other that university,
Speaker:which university you go to, so an Argentinean one called WADE.
Speaker:So it's called Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, but basically, yeah, I know.
Speaker:I was starting performing arts and production and already in college.
Speaker:Yeah, oh, we got a backup.
Speaker:We got a backup.
Speaker:So what got you then interested in the entertainment space?
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:When I finished high school, I was like, when I was in high school, I
Speaker:already wanted to quit high school.
Speaker:I wanted to drop out and study music.
Speaker:Oh, crazy.
Speaker:Okay, what kind of music?
Speaker:Any type of music?
Speaker:Like not like just like in like comp composition, direction, whatever.
Speaker:I was crazy.
Speaker:I didn't do that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Here we are.
Speaker:I actually, I always participated in like school plays, choirs, singing.
Speaker:So when I got out of high school, I was like, this is it.
Speaker:I'm done with this.
Speaker:My parents were like thinking, Oh, she got really good grades.
Speaker:Top grades in class, she has scholarships, she's definitely gonna
Speaker:study something like business, to be a lawyer, something where all those good
Speaker:grades can be like put to use, yeah.
Speaker:No mom, no, I'm studying acting, that's what I'm doing.
Speaker:And what was your parents reaction to that?
Speaker:My dad, imagine, he wanted to kill me.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, I imagine.
Speaker:And also for the audience at home, what I, correct me if I'm wrong when I say
Speaker:this is that the university system is flipped like it is here in America.
Speaker:You have the, it's better to get into the public schools than the
Speaker:private schools because the private schools are just There's a mix.
Speaker:We have really good private schools, like really good private schools.
Speaker:And we have really good public university.
Speaker:University in Argentina is free.
Speaker:We, the college system is different.
Speaker:We don't have like college and then university.
Speaker:Does it make sense?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I thought the two were the same thing.
Speaker:Yeah, we're the same thing.
Speaker:You just go to whatever you want to study directly.
Speaker:So if you want to be a doctor, you can.
Speaker:You go directly to medical school, instead of being like, Oh, college
Speaker:first and then medical school, you just go directly to medical school.
Speaker:Like you're going to share some subjects with, probably with the
Speaker:dudes, studying biology, chemistry, but You guys are all STEM though.
Speaker:Yeah, but you're gonna be doing your medical school from the start.
Speaker:You're not going to be doing anything filler.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No, no English or general education.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:No GED.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:It's just all directly to whatever you want to study.
Speaker:That's a good idea actually.
Speaker:It works pretty well.
Speaker:That's what it should be.
Speaker:When I started studying, so I was like, Mom, I'm gonna study this.
Speaker:It took me a while.
Speaker:I'm not going to lie, I started with journalism first, and
Speaker:production and journalism.
Speaker:I hated journalism, especially in Argentina, because it's
Speaker:like really political and no.
Speaker:And I had to learn the constitution, and I was like, point by point,
Speaker:I was like, I'm not doing this.
Speaker:I'm not doing this.
Speaker:So I went back and I started and I got into a bunch of, musical theater, like
Speaker:weekly classes and acting classes.
Speaker:And then I started doing production in WADE, which is the school I
Speaker:told you about, and this new career opened, which was a performing arts
Speaker:career with professionals of the space that were really well known.
Speaker:I was like, I need to do this.
Speaker:And the good thing is as I said, my production career and my performing
Speaker:arts career, they shared subjects.
Speaker:So I wouldn't have to take a lot of them again.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And I just started off, I had done like six months of the other one.
Speaker:So I jumped in and at the same time I had a band.
Speaker:I, Oh, what instrument do you play?
Speaker:I don't play, I sang.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Oh, you sing?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's how I got into acting actually.
Speaker:Cause I was like, Oh, I love musical theater.
Speaker:And then I completely moved away from musical theater.
Speaker:But cause that's what I was going to ask you.
Speaker:What was the hook, what was the thing that got you into it?
Speaker:So it's musical theater.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It went all from like music, it started all from music and singing in choirs
Speaker:and then getting a role in a musical theater, playing in high school and
Speaker:then being like, Oh, I want to do this outside, bringing it outside.
Speaker:So you're a musical theater kid.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:I'm not proud.
Speaker:I'm not proud.
Speaker:I was in musical theater when I was in high school, too.
Speaker:It's you took a little bit farther than I did.
Speaker:But yeah, musical theater is always so interesting, especially
Speaker:if you always have that one kid.
Speaker:And this is at least in my high school and other high schools.
Speaker:I've noticed there's always one kid who can't sing at all.
Speaker:They are a terrible singer, but they have so many other skills.
Speaker:We had a kid in our high school.
Speaker:He couldn't sing, hold a note for his life, but he could build
Speaker:sets like basically by himself.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Our teacher was like, I don't care.
Speaker:He's in the play.
Speaker:Cause he's building.
Speaker:Yeah, that is so fun.
Speaker:It that's so true.
Speaker:Pretend he knows how to sing.
Speaker:And then, he never sung anything by himself.
Speaker:No solos, always surrounded by other people.
Speaker:That is so funny.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:My only problem was like, I felt like that world didn't match my personality.
Speaker:I don't know if that happened to any of you guys.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause it's all the cattiness in the two face.
Speaker:And yeah, I just didn't want to act anymore.
Speaker:To be fair.
Speaker:That was like, that was my thing.
Speaker:I was like, you know what?
Speaker:There are a lot of really great actors out there.
Speaker:I don't want to be one of them.
Speaker:I feel like the world, I would have, I to write stuff, that's, that was like
Speaker:it's, it was more like I like to direct and watch stuff and I didn't even start
Speaker:writing until I got to film school.
Speaker:So then what.
Speaker:And then brought you to America.
Speaker:Oh, here we go.
Speaker:So I in the middle of this training that I was going through, which was more
Speaker:towards musical theater and performing arts as a whole, as I would say I was
Speaker:like, I feel like I'm not acting enough.
Speaker:I feel like this is not enough.
Speaker:Like I felt like I had classes, but they weren't like in depth.
Speaker:I felt like there was thing, there were things missing.
Speaker:So I was like, satisfying the hunger.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And when I was 15, I went to New York for the first time.
Speaker:Oh, cool.
Speaker:What part of the city?
Speaker:I assume.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I went to Manhattan for the first time and with my grandmother
Speaker:instead of having a quinceanera, I had a Fifteen year old trip.
Speaker:She was like, yeah, I'm gonna go ball out in New York, see
Speaker:ya, enjoy your cake, losers.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:I was like, why do I want to party?
Speaker:Let's go on a trip.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I went to New York and of course I went to Broadway, watched plays, et cetera.
Speaker:I was like, I need to do this.
Speaker:This is what I want to do.
Speaker:Do you have any favorite Broadway plays?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:You don't, you can't choose one?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Like cats or something like that?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I'm gonna say something that's really controversial.
Speaker:I really enjoy to perform in them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know if I enjoy watching them as much.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I hear that a lot.
Speaker:Statistically musicals do way worse than any other genre of performing.
Speaker:In fact, especially when it comes to theater, not theater, when it
Speaker:comes to a television movies, that's why I like in the, like the 19.
Speaker:Like in, in like the mid 1900s, like sound of music did well, but sound of music
Speaker:is also not really about the singing.
Speaker:It's about, Nazis, right after the war.
Speaker:But that's why they like mean girls, like the recent mean girls that came out,
Speaker:the recent color purple that came out.
Speaker:Those were both musicals in the advertising for both of those movies.
Speaker:They did not advertise their musical because they were afraid
Speaker:people wouldn't go to see it.
Speaker:And in fact, there's, you can look it up.
Speaker:There's tons of videos on the internet of people.
Speaker:They're in there watching it.
Speaker:They're recording on their phones.
Speaker:They're not supposed to be doing that, but as soon as they start
Speaker:singing and goes, Oh, you could see him like get up and leave.
Speaker:I'm like, that's so embarrassing.
Speaker:Why did you do this?
Speaker:Yeah, that's like Les Miserables.
Speaker:Did they not advertise that it was a musical?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They didn't advertise that was a musical either.
Speaker:Because my dad really wanted to see that and we went into the theater and I was
Speaker:like, okay Maybe they're just singing a little bit and then I talked and turned
Speaker:to my dad I was like, hey, they're doing nothing but sing and into the woods
Speaker:also did that too Even if it is like a musical rendition now, here's the thing
Speaker:Wicked is coming up wicked is my one of my favorite plays I've seen it more
Speaker:times than I would like to admit however, I've seen the advertisement for it,
Speaker:there's no singing that I saw, but Ariana Grande is there, I need to watch that
Speaker:just to see what's gonna happen there.
Speaker:Yeah, there's so much drama behind that, know.
Speaker:But you came to New York when you were 15, and then.
Speaker:And then I was like, I have to come back at some point to study.
Speaker:So yeah, cut to when I was 21, 20, 21.
Speaker:I go to New York.
Speaker:I do a course at NYFA.
Speaker:You went to New York Film Academy?
Speaker:Yeah, but it did a short course.
Speaker:It wasn't like I went to the one here in Los Angeles.
Speaker:Oh, really?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm still the guy from their commercial.
Speaker:I had shorter hair back then.
Speaker:Wait, what year did you go to?
Speaker:I have a lot of friends from NYFA here.
Speaker:Yeah?
Speaker:A bunch.
Speaker:I graduated during the pandemic in 21, but I got here like late 2018.
Speaker:And to be fair I had no aspirations of being a writer when I got here.
Speaker:I did, I was doing art and I, and the art PD department.
Speaker:And I will forever say that Gilbert there was this guy named Gilbert, who
Speaker:was our first semester writing teacher.
Speaker:I was in the wrong class.
Speaker:Cause everyone in the class was like, It was like, all right, I won't go around
Speaker:the room and say what you're here for.
Speaker:And I'm like, Oh, I'm a writer.
Speaker:I'm going to be a director.
Speaker:I'm a writer.
Speaker:And I was like, Oh, I'm art department and costumes.
Speaker:I'm in the wrong place.
Speaker:And that's, I was like yeah, I'm also a writer too.
Speaker:Thinking oh, okay.
Speaker:I'm about to leave after this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And yeah, Gilbert wasn't like, Hey.
Speaker:Don't your costumes are great, but your writing's better to the point where your
Speaker:costumes suck That man changed your life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, so you went to you tonight for new york tonight for new york
Speaker:And I was like I need to come back.
Speaker:I need to come back to the united states I need to I don't know when
Speaker:I don't know how but I just have to I just have to come back Cut to I
Speaker:didn't come back to the united states.
Speaker:I went back home.
Speaker:I continued.
Speaker:University and then I was in my third year of university.
Speaker:What year was this?
Speaker:So I went to New York 2016 and then 2017 a friend of mine calls me and she's
Speaker:you have to audition for the school.
Speaker:I was like, what?
Speaker:School where?
Speaker:She's you have to audition for the school in France.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:And I'm like, there is no way.
Speaker:No way.
Speaker:Why France?
Speaker:She's shut up.
Speaker:Just go.
Speaker:Do it.
Speaker:That's a good friend.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'll tell you about this friend of mine in a second, but she was
Speaker:like, shut up, just go and do it.
Speaker:And I was like, okay, I'll show up.
Speaker:My grandma had died.
Speaker:I was like grieving and stuff.
Speaker:And I was like, I'll just do it.
Speaker:And I did the audition, I had to do a contemporary monologue and a Shakespeare
Speaker:monologue, and it was the first time I had to do a Shakespeare monologue.
Speaker:Because in Argentina you don't see Shakespeare until a certain point.
Speaker:Like it's not our what's the idea behind that?
Speaker:Like why don't you see it till then?
Speaker:I think Because it's so complicated?
Speaker:Because Shakespeare in Spanish?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:It's already I am a pentameter, yeah.
Speaker:It's already confusing in English.
Speaker:I can only imagine what it sounds like in Spanish.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Translate it from In English for kids.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:No, that doesn't exist.
Speaker:And I got in to the school.
Speaker:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker:And then I remember the name of the school.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's called phone act Fontainebleau school of acting.
Speaker:So the school it had just started.
Speaker:And the cool thing about them is that they brought, they still
Speaker:bring, cause they still exist.
Speaker:And I love them very much.
Speaker:And I would actually say, anyone who's interested in doing theater and likes
Speaker:the UK model of schooling, you have to go there, because it's insane.
Speaker:Oh, even though they're French, they use the UK model?
Speaker:The owner used to go to Guildhall, which is a school in London.
Speaker:And he got a lot of the teachers from Guildhall, Lambda and Radha,
Speaker:to just come and teach in the middle of nowhere, in France.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Hey, wow, that must have some pull, huh?
Speaker:These are teachers that taught like Orlando Broom, Daniel
Speaker:Craig, like crazy people, right?
Speaker:Yeah, and all of a sudden I'm like, I have to go there.
Speaker:What the hell?
Speaker:Yeah, and I went there I was like, I'm just gonna go a year.
Speaker:I'm gonna try for a year if I don't like it Whatever.
Speaker:I'll just go back and finish university.
Speaker:I went for a year.
Speaker:I went for two I stayed for two.
Speaker:I had a theater company there with my friends.
Speaker:We went everywhere like London, Brussels.
Speaker:We had the best fricking time.
Speaker:That sounds great.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:And then when I finished that, my, the same friend who called me like, you
Speaker:have to audition to come to France.
Speaker:She called, she got into Yale and she called me, yelled drama and she's you have
Speaker:to audition to come to the United States.
Speaker:I This friend of yours is like, all right, now that I got you to level
Speaker:two, I got to bring you to level three.
Speaker:The same friend.
Speaker:She's yeah.
Speaker:Who's this friend?
Speaker:This friend is awesome.
Speaker:This friend is the MVP of your life.
Speaker:She's the MVP of my life.
Speaker:You guys are like the Kobe and Shaq of friendship.
Speaker:Y'all are doing it.
Speaker:We don't share birthdays for a day.
Speaker:So it's it's some weird thing.
Speaker:But she was like, just come just audition for a bunch of schools.
Speaker:So audition for a few, and then I got accepted at American
Speaker:Academy of Gerontic Arts.
Speaker:And that's how I came to the U S finally with a scholarship.
Speaker:But and I did that and then COVID and I stayed and I worked through it.
Speaker:And here we are working.
Speaker:COVID threw a monkey wrench in, a lot of people's plans.
Speaker:When you told me, cause I'm sure you're traveling all over the world, and what
Speaker:did your family think about you traveling so much, especially in I'm pretty sure
Speaker:they wanted you to come back home.
Speaker:When COVID hit, I was here in LA and they were like I just got back from
Speaker:London cause we put up a play and they were like, what are you going to do?
Speaker:And I was like, I don't know how long this is going to last.
Speaker:I'm going to stay I'm going to stay, whatever happens, like I'm staying.
Speaker:And I stayed and What did your parents think this whole time?
Speaker:They're just like, you gotta come home.
Speaker:We don't know what's going on.
Speaker:You're on my end.
Speaker:Yes, but they supported me at the same time.
Speaker:Yeah, it was a weird time.
Speaker:I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker:A lot of times I was like, what the hell am I doing in this city?
Speaker:Like everything, everybody in Los Angeles, all the time.
Speaker:I think that to myself every day.
Speaker:I don't, I think that to myself, when I walk into work, I'm driving down the 405.
Speaker:What the hell am I doing?
Speaker:What is actually going on?
Speaker:Especially Every time I talk to my parents about what I do, I try
Speaker:to explain to them in the most clear cut, basic English I can.
Speaker:And their response every time is my mom's response is always that's nice.
Speaker:That great job, babe.
Speaker:And I'm like, And then, this is really hard, but I appreciate it.
Speaker:And then my dad, this is his, he gives this phrase when he wants me to change
Speaker:the subject and doesn't understand.
Speaker:He goes, that's Chinese to me.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:And meaning oh, I have no idea what you're saying.
Speaker:But, whatever, let's talk about something else.
Speaker:Yeah, I think with my parents, we're like beyond the point of me
Speaker:trying to explain to them things that they're like, We don't get it.
Speaker:We don't get it.
Speaker:We support you.
Speaker:We don't get it.
Speaker:It's fine.
Speaker:They're probably just do you have money?
Speaker:Who?
Speaker:Are you good?
Speaker:Are you eating?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Are you okay?
Speaker:Do you feel well?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Are you healthy ish?
Speaker:Eh, cool.
Speaker:Went down the alive checklist.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:My dad's phrase is always, he doesn't really say much, but he's
Speaker:it's good work if you can get it.
Speaker:And that's literally what he says.
Speaker:Oh, dad, this is what I'm doing.
Speaker:He's yeah, cool.
Speaker:Good work if you can get it.
Speaker:Nicholas dad is actually mad funny.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He'll Your dad?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He'll be like, oh, hey, Ma.
Speaker:Cause he'll be like, hey, Ma, put dad on the phone.
Speaker:And Nicholas dad will be like, what's up?
Speaker:And you're like, hey, dad, how you doing?
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:And he's alright.
Speaker:And then I'll be like, how you been?
Speaker:What you been doing?
Speaker:And he was like, and I'll say what else?
Speaker:And he was like, what else do you want me to do?
Speaker:And they'll be like here's your mother.
Speaker:And she'd be like, wow.
Speaker:He said four words at that time.
Speaker:Good chat, dad.
Speaker:Good chat.
Speaker:That is funny.
Speaker:You actually, so you did play, you were producing plays.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We were also in them as well, right?
Speaker:So what type of plays were you guys putting on mostly comedies,
Speaker:mostly dramas, Shakespeare?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Oh really?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the, we toured with Twelfth Night.
Speaker:We did a version of Twelfth Night and the director, her name is Christy Bushell,
Speaker:Christy, she is, If there's anyone who's a monster on stage, it's this woman.
Speaker:This woman has done so many Shakespeare plays at the Globe with the RSC,
Speaker:with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Speaker:She is a beast.
Speaker:And working with her, especially on Shakespeare, has been incredible.
Speaker:I'm getting goosebumps as I speak.
Speaker:She dissects the play in a way, and the sounds, cause she has this
Speaker:theory that Shakespeare, and it's not a theory, it's a fact, but
Speaker:Shakespeare was written to be heard.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:not seen.
Speaker:So she's very adamant about the language and how you're saying it and
Speaker:how you're breaking up the script.
Speaker:Imagine me, a foreigner.
Speaker:I was about to say, you must be incredibly intelligent to be a we have
Speaker:a hard time translating Shakespeare.
Speaker:And then you come from somebody who's English is not even your native language.
Speaker:So it's almost like you have to translate three languages.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I, my, the owner of this is.
Speaker:School where I was, who was the one who introduced us to Kirstie, and
Speaker:he was also co directing the play.
Speaker:He's French, and he used to look at me.
Speaker:He's we have to work three times as hard.
Speaker:And I was like, I used to hate it.
Speaker:I used to hate it.
Speaker:I was so frustrated.
Speaker:I think every black parent says to their child, it's so fake, it's true.
Speaker:Like frustration to the max, and that was one of the reasons
Speaker:why I ended up coming to the U.
Speaker:S.
Speaker:because the U.
Speaker:K.
Speaker:market is so much more closed, closed up.
Speaker:If you're not, and he told me this, he's if you're not from the U.
Speaker:K., if you're not, or if you're not American as well you're always going
Speaker:to get cast as like the foreigner.
Speaker:I've heard that.
Speaker:I've heard that.
Speaker:Like in Europe, basically, if you're not European, you're
Speaker:just straight up the foreigner.
Speaker:And it's not even like they care which type of foreigner you are.
Speaker:There's oh no, this is just, here are all the roles.
Speaker:And then we have six foreigners.
Speaker:Doesn't matter where they're casting from.
Speaker:And this is the other problem with my casting, which is I'm white.
Speaker:Like I look, I don't look.
Speaker:Yeah, but talking to you for five seconds, you can tell.
Speaker:To her talking a lot of the cast of people I did look at your photo
Speaker:and they're like, Oh, she's you know, she looks like she has money.
Speaker:Oh, she must.
Speaker:She's not Latina.
Speaker:It's like my you look at me and they're like a Scandinavian or
Speaker:German or something like no.
Speaker:But yeah, so They're very closed up and they're very protective about
Speaker:their market, which I appreciate.
Speaker:And, they have, they go about it in a different way, which I also appreciate.
Speaker:They're very heavy on craft.
Speaker:Who did you study with?
Speaker:Where did you study?
Speaker:And it's pretty cool.
Speaker:Like they have a whole different approach.
Speaker:But that being said, it was really frustrating for me.
Speaker:So my friend, her name is Maya, the one who got into Yale.
Speaker:She's Argentinian too.
Speaker:She has.
Speaker:Very similar problems that I have.
Speaker:And she's come to the U S you're going to feel accepted.
Speaker:I was like, okay.
Speaker:And I did, I came here and it was like a whole different world of it.
Speaker:Very different.
Speaker:I think there's like the industry has.
Speaker:More opportunities, I would say like it's it there's way more things going
Speaker:on, but there's more of everything.
Speaker:I always say it's like America.
Speaker:We have we produce almost more content almost we do produce more
Speaker:content than any other country.
Speaker:And I think part of that though is because of people like you because let's go.
Speaker:We, America is so mixed seriously there's not one group of people
Speaker:in the world that then doesn't also exist somewhere in America.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:We have come to this issue, and what it sounds like coming from the UK,
Speaker:it sounds like the UK, it's more streamlined, and it's more But here in
Speaker:the US, there's tons of opportunities, but not a whole lot of competency.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I would definitely agree that there's a lot of people who get it.
Speaker:Everybody says they're an actor or says they're a producer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I would say you need to know how to navigate.
Speaker:I'd say You need to know how to navigate this world.
Speaker:And it seems like the UK, the pipeline is very disciplined and streamlined.
Speaker:And it's okay, you do this.
Speaker:Whereas in Los Angeles, it's okay, you got to do, around the pond until
Speaker:you find, there's still like a lot of like independent stuff going on in
Speaker:the UK, like I have friends who are.
Speaker:working on theaters like off West End and stuff and they do great.
Speaker:Of course, but I do think what I meant by protect, like they protect
Speaker:their talent in the sense of they're going to pick their people first.
Speaker:Does that make sense?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think the U S has a little bit of that as well.
Speaker:If you're not American, like you are American, there's gatekeepers, of
Speaker:course, but I think there is more of everything and not only in front of
Speaker:the camera, but also behind the camera.
Speaker:And I see it with the crews I work with, with everything.
Speaker:So for someone like you, who's an actor and a producer, when you look
Speaker:at a script or a play, I'm sure you have, I'm a writer director.
Speaker:So I have two brains when I look at a script.
Speaker:How does that looking what does that like for you?
Speaker:I guess is, I guess for the first part would be like, Oh,
Speaker:what's my position for this?
Speaker:But as someone who's Oh, I'm putting on the play and I'm also adding in it.
Speaker:How do you navigate switching those hats?
Speaker:They are really, I think I've learned with time to switch
Speaker:them on and switch them off.
Speaker:Because it has to do with let me tell I started being an actress first, right?
Speaker:So I studied to be present in the moment.
Speaker:Connect, listen, be open, be responsive, be open to respond in a different way and
Speaker:whatever they're giving you in the moment.
Speaker:Very theater.
Speaker:Very, childhood exercises.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:But when when I started producing, I have this other side of my brain, which is
Speaker:like executive of okay, I need to deliver.
Speaker:I need to create, I need to execute.
Speaker:And they don't mesh well.
Speaker:They, how do you, because I find the same issue, how do you feel that the, that
Speaker:being an actress first is a benefit to you as a producer, and then how do you
Speaker:find it being just ungodly frustrating?
Speaker:Cause I like, cause we produce stuff ourselves and I like when I'm
Speaker:writing something, sometimes like it.
Speaker:Is negative because I'll write something like, I don't
Speaker:think this can be affordable.
Speaker:Okay, I gotta, I can't do the scene, so I'm sure it's different for you though.
Speaker:I think, yeah.
Speaker:So I'm gonna answer his question first, which was how do you feel like
Speaker:being an actress Benefit or didn't benefit me being as a producer.
Speaker:I feel like everyone who works in film or in theater should go through being
Speaker:in an acting class once has to go has to understand like talent because you that
Speaker:way You'll understand what they can bring to you and what instead of saying be
Speaker:more sad Yeah, be more sad be more angry.
Speaker:What do you mean by this mom?
Speaker:I hate that so much being in film school You see so many directors,
Speaker:like, when they're trying to learn.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Would you, I heard, my favorite note ever.
Speaker:Someone said I'm not gonna name this person.
Speaker:But we're in class, and this person we have some actors come in.
Speaker:They're doing our little scenes that we wrote.
Speaker:They go, they're like, Yeah I want you to smile, but with less teeth.
Speaker:And it's okay And all of us were like, that's the note for this scene.
Speaker:The acting in the scene and he's yeah, it's only she smiled with less teeth.
Speaker:Oh my god We're a context talking about for context this person's at her
Speaker:father's wake So and there's no funny.
Speaker:It's not like fun.
Speaker:You're not it's a very dramatic scene So I have no idea what's going on.
Speaker:Yeah, that is bizarre.
Speaker:That is bizarre for sure.
Speaker:But there you go.
Speaker:It's a perfect example.
Speaker:If someone was like, give them something that is actionable, that is
Speaker:something that they can bounce off of.
Speaker:Not be more sad.
Speaker:But I think it's cool.
Speaker:Cause when you study to be an actor, I feel like there's a if you're
Speaker:not empathetic after studying to be an actor, I don't know what
Speaker:you're doing with your life.
Speaker:But but there's this sense of empathy and of understanding
Speaker:that comes with it, right?
Speaker:I think that it makes you more humane in whichever position
Speaker:you choose to be after that.
Speaker:So when I became a producer, I was, The good thing about starting to work as a
Speaker:producer was that before I feel like as an actor, sometimes you can get stuck in
Speaker:this mindset of Oh, I need to get the job.
Speaker:I need to book the job.
Speaker:I need to.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:What even is that?
Speaker:But I need to book the job.
Speaker:I need to book this.
Speaker:I need to book that.
Speaker:And everything revolves around that, right?
Speaker:Around the booking, right?
Speaker:The booking.
Speaker:But when me.
Speaker:when I started working, producing things, I was like, Oh my God.
Speaker:There's so much more to the production.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:There's so many hands on this pot.
Speaker:There's so many people spinning this wheel.
Speaker:I am just like this little cat, like this little trerial cog in the machine, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cog in the machine that is like helping this big picture come to life.
Speaker:And I think it gives you such a sense of like humbleness and of I was so grateful
Speaker:to all the people I was working with.
Speaker:Cause I was like, this dude is making me look good.
Speaker:And this light is making me look It's not just me and what I'm giving.
Speaker:And it gives you a perspective.
Speaker:It's just exactly how collaborative this stuff can really be.
Speaker:It's been great having you on the it's been great having you on the show.
Speaker:People can follow you?
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:My Instagram is Juaquitax.
Speaker:J O A Q U I T A X.
Speaker:If you guys want to follow me there, for sure.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Like I said, it's been great talking to you.
Speaker:And that's where people can follow you on Instagram.
Speaker:Do you have any other social medias or just on IG for right now?
Speaker:I'm on IG for right now.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay, guys, this has been Film Center News.
Speaker:My name is Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with the great Joaquina, Jojo Hendil.
Speaker:And we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See you.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at Comic ConRadio.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major social media platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next Wednesday for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
