Stephanie Beatriz talks about “Encanto” and acting journey in exclusive interview
Actor Stephanie Beatriz with Lecture Director Jenna Prasad during the Student Entertainment Events 2022 Spring Lecture (Aaron Wright/The Black Explosion)
In an exclusive interview with Black Explosion reporter Aaron Wright, actor Stephanie Beatriz talked about “In the Heights,” how she got her start in acting and the impact of “Encanto.”
The interview took place on Thursday prior to Beatriz’ Spring Lecture at the University of Maryland’s STAMP Grand Ballroom, which was hosted and organized by Student Entertainment Events and co-sponsored by Omicron Delta Kappa.
How did you get your start in acting?
Stephanie Beatriz: My acting stuff started in middle school. I went to a public school in Texas and there were not a lot of arts electives, so I sort of wound up in speech and debate and during speech and debate, I sort of discovered that I really liked telling stories.
Beatriz would go on to say that “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Sailor Moon” and other cartoons/animes would serve as inspiration for her interest in getting into voice acting.
“I was fascinated by the idea that anybody could do it. On TV, you often see a certain kind of person: straight and white. There were certainly always actors that were people of color that were really talented and should have been working, but the majority of the stories often centered around a certain type of person. In voiceover, it can be anybody and I found that really, really exciting,” Beatriz said.
Once she got to Los Angeles, Beatriz told her agents that she wanted to get into voice acting however she could. Soon enough, she would get a role in the show “Bob’s Burgers” as Chloe Barbash.
When talking about roles centering around straight white people, I asked Beatriz her thoughts on what Zoë revealed in an interview with The Guardian.
In light of what Zoë Kravitz talked with The Guardian about being a woman of color in Hollywood, were there times where you missed out on opportunities due to the color of your skin?
Probably, I don’t actually know the answer to that because I’m not in those rooms where they’re making those decisions, I don’t hear the comments, you know? It’s more than likely a very large possibility that I didn’t book something because of who I am, but that the flip of that is also true. I have booked things because of who I am and so has Zoë. That’s what’s really exciting is like, it sounds very woo woo but the projects that are yours are usually on their way to you.
I also think that we’re living in a very special time where finally, stories that are told by everybody are being produced, executed beautifully. You have shows like “Atlanta” or “Reservation Dogs” — these are stories of people that normally wouldn’t be the heroes of the story and they’re really artistic, creative and exciting television.
Speaking of which, Encanto. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie by the way.
Thank you.
What made you decide aside from who you are as a person that you thought this would be a great movie to lend your talents to.
Oh my God. First of all, I had to audition the s—t out of that. I read about it in Deadline that Lin-Manuel Miranda was collaborating with Disney on a musical set in Colombia. I thought “oh my God, that is truly a dream come true” because I’m a huge Disney fan.
Beatriz would initially audition for the role of Luisa, but was called back to do some scenes for the lead of the movie, Mirabel Madrigal. After that audition, Beatriz got the lead role for the film
Following up her talk about the auditioning process of Encanto, I decided to ask about her previous collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the movie “In the Heights,” as well as the controversy surrounding the movie.
“In the Heights” is also something that Lin-Manuel Miranda was working on, and I enjoyed that movie as well. However, there was some criticism towards the movie for its lack of Afro-Latinx and Afro-Hispanic characters, especially when Washington Heights is predominantly Afro-Latinx. What are your thoughts on that?
I think the criticism was correct and I think that I’m really glad the film became a part of that conversation. There are many Afro-Latinos in this film, but the reality is that none of the leads are dark-skinned Afro-Latinos exist. They deserve to be the center of the story. They deserve to be heroes in film and television and all media because they exist and colorism and racism exist within the Latino community.
Beatriz believes that the criticism was valid and that despite its shortcomings, they made a beautiful film. She’s also glad that Jon M. Chu and Kiara Hughes, the director and writer of “In the Heights,” stepped forward and took accountability for those criticisms.
At this point in time, we were warned that we only had nine minutes left of the interview before the spring lecture. So I asked how it was being bisexual in Hollywood.
How has being bisexual affected the way you navigate the acting space in Hollywood? Have there been any difficulties?
The thing that’s been really incredible has been the fact that I myself am bi and then I was able to help tell a story in which a pretty beloved sitcom character also comes out as bi. I was invited to the writers room to discuss that storyline when Rosa came out as bi.
I think those episodes were really valuable for people because they allowed people to see somebody that they thought of as a friend come out and I hope that it made people possibly reconsider their own preconceived notions about bisexuality.
From there, Beatriz said that more people wanted her to work with them on stories with LGBTQ+ characters at the center of the story, which she finds exciting and refreshing.
“Not every gay story has to be like ‘oh no, we have to tell our parents that we’re gay,’” Beatriz said. “Gay stories can just be gay people being in love or falling in love. It’s fun to watch all kinds of people take that journey on.”
A crowd of University of Maryland students, staff and faculty listen in on SEE’s 2022 Spring Lecture featuring Stephanie Beatriz in STAMP’s Grand Ballroom on March 10, 2022 (Aaron Wright/The Black Explosion)
Beatriz revealed that a friend asked her if it would be a bummer for her to be typecast into bisexual characters for the rest of her career. Beatriz responded with a prompt “f —k no.”
“If I could make a career for the rest of my life, playing traditionally not-seen-on-TV characters — that would be amazing,” she said.
Winding down into the final minutes, I decided to ask her a hardball question.
What has been your favorite role to play, both on the screen or behind the mic?
That’s like a Sophie’s Choice question. I will say, I had so much fun recording Encanto.”
Beatriz said that while she was at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., she saw children of all races dress up as the characters from Encanto, which was exciting for her because of Colombia’s previous depictions in movies and media.
“You hear the word ‘Colombia’ and you think ‘oh Narcos, drugs,’ and that’s so unfortunate that an entire country has been painted that way by Hollywood. Now you hear the word Colombia, you’ll think of the film Encanto and that’s a huge difference,” Beatriz said.
Beatriz said that the media has a huge influence on the way people think about others, which is why she thinks that Encanto is something special.
When you’re talking about a Disney animated film set in Colombia with a family that has a mixture of races that are all Latino, that’s a big deal. It’s a big deal to put that in front of a kid and say ‘this is the world as it actually could be,’ — I can’t think of a better job,” Beatriz said.