My English was limited to vacationing and not really engaging with Americans. I knew ‘shopping’ and ‘eating’ English – I could say ‘blue sweater,’ ‘creme brulee,’ and ‘Caesar salad,’ – so I came here thinking I spoke English.
They offered me that film before I did Frida and I said, no, I’m not capable of directing. Then after seeing Julie direct, I was inspired by it. She motivated me to do it, because we don’t have role models as woman for directors.
What you need is one black dress I call Plan B. It doesn’t have to be fabulous, it just looks good, covers up the problems and is neutral enough for dinner, business, a date, a funeral. You don’t overwear it, you don’t overwash it, because the Plan B is – gold.
When I first came to Hollywood I was told to go out with an agent because it was good for my career. So I went to a party with him because it was good for my ‘career.’ Well, he thought the whole thing was a big date. Needless to say, I was very upset.
You know Latin people? African-American people? How our skin ages more slowly? Even though we’re dramatic, we move our faces, we eat higher-fat foods, we’re the ones with fewer wrinkles – it makes you wonder.
If you’re paralyzing your face in your 20s and 30s, you’re not exercising the muscles that give it strength. My feeling is, laugh, cry, move your face.
If you’re feeling blue, lock yourself in a room, stand in front of a mirror, and dance – and laugh at yourself and be sexy. Dance the silliest and ugliest you’ve ever danced. Make fun of yourself and try to recover your sense of humor.
Before you do anything, think. If you do something to try and impress someone, to be loved, accepted or even to get someone’s attention, stop and think. So many people are busy trying to create an image, they die in the process.
I aim for a lifetime full of movies.
I think that it’s important for every single person, no matter what they do in life, to participate in the well-being of humanity and the planet. Don’t let a year go by knowing you didn’t make an effort to do something – no matter how small – outside your own problems and drama.
I want my little girl to tell me who she is so I can encourage her and not impose my desires for her on her life. I want her to dream big and to know that if she is willing to earn it, she can have anything – and become anything.
I have one friend that I’ve had since I was born, and she’s from Coatzacoalcos. She’s not really impressed or interested in the actor’s life. My family isn’t really either.
I want to work for a long, long time and keep growing in my work, and if I am very lucky and very blessed, maybe somewhere along the line there will be one movie in there that becomes a classic.
I will not have Botox. You know why? Because I eat! I eat the fat, I eat the vegetable, I eat everything. If you exercise and you don’t eat enough, it takes its toll on the skin.
I’m good at working, but I’m very good at playing.
I’m suspicious of people who talk about their feelings to the whole world.
Sometimes when we try to get outside of ourselves, to be like someone else, you miss out on so many beautiful things that you don’t know that you are because you’re looking at someone else.
Try to figure out who you really are and not who you want other people to think you are.
I think being able to be malleable is a great weapon and I’m a very, very good strategist. I create the most amazing strategies in my head and I have created the most extraordinary strategies in my head for my career...
When I speak about freedom, it’s about freedom of the spirit. Freedom of the spirit can’t be represented by a body. It has to be art. It has to be all the colors. It has to be something that moves and has no boundaries.
It’s more fun to play a good character with a good director and good actors around you. That’s what makes it fun, and the more variety, the better.