Culture

Now List 2021: Lola Rodríguez Is Ready For Her Moment


 

For Lola Rodríguez, playing author Valeria Vegas on the hit Spanish television series Veneno was nothing short of life-changing. Much like Vegas, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who found her own voice by elevating other women, the actress has grown into an assured presence who is using her talents to tell stories about trans lives.

But Veneno was only our introduction to Rodríguez, who has already lined up a variety of roles following the success of the limited series on HBO Max. Already a powerful LGBTQ+ advocate and a talented performer at age 22, Rodríguez has many more stories left to tell. This year, them. is honoring Rodríguez as part of our annual Now List, our awards for LGBTQ+ visionaries. Below, them. contributor Juan Barquin talks with the actress about the origin of her breakout role and her plans for the future.

Ever since she was a young girl, Lola Rodríguez has always wanted to perform.

“It all started with dance,” she tells them. “From there, I discovered the joy that I could attain from the arts, how I could convey emotions, and it kickstarted something in me.”

But at first, she chose a more practical route: studying psychology at university. “It was still connected to this idea of interpretation and helped me better comprehend characters,” she says. “I discovered an outlet that, in some way, connected both worlds.”

All the while, though, the idea of acting was lodged in her mind like an itch she couldn’t scratch.

“I was always dedicated to enjoying myself because I never believed I could dedicate myself to acting,” she says. “I had to approach things from a lens of pleasure and not simply a professional one. But acting remained something of a frustrated dream I wasn’t sure I could attain.”

Then came Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the creators of Veneno, with a surprise. Casting directors for the limited series remembered Rodríguez from a casting call she had responded to when she was 17.

A few years later, when Veneno came their way, the co-creators approached Rodríguez on Instagram with a dream role: a young Valeria Vegas. Getting that message, the actress recalls, was “a bit surreal.”

“My life was out of focus and I was being offered something I thought was impossible,” she remembers. “So I took it as an opportunity to try out without expecting any results. And I think that, for me, that was key [to getting the role]: taking it pleasantly, casually, and not stressing myself out. Just letting life guide me on its own.”

She says playing the role of Vegas was like re-experiencing her own life through a new perspective. “Everything that happened to my character was also something that was similar to my own life,” she says. “I was able to quickly identify with certain moments that were the same, so it came with a lot of personal analysis and healing. I had to confront personal fears that I thought I had overcome.”

This approach to the role also helped the actress attain a newfound self-confidence. “I also learned to completely remove the importance of maintaining an image and to remember moments that were difficult with affection,” she says. “It made me realize that Lola has always been here and that there is no need to be embarrassed of my own starting point and of the way my journey began.”

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It wasn’t just playing Vegas that proved to be empowering for the actress; being surrounded by a collective of other trans women on Veneno (including the three actresses who play the titular role: Jedet, Daniela Santiago, and Isabel Torres) was a life-giving experience, too.

“I never had the chance to work, day to day, arm in arm, with so many of my own people,” Rodríguez says. “I felt so free, so comfortable, so understood. It was a space where there were no labels. Somehow, in other spaces, there is always some kind of label placed on you despite claims of being accepted. You’re always seen as ‘different,’ but this was a beautiful gift for me that I wouldn’t change for anything.”

“There are so many trans people and we are all so diverse,” she continues. “All of us deserve our own space within society and we can all reach whatever goals we are after if we’re given rights. Being trans isn’t the issue, it’s the transphobia within our society that creates the problem. Being trans doesn’t stop you from anything at all.”

Coming off the success of Veneno and already having filmed both a new movie and the forthcoming Spanish Netflix thriller Bienvenidos a Edén, the actress hopes to continue her acting career while also finishing the final year of her psychology degree. “I want to grow as an artist and try out more things,” she says. “I want to do theater, learn whatever I can, and see where I end up going. I don’t know, I just want to conquer everything I can.”

This interview was conducted in Spanish and translated to English.

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