CNBC has an article that’s a collection of the best interview quotes from Roma star and best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio. I might be having hormonal issues but I got choked up. I didn’t love Roma, it ran really long and seemed more like a slice of life study than a movie. (I talked about it on our fourth podcast. It’s on Netflix. I forgot to mention the best scene, which Michael K talked about on the Dlisted podcast, which is when a dude did a martial arts routine in the nude, his junk swinging and all.) While I wasn’t in love with the movie, Yalitza Aparicio gave a great performance and I’m glad that she got an Oscar nomination. Her personal story is compelling. I’ve heard that she was studying to be a teacher and she explained that, and the way she ended up auditioning for the film. Her sister was going to audition but she got pregnant and urged Yalitza to do it instead. What’s more is that Yalitza’s mom is a housekeeper, so she drew on that. She’s only 25! She doesn’t look old or anything, I’m just surprised at her age because she gave a very nuanced performance. Here’s some of what she said:

When Aparicio auditioned for the film in 2016, her professional goals were different.

Aparicio earned her teaching degree from teachers’ college Escuela Normal Experimental Presidente Lázaro Cárdenas in 2016. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she explained why her decision to become a preschool teacher was so significant, saying she dreamed of helping a child, “really love what they do, and then when I meet him again, he says, ‘Hello, Teacher, I’m a doctor,’ or ‘I’m an engineer. It would bring tears to my eyes to know that I was part of that process.”

“People would tell me, ‘Why do you study? One, you are a woman. Two, you don’t have the right color. Three, your economic station doesn’t help. You’ll end up getting married and becoming a servant,” Aparicio tells the Times. “I could stay in this jar where they say I belong, where they tell me, ‘You can only be a servant,’ that you can’t aspire to more.”

Aparicio had no intention of auditioning for the film when Cuarón came to Oaxaca to find the perfect actress to play Cleo. Her older sister, Edith, had been planning to audition for the role but because she was pregnant, urged Aparicio to consider auditioning instead.

During her audition, Aparicio, who hadn’t seen any of Cuarón’s films, used her mother, a domestic worker, as inspiration. When she learned she got the role, her mother was the first person she thought of. “At that moment, when he offered me the role, all I could think about was that it was an opportunity to make my mother proud,” she tells The New York Times. “I assume my mom is even more proud at this moment.”

Now, Aparicio hopes that film will encourage discussions about working conditions for domestic workers like her mother and her character, Cleo. “I do think that this role that Alfonso gave me, and his focus on my character in his film, has really turned attention to the plight of domestic workers and raised people’s awareness that they need to be treated better and that they are due certain rights.”

[From CNBC]

Reading her thoughts on seeing students grow up and go on to careers touched me. My parents are both retired teachers and some of their most cherished letters are from students telling them that they’d made a difference in their lives. I’m pretty sure the Oscar is going to go to Glenn Close for The Wife, she was amazing in that and has never won before, with Olivia Colman as a close second. However I’m glad Yalitza was nominated and I look forward to seeing her Sunday. I also look forward to seeing her in more movies and shows.

photos credit: WENN