Voiceover artist, actor, and writer Roxana Ortega shares her journey through identity, improv, and creative risk-taking. From The Casagrandes to solo shows, this episode is a joyful, honest convo about finding your voice—literally and figuratively.
This episode’s guest is actor, writer, voiceover artist, and unapologetic improv nerd, Roxana Ortega.
Roxana is one of those rare artists whose vulnerability, honesty, and humor hit you all at once – and leave a lasting impression. If her voice sounds familiar, it might be because she’s voiced everything from the passionate Frida Casagrande on The Casagrandes to characters in Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, and Monsters at Work. She’s narrated Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, voiced countless animated characters, and is a master of voice matching (yes, she’s dubbed for Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek).
In our conversation, Roxana takes us through the unexpected path that led her to acting – from growing up in an academic household where creativity wasn’t considered a “real” career, to having a life-changing epiphany while teaching English in Spain. We talk about the internal battle between playing it safe and going after what you truly want—and what it really means to decide to be an artist.
We go deep into the power of improv as both a performance tool and a life philosophy, how failure can be a gift, and why community-building and representation matter now more than ever. Roxana shares how she uses her voice – literally and figuratively – to make space for underrepresented stories, and how she’s continued to evolve as a writer, performer, and director.
Whether you’re someone who thrives on stage or someone working up the courage to take the leap, Roxana’s journey will remind you that embracing risk, staying curious, and being fiercely yourself is always worth it.
Episode Chapters
00:00 – Welcome + Introduction
02:00 – Names, Language, and Laughter
04:00 – Academic Roots & Artistic Restlessness
07:55 – The Epiphany in Spain
13:49 – “I Decided to Be an Actor”
16:00 – Improv, Joy, and Redefining Failure
21:45 – Performing, Directing, and Creating Her Own Work
32:00 – Representation, Identity, and Making Space
40:00 – The Tapestry of Humanity
49:30 – Amazing Race Nerd Out
50:50 – Blissful Spinster & Making Art on Your Own Terms
54:35 – Final Words of Wisdom
55:14 – What’s Next for Roxana
58:00 – Wrap-Up & Thank You
Roxana’s Bio:
Roxana Ortega is an American actor, writer, and voiceover artist who is known for voicing the ever-emotional Frida Casagrande on Nickelodeon’s Emmy award-winning and Imagen award-winning cartoon The Casagrandes, a spinoff of the acclaimed series The Loud House.
On-camera, she recently starred opposite Danny Trejo, Reno Wilson, and a cast of legends including Garrett Morris, Barry Bostwick, and James Hong in the Universal feature Grand-Daddy Day Care. Other film credits include The Flight Before Christmas opposite Mayim Bialik, Miss Congeniality 2 opposite Sandra Bullock, and Larry Crowne opposite Tom Hanks. Her TV guest-star credits include New Girl, Shonda Rhimes’ For The People, The League, Rules of Engagement, NCIS, and the Peabody award-winning satire American Vandal.
Behind the mic, she has voiced countless characters in TV, films, trailers, commercials, and some of the biggest video game franchises around, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Final Fantasy, Halo, and Ghost Recon: Wildlands. A two-time AudioFile Earphones Award winner, she has narrated the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina, and the New York Times’s non-fiction best seller Random Family to name just a few. In addition, her mimicking skills have led her to voice-match the likes of Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, and Jennifer Tilly.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, CA, Roxana is of mixed Peruvian and Mexican descent. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, then spent a year teaching English in Madrid, Spain. It was there, while she was elaborately acting out English vocabulary to her students, that she realized she wanted to pursue a career in acting. She returned to the Bay Area and immersed herself in theatre and improvisation, then made her way to Los Angeles where she continued her improv and acting training and began writing and performing sketch comedy.
Roxana is an alumna of the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, and the Groundlings Sunday Company. She has written and produced her own shorts and performed storytelling all over Los Angeles, including at The Moth GrandSLAM.
She is also the creator and co-host of the live storytelling show Minority Retorts, which spotlights stories from the under-represented, and The Risking Space, a podcast about art and risk.
Connect with Roxana on: Instagram
Learn more about Latina’s Act Up on: Instagram
Check out The Groundlings on: Instagram
Roxana Ortega - Actor, Writer, Voiceover Artist & Improvisor
Cris (00:00.194)
Hi and welcome to Blissful Spinster. This week's guest is actor, writer, voiceover artist, and one of the funniest people I have ever met, Roxana Ortega. Roxana is a force on the mic, on stage, and on screen. You might know her voice as the hilariously emotional Frida Casagrande on Nickelodeon's Emmy and Imagen Award winning show, The Casagrandes. Or as Cecilia May in Monsters at Work on Disney+. She's also narrated Pulitzer Prize winning novels,
voice warriors in Call of Duty and brought so many animated and audiobook characters to life with heart, nuance, and that razor sharp wit. We were introduced through our mutual friend, Vivian Nassif. And I knew from the minute that Viv mentioned her to me that Roxana had to be on my podcast. She's just one of those people, brilliantly funny, beautifully articulate, and deeply connected to her why as an artist. In this conversation, we talk about her journey.
from her early days as a mimic in front of the television to discovering her calling while teaching English in Spain. We explore how being a first-generation Latina shaped her view of risk, identity, and creativity, and how improv gave her the freedom to fail, and in that failure,
to fly. Roxana is also a community builder. She's the co-creator and host of Minority Retorts, a live storytelling show that spotlights underrepresented voices, and a proud member of Latinas Acting Up, an activist group amplifying Latina talent and visibility in the industry. And yes, we go deep into the power of representation.
on stage, on screen, and in the writer's room. Whether you're a performer, a writer, a dreamer, or someone still figuring it all out, Roxana's story is full of insight and inspiration. We talk about building a creative life that is honest, joyful, purpose-driven, and about making space for your story, especially when the world tells you not to. So however you found this podcast, thank you for being here, and please enjoy this episode with the wildly talented, hilarious, and incredibly thoughtful Roxana.
Cris (02:00.112)
Hi Roxana, how you doing? Hi Chris. I'm good. I'm so happy you said yes to this.
How are you?
Roxana (02:07.8)
Yeah, my pleasure.
So should I call you Roxanna or I've noticed you go by Roxy as well. What do you prefer?
I definitely go by Roxy, but I like everyone to know my name is Roxana, but I just have an aversion to the police song being sung at me my entire life.
You're like, there is an A at the end of that.
100%. Although I recently realized I could have always been introducing myself as Roxana like banana. that would probably do it. But I don't know. I like people to know my name, but I don't feel like a Roxana. I feel like a Roxy. And in Spanish, Roxana sounds better than Roxana. So, yeah.
Cris (02:40.45)
would.
Cris (02:52.93)
That's hilarious. So we got introduced through a friend of ours. Her name's Vivian Nassif. And I know Vivian because I actually grew up in Mexico. there are, I'm the youngest of six, there are six Caucasian, very white, very New England children who are now adults who speak fluent Spanish. And our third culture kids.
Amazing.
Roxana (03:14.796)
Wow. Yeah. Well, your Spanish is probably better than my Spanish, I'm sure, because I grew up in a part of Mexico called Los Angeles. I love that. God, Chris. Chris, if you're going to laugh this way the entire time, I'm never getting off this.
I love laughing. I love it. And I will never apologize for my big laugh. Yeah, I think we need to stop making ourselves small. Just laugh if you're going to laugh.
I love it.
Roxana (03:46.862)
Yeah, I love it. I have a huge laugh. Well, I grew up in, I actually was born in Los Angeles, but then grew up in Orange County, but I haven't been down there in decades. Yeah, we all moved away from there. And I went to Berkeley as far as you could go.
saw that. That's pretty impressive though. You graduated with honors from Berkeley, didn't you?
I did, I did. It seems like a lifetime ago, but yeah, I came from a very academic family. All the siblings went to Berkeley, all four of us. Yeah. So it was good. I liked the school a lot.
was your typical photographer artist. Like I did all the tech stuff in the theater and didn't pay attention to my grades. So I went to the one college that accepted me.
bless you. I was paying too much attention to my grades, you know? I was just like, what do I, huh, what do I wanna do? I don't know, I know I wanna get A's.
Roxana (04:44.722)
You know, like that was all I had once I was in college. I just remember opening up the big book at the time. It wasn't online. You you had like a big book of classes to look through. And I was like, I don't even know. I couldn't select a major. That was the first inkling where I'm like, now looking back, I go, yeah, you were an actor trying to like pick a career out of a book. Yeah. And I just went, I'm interested in this. I want to be a little of this and a little of that and a little of that. I also like that. You know, maybe I could be that. I really like
this, you know, so.
Yeah, because as an actor, that's what you're doing, right? You're investigating and discovering new characters in what everybody does, right?
Yeah, you get to be everything, you know, for a day. If you get hired, maybe longer than a day.
Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, no, did graduate, like I have a master's of fine art. Like I did eventually get A's in college and grad school.
Roxana (05:40.332)
when you were doing something you cared about.
when I was doing what I wanted. But I always knew I wanted to work in film and TV. So I was like eight and saw close-up cameras of every kind. just found my very first script, handwritten, seventh grade, a spec script for Moonlighting.
There you go.
Roxana (05:58.658)
And you actually wrote it? I mean, was the page count and everything?
I don't know, I looked at it, I'm not sure I finished it, but it was halfway done. And on the cover, it has suggestions for costumes, suggestions for props, location. I was like, I didn't know anything about writing scripts, but I, you know, that's where my brain was. And it was pretty fun. I was like, do I do something with this? Like I posted a story and I'm like, would it be funny to do a reading of this or something? You know, like just kind of funny, you know?
Yeah, and for those of you listening at home, it is moonlighting, not moonlight. yeah. Like some people may not know the series Moonlight. yeah. You know? They hear Moonlight the movie.
Yeah, it's moonlighting and it was Bruce. It's where Bruce Willis got discovered.
Yes, he was great.
Cris (06:45.72)
Civil Shepherd and it's a very, very well-known show to writers and actors and so because of the density of the scripts and how the cadence and the pacing that they had to shoot at because there were longer scripts than normal because they packed so much dialogue into them. But I always wonder if I rewatched Will It Pass?, the test of time with the cringiness of some stuff that happened in the 80s.
God, yeah, I was rewatching Cheers recently. I'm like, woof. It's great, but like, boy, there are cringe moments. In every episode so far of the first three, go woof.
Yeah, the writing is great and then there's cringe moments, the acting was great. Did the same thing with Northern Exposure, although I didn't see much too much cringe there, but it's the first time you can watch Northern Exposure.
the acting's cr-
Roxana (07:35.471)
I've never watched it.
because of music, we finally figured out the music rights to let it stream. But yeah, I moved to LA with a Northern Exposure spec and an X-File spec that I wrote in the 90s. But when did you, this is about you, when did your journey as an actor begin?
That's fantastic.
Roxana (07:55.566)
Well, if I look back now, I mean, I can remember the first moment, well, there are, guess, two moments as a kid, you know, when, one, I used to sit in front of the television and just absorb the TV and then mimic it back. I guess all routes go back to The Wizard of Oz, really, on Channel 5. That was my first love, and I would do all the voices and in real time to the movie as it was going.
but I was met with lot of shut-ups in my house.
So, you know, I was like, this is annoying or whatever to be able to do all this. So that moment, looking back, was probably the seeds of that. And then I remember I saw my first play when I was really young, too. My mom, no, no, no, it was a field trip for school, in elementary school. And I saw the play Kismet. And I remember being just watching the actors on stage and I saw spit fly out of one of the actors' mouths. It's still so vivid to me.
was just like taken by how alive, how somebody could be so big and alive right in front of me. I just was mesmerized by it. So those were like my memories and I did some plays in elementary school, but I was very shy, know. So after elementary school, like I said, it was so academic, my family, just, it never occurred to me that I could do that.
for a living. just never, I really didn't even consider it as a possibility because I think art in this culture is very like, there are stars, but it's like, you know, the mystification of like what that actually is. People are working. It is a job. It's a craft. People can study it. I never thought of that, you know? So like I said, I went to college and was like, what am I going to do? And I took all of these classes that were like tiptoeing around the arts in quotes, you know, like the politics of
Roxana (09:52.08)
jazz, and literally, and it was Berkeley. The politics of jazz and American cultures and the arts. I took like pop culture of the 50s and we like analyzed the blob and what it meant in a social context. And look, I was taking classes on representation before it was cool. And before there was a woke, my major was basically woke because I was interested in.
different cultures and how that intersected with art. And then I left college and was like, what am I gonna do? And in that space of feeling very lost, two things happened. I was working at an art college at the time, of course, again, tiptoeing around the arts. was an admin assistant in the product design department at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, which was a terrible job for me because people would come in with injuries like.
bleeding hands from the machine shop and I'm too empathetic, not too empathetic, but I'm extremely empathetic. So I would feel their injuries in my bones and I had to like call the hospitals for them. Anyways, so two things happened. One, there was a woman there and another admin assistant who was taking an acting class at ACT. And I was so thrown by this that a person like her,
could take a class. wasn't like, you you were so inundated with like these Hollywood images, these gorgeous, you know, people. This was just like, you would say like a plain Jane type of just, she was just an admin assistant, very nothing glamorous, nothing, you know, remarkable, not in a mean way. It was just like an everyday type of person, you know, taking an acting class. And I was just like, what, what? Somebody can take a class for this? I don't know.
how I thought actors were made. It's like babies. How are babies made? How were actors made? they take a class. So I actually took a class at ACT at this period of my life and I was totally terrified.
Roxana (11:49.152)
of it in the class. They were talking about the body and your instrument and I was like, I don't know about this. This is probably not for me. This isn't what I thought. And so then I had a friend who was going to Spain on a one-way ticket. You could do that back then. And she was going to like teach English. So in my, you know, I was lost. I said, let me go with you. I've got a one-way ticket to Madrid and
I got certified to be an English teacher, which was really hard, actually harder than Berkeley. This class was intense. And then I was teaching there and it was while I was teaching that I had like an epiphany. It was the second epiphany of my life.
The first epiphany was before I went to Spain. I said, when my friend said, I'm going to Spain, I said, I could never do that. And I literally had a light bulb go off going, why could I never do that? Why would I say something like that? And I had some mentors at the time that were like, no, you should go, go to Europe, go, right? So I went. And then my second epiphany was while I was teaching.
I just remember acting out all the, I was teaching English to Spanish speakers and I was acting out all the words because we were taught as English teachers never use Spanish, just use English the whole time you're in class. So I was doing charades and acting things out elaborately to describe what words meant and I was having so much fun and laughing and I could feel the exchange between me and the students and I had this moment
of going, don't want to teach, you want to act. You want this exchange and that exchange of laughter and connection and playing. So I like to play on a stage and the classroom was my stage. So once that was clear, I kind of connected the two epiphanies and went, I want to act, but I still had this part of me that was like, I can never do that because I'm risk.
Roxana (13:49.728)
a verse, that little thing in me that says, could never do that. It's like, why not? So I realized I had that little voice that was afraid of really taking risks. And so I said, that's it, I'm going back to San Francisco and I'm gonna go back to ACT, not the master's.
program that they have, the MFA, but they have a studio program. It's the same teachers and you could take classes there. So I went back and I got the same teacher who I had had for my first class. And I remember being in an exercise and he stopped me and he said, what happened to you? And I was like, what, what do you mean? And he said, you are unrecognizable as an actor. Yes. He said, what did you do? He was very thrown by it. And I said,
I decided, I decided I wanted to do it. And that throughout my career, I've noticed sometimes you're doing things, but even though you're doing it, you haven't fully decided. There's a part of you that's separate or there's a part of you that's like, well, let me just see, or you're not all in. You haven't decided with every cell in your body. And so when I feel myself in that wavering place, I go, shit or get off the pot. Are you doing this or aren't you?
decide or don't do it. That's a waste of time, right? So that has kind of been a guiding principle for me. And that is the long story of how I finally committed to doing it. And once, and I have not looked back since then, and that was like 25 years ago, at least. Yeah.
story. It's beautiful. know, I see that in that kind of origin story, it looks like you have also, you took a way to kind of take your life in that kind of direction of, I don't think I can do this, wait a minute. No, then I'm going to go for that because we are our biggest limiter, right? And you need to challenge that and go.
Roxana (15:48.726)
Yes. Yes.
Cris (15:54.082)
Now wait a minute, that's just this. That's not the truth of what my abilities are and can be.
Exactly. And I think as somebody who was academic and I was not raised with a growth mentality and I think a growth mentality is essential to any endeavor, but especially artistry. And so there were things like I just had a fixed mentality around if I'm good at something or not, and that's just the way it is. And that's not true. And so I really had to, you know, dismantle my upbringing and the straight A's of it all to give myself
permission to explore an area I never had and learn.
And probably fail too, right? I would assume you had an aversion to failure, which was part of it.
100 % aversion to failure, which is why I think I found improv so empowering and why I've continued to practice it, which there's no money in improv. You know, there's no nothing. Like, it's like somebody asked me recently,
Roxana (16:58.348)
wonderfully wonderful voice actor who I'm friends with, who's super successful. He said, why do you improvise? I see you posting these shows. Why do you do that for promotion or for? I said, well, for joy. One, for joy. Two, because I find that to be the quote unquote hardest thing. The thing I most need is to practice falling on your face in front of 100 people. Some of them you're students now that I'm teaching improv.
It builds a mentality, you know, it redefines failure improv because mistakes are gifts truly on stage. I mean, and it allows you to practice working in this whole other way, which is like, I cannot possibly fail. There's nothing I can do that is wrong up here. We're making shit up in the moment and we're playing and none of this matters.
And then you can take that off the stage into life, into acting, then just into life in general.
When I was younger, like little, I was a skateboarder too. One thing about skateboarding is you are constantly faced with failure because you, I mean, even Tony Hawk, who everyone's heard of, fell on his face when he started. It's just inherent in it and it's a great kind of little, like if you're a child into it, let them do it is all I would say, whether it's a girl or a boy, because it teaches you to get back up and to try again. And it teaches you the value of growth.
because failure is growth, right? But I love the idea of improv too. I've got very few fears.
Roxana (18:38.682)
Lucky you, I'm the opposite. I'm terrified of every single thing.
For many years, I worked on The Amazing Race as a producer. I wound up in the unscripted world. We don't have to get into the big long story of how that happened. But it meant I would test some of these things. I've jumped off of all kinds of things with a bungee. I skydived. I've swum with sharks. Anything that people are in their head or that's a big fear. Put me in front of a group of people and I was like, no. I always did behind the scenes stuff or write.
yes, movies and TV and performance, they're my first love, but not being necessarily being on stage. And I love actors. I absolutely, the vulnerability and just the, it's bravery, right? It's like pure bravery. And I think second to that is, I'm not saying this because, but it's writing. You're putting, if you're doing it correctly, you're putting yourself in every page, right? And then allowing someone to interpret that.
for you, whatever that is, right? But a few years ago when I decided that I'm, okay, I'm gonna do what I was supposed to be doing when I first moved here in the 90s, which is trying to write and direct, right? And so I've wrote my first short film, I bought a camera on Craigslist, started doing that and I'm like, you're gonna do Q and A's if you get enough, you need to get comfortable. I just started like, I've started making a plan for myself and I'm like, you just get up there and you know, there's always that, I'm sure you've been to a million Q and A's.
somebody asks a question to everyone and then they're silenced because nobody wants to answer it. And I was like, count to two and if no one's answered, just jump in. And that was the deal. And I started to slowly just make myself more comfortable. So I took an acting class last year, took like a six, seven week acting class and went in going, don't give a shit, just do it. Whatever they ask, whatever it is.
Roxana (20:32.854)
I had that go when everybody was on the ground crying.
Well, she was like, let's let somebody else go for it. I was really fucking gung-ho. But I loved it. I absolutely loved disconnecting from that previous self that would have been self-conscious and overthought, being out in front of people and doing whatever it is that I was being asked to do. I was like, just be in the moment. I wanted to do it so that when I am, because I'm going to get my movie made.
it will make me a better communicator with my actors because I'll have been in that place, in that space too, or I'll know the space to give them, right? And I want it to be prepared that way and have those conversations as well. Because to me, a script is a conversation. I am talking, when I'm writing my script, I'm talking to every artist who's ever gonna touch it and also the audience eventually. Once it's on screen, it's a conversation between the audience and that piece. So I don't.
I
yeah, it is.
Cris (21:49.186)
And just the way you described it, it sounds like terrifying and fun in the best way to me.
If you can make it fun, yeah, I am somebody that hates roller coasters. I will not jump out of a plane. There's no money that you could pay me. When I watched The Amazing Race, big fan, and maybe we'll talk about that, which I binged the entire 35 seasons on the pandemic.
I needed something that could really, I was like, what's something that can last through a pandemic? And it was Amazing Race, which was the best thing, because we couldn't travel or leave our home. So I went around the world 35 times. And I learned a lot from that show. So we can get nerdy about it later. But my point being that I'm terrified, like jump, when I see somebody jump off of like a high platform, I literally,
my knees will buckle. If I'm lying down, I still feel my knees buckle and the bottoms of my feet get tingly because I'm so empathetic. I feel it in my body so viscerally that sometimes I have to close my eyes with the height stuff.
the Beverly Center escalator, even that is like too much. Like I have to focus and breathe and use my acting and go, pretend you were a person that wasn't afraid of this. You know, so I'm terrified except improv. Yeah, I say this is my jumping out of a plane because when you have to improvise a song, which to me is the most scariest, improvise a song, you don't know, with a band, with, you know, here's a word,
Cris (23:14.446)
on stage.
Roxana (23:28.898)
go, you, I literally go, have no idea what is gonna come out of my mouth right now. I have no idea, but it is the thing that I feel the most channeling, like, whoa, where did that come from? That you just allow the state of allowance that things will come through you and out of you that I don't know where it comes from. It's exciting.
That's the feeling you get from watching, say, that tower in Austria, where was it? It was a radio tower they jumped in the winter time. I tested that. That was my first bungee jump. It was flurrying. was the most beautiful thing and it was hilarious as I'm on the platform. They're like, okay, we're going to count to whatever and I was already gone. When I'm watching someone like you,
Yes, I do.
Cris (24:25.654)
at improv and you get that, that's the feeling. I'm like, how are they doing that? Because I go, like I want to do it, but I go blank for some reason. And I am very fast with like, if we're in an exchange, whatever, like I can be pretty fast on my feet and say something funny. I'm just saying that's- Yes. So when I see that, I get the same tingly whatever, I'm like, you know.
It's your nervous system. Yeah, that's that's also the same reason why I can't jump off
something, it's because my nervous system is in control there and it doesn't allow me to get to the place to jump off. I'm overwhelmed by my senses. So what happens when you improvise is that blankness is just that you're being flooded with, I don't know, all the chemicals. So you go blank only you go into like, my God, this is a threat panic and then your system like freezes, right? So
The great thing, and I think art in general requires a reframing of uncertainty because as humans, there's so much uncertainty, but we live our lives trying to like mitigate the uncertainty of life. A lot of people, that's why just, I need a nine to five job, I need a salary, and there are things I need to know.
Yeah. Yeah.
Roxana (25:39.404)
because there's too much that I don't know in life, right? Well, first of all, any creative endeavor, you're automatically going, have no fucking idea. I don't have a salary. I don't have a, like, it's immediately uncertainty, right? And improv allows you to reframe uncertainty in a way that's like the truth of uncertainty, which is it's complete possibility. It's total possibility. Anything.
can happen in life because our little lizard brains want to mitigate like it's like, there's danger threat threat. How can I prevent something bad from happening with this uncertainty? But the truth of uncertainty is there's also so much beauty that comes in the future. It's always a mixed bag.
uncertainty. There's the great stuff and then there's the bad stuff. Well on stage in improv the uncertainty is all just like wow anything could happen they're gonna give me a word and I have no idea where this will lead.
But if you're improvising with people, especially with people who've done it a while, you know it's gonna lead to at least something interesting. Like it's gonna be an experience, cause sometimes it does suck. We are like, that we didn't make sense at all. But there are no consequences. What happens if you're bad? You don't die. You feel like you bomb. You feel like, or you feel like you kill, right? Cause the stakes feel life or death, but they're not. As my husband says, who's also an actor, improviser, he says, look,
If you're great, people are gonna walk to their car for 10 minutes after the show and talk about how great you are. If you suck, people are gonna walk to their car for 10 minutes and talk about how you suck. Minutes, like then they're onto their own bullshit of their own heads and lives. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
Cris (27:19.553)
And that's
Cris (27:28.846)
That's so great. So what do you get from all of the stage work you do, whether it's something you've written or something that's improv or whatever? Like how does that help inform or impact your performances on film and TV that you get?
The live exchange, the connection is why I do any of the art. And when it's live, I just have this feeling of, I feel the audience so deeply and I feel connected to them. It's like a, it's an exchange. So there's nothing like that to me, that immediate exchange of it's happening right now. This is what it is in the moment. It just feels like,
pure magic to me in that space. Whereas on a set, they start and stop you. There are directors who are in there with their bad mojo energy. had a lot of, we got to keep moving. I mean, it's just like you have to find the connection despite all of the obstacles that are getting thrown at you on set. VoiceOver, which I'm doing so much more work in VoiceOver now than on camera.
VoiceOver has more of that freedom and that exchange to me where you can really, to me I feel freer and like I can let loose more. There are less kind of obstacles for me to shut out or overcome or try to maneuver around for me.
So you've written a few things for yourself, because I watched all of your short films. But I also noticed that you only produced them, you didn't direct them, which I was curious about. Was that partly because you wanted to concentrate on your performance and not direct yourself, or do you not have an interest in maybe doing that?
Roxana (29:13.61)
Well, I just started directing last year, voice directing, actually. But those shorts, I basically was like, I have something to write. After I left the Groundlings, I was in the Sunday Company. That's your writing and putting up your own sketch. It runs like SNL. You you pitch your stuff. The director chooses what gets in the show. You find out on Friday, and on Sunday, you show up to rehearse, and then you put on a show that night.
where you costume, you know, they're directing you, but yeah, it's your writing, your costuming, your performing. So after that, I was trying to find like how, I'm not performing every week anymore. After a year of doing that at such an intense level, I still had comedic ideas, especially that I'm like, what am I gonna do? I guess, you know, I'm gonna write and perform this. Who's gonna direct me? I mean, it didn't really even.
I think because of the camera, I thought, I need somebody else to do this for me. And producing wise, it was just like, I need to make this happen, so I will make it happen. And I have the skills to make things happen. I'm organized, you all my little nerdy academic, like why I was good in school is great for a producer. So I'm like, let me get my spreadsheets. Let me start, you know, getting, you know. So that's why I produced out of necessity of
Yes, I did.
Roxana (30:35.434)
I want to do this and I guess then I will have to get this done. I've even produced live shows, storytelling shows and things like that for the same reason. I need to create a space for me to perform more. So I will be now in charge of this show, producing this show so that I can perform. Now, think I would direct myself in something on camera because during the pandemic, we all moved indoors like
I was primarily doing voiceover at the time and the pandemic increased that. I was recording cartoons in my makeshift studio and also auditioning from home only at that point. And so you have to direct yourself. Then self tapes, my husband is an actor as well, so I'm directing my husband. I'm constantly directing. So last year I was asked to voice direct.
for this documentary that is coming out on Netflix called Black Barbie. It's the history of Black Barbie and the black women behind Mattel. Yeah, it's really fascinating. So a friend of mine was producing the film and she's a voice actor as well. And she said, will you voice direct the narration that is by the director, Ligeria Davis, who directed that documentary. And so I did that, I loved it. And then I got hired to do
to voice direct an animated pilot for Nickelodeon. So I just did that this year. And so, yeah, and I loved the experience. I mean, I think I'm an actor first, always, always, always, but I love how my acting really has helped me direct.
So how important is resilience when it comes to the journey of the artist? And especially when it comes from, because you're Latina or Latinx, I don't know which you prefer.
Roxana (32:21.642)
I always say Latina, but like there's now Latine is like more than Latinx. I always say Latina, but I'm down with whatever. All the Latin, fill in the blank.
There's so much lack of representation for such a large part of, especially in LA's demographic. know, like it always strikes me. Hollywood's here and look at the world you're looking at and what's ending up on screen, you know?
yeah.
Roxana (32:51.874)
Well, it's really a, so yes, to be resilient is for everybody important. And I think navigating in these systems, even if we just take the groundlings when I was coming up, I think maybe there were two Latinos I ever improvised with, okay? Or were I could write a sketch with. What that does, it means,
You cannot write a family sketch like other people that have, like you can't write, you can have a brother if there's a Latino there. If not, you're gonna hope that that actor is so great they can portray that authentically, but it's just not the same. So that is something that as a writer who wanted to write from their experience, which all writers should be doing, right? It's like, write from what you know, write, although that, you know.
Yeah.
Roxana (33:41.688)
Do you know fantasy? Like, I don't totally believe that, but bringing your personal stuff to it, that's what I was interested in. And so I really couldn't do that to the same degree that somebody could if they had their family culture represented in the cast.
Right. So what that did, I had to be creative. had to know, I luckily I grew up in Orange County. So I could, you know, I could do a lot of things that other people, like they couldn't do me, but I could do them. So, and I think that actors of color and, and, and this is not all of them, but it's like, we do often have to learn the language of.
the mainstream culture and know all those references and be adept at that in addition to our own and how are we going to try to get that out in the world? Like I said, then I guess I'm gonna do storytelling in front of a mic where I can have more creative control and write about the stories that I want. I guess I'm gonna work on my solo show, which again, like.
who in their right mind, it just sounds so cringy. I'm doing a solo show, you know, about my mom's Alzheimer's. It's a comedy. Come see. I swear it's good. How do you suck people in the door? It sounds like it's, it's, sane person would be like, that sounds horrendous. I will not be going to that. Thank you very much.
And I would beg to differ. This is an audience. You know, I come from a long line of Alzheimer's, you know.
Roxana (35:17.538)
I'm sorry for you, and I do as well.
Yeah, it's okay. mean, you and I know, you know, it's sad, but it's also absurd and funny at times. you know, it's all of it, right? My film, the relationship with the father is directly from my life. You know, like, I am, the people who have listened to my podcast know this. People who haven't, welcome to Chris. My name's Christina. I'm named after my dad's lover. Wow.
wondrous. Yeah, it's
Roxana (35:48.792)
Whoa.
My parents remained married. 60 some odd years till their death. I am named after my dad's lover. But that's where art and comedy and yes, raw from yourself, that specificity as much as it feels like nobody's going to want to do like come to this and it's all me, whatever. Yes. The truth is that becomes the universal right.
Wow.
Roxana (36:02.892)
Yes.
Roxana (36:16.194)
The people that it's meant for will find it. But it definitely sounds like a moment in a sitcom where it's like, I'm going to my friend's Alzheimer's solo show. And you're like, sounds terrible. And in the episode, it will be terrible. But mine will not be mine. So I'll tell you when it is, Chris.
But didn't you already do a performance? Because Vivian went through it.
I did a reading of it and it was quite profound the evening only because, and I don't say, I say as the performer it was profound because the energy I got back was just so incredible and
It was overwhelming, but I had worked on this for 10 years, literally, this show, trying to get it out of me, against every obstacle, every self-doubt, every like, I don't really know the structure, and against the pandemic, against, you know. So I did do it, but now I'm in development with a theater.
Somebody came from a theater in LA and they want to develop it. So I will be working on that. I love that. And then hopefully not this year, but the following year have a production. That's great. Yeah.
Cris (37:28.046)
Because I hear that, just so you know, and I'm like, oh, that's incredibly brave. I want to go support that.
Well, thank you so much. do feel very brave. It is exciting because I think you should always do something that terrifies you. And this definitely feels terrifying to do. So that's how I know it's a good thing to do.
kinds of projects and characters are you attracted to and why?
Well, I definitely like dark, funny things. I like things that take deep, serious, you know, everybody says fleabag, you know, something like that. Something that's taking something so deep and finding the inherent comedy in this shit. So I really like that. I like things that are moving and funny. I like things that are raw and emotional as well over like technical.
Like I'm not a procedural girl so much, you know? I'll watch some of that, but when I get those auditions, like I'm like, okay, you know, here's the dead body.
Cris (38:32.264)
I'll play the latina detective, okay? Let me pull my hair back.
I have played the Latina detective. But I've also played like five maids over my career. that's why voiceover has been so wonderful because I get to in voiceover play things that I haven't been offered, even the opportunity to play on camera. Even like anything from being at war, know, in like Call of Duty, like video games, you know, where I'm like, get them.
I'm shot, I'm hit, to like babies. You know, like babies or my character in the Casa Grandes in the Loud House is like an over emotional mom who cries at everything and yeah, so it's fun. fantastic.
You know, and so I get to do more of a variety of things. I love poetry and I miss, I would love projects that had more poetry in them. And what I mean by that, you know, like the beauty of life, like things that feel poetic.
in the way that life can feel poetic sometimes. But most of the things that I'm saying that I'm drawn to, I'm not given opportunity to act them, which is also why I continued to write my show. And I think there's so much more. I'm excited to see what the next decades hold for me in terms of creating my own things and directing my own things. Yeah. And I think the desire to be like,
Roxana (40:06.666)
I've got to get this guest star and all that. That has kind of like mellowed out because I noticed the roles that I have gotten are straight manning. I'm straight manning most of the time. They want a funny person, but then the role that you get is not funny. You're in service of somebody else's humor. So yeah, I feel like the industry.
especially as like you mentioned the dearth of like Latinos in the industry in general. I'm definitely part of what I feel to be a movement now to change that. I'm part of an organization called Latinas Acting Up that was created during the strike.
Some Latinas came together, we started marching and picketing and dancing on the line and it has grown into this organization that is all about lifting up the community and helping and mentoring the next generation of artists. Lisa Vidal and Diana Maria Riva are the creators of that. And I feel the need and the urge, the urgency to like do something as a community so that we can
create change and get our stories out there and represent ourselves in the way we want to be represented as full humans, a spectrum of experiences and backgrounds. So that part is exciting and I have hope around that in terms of what I will create for myself and the opportunities that will be presented to me to play.
I love the patchwork and the tapestry of humanity around me. You I love seeing the world. Like, I want to see that more reflected, you know.
Roxana (41:45.954)
the diversity of the world.
Roxana (41:50.53)
Yeah, it's so interesting, right? Visually, I mean, like I said, I've been interested in this before. It was cool. I was raised that way. My mother raised us that way. I mean, she was Peruvian from Lima. My father, Mexican-American, born in LA, East LA, baby. But my mom was obsessed with other cultures.
all of it. So it would be like, it's Chinese stir-fry night. And here is, you are the year of the rat. And you are the year of the ox. And she would like hand, give us handouts on Chinese calendar and like, happy Chinese, you know, year. And she taught, I remember.
I went to school growing up and I thought I was playing rock, paper, scissors in Spanish. And I would go to the Spanish speaking girls at my school and go, yan Kenpo, yan Kenpo. And it was, they were like, what are you saying? It was Japanese. Apparently my mother taught me the game in Japanese because I love their culture. But it's like.
She was a maniac and my father was learning Russian and he spoke French. They spoke tons of languages and there was just a lot of culture around. I really had, mean, literally she'd go, culture is beautiful. The richness of culture. I mean, she was just indoctrinating me to be the woke asshole I am today.
But no, so I went to school and was like, well, I want to learn about all different cultures. And I was like, you know, taking African-American studies and, you know, third world literature. I don't know if they can call it that now, but third world literature. did my thesis on Salman Rushdie, you know, and Midnight's Children. I was obsessed with India. And so it's funny coming to Hollywood, my dad was like, don't let them put you in a box. And I was like, what, what are you talking about? But he was right.
Roxana (43:47.456)
rest his soul. And I ended up producing a storytelling show, Minority Retorts, trying to get people whose stories are underrepresented, what we don't see a lot, in front of the mic and telling personal stories. And I would go to storytelling shows scouting. It was so fun. I felt like I was like, I'm undercover, I'm a manager. Hey you kid, you got something. You wanna come do a show with the Groundlings?
Come on, you're gonna be famous for three minutes. And I would go scout for talent. I would get excited when I saw people that I'm like, who is this? And I've never seen them before. And trying to ask them, hey, you wanna do my storytelling show? So I've always had a real interest in lifting up underrepresented voices and stories because I think it's interesting that we get to be exposed to all of this. And through the specific is the universal.
And so we are robbing ourselves when we don't allow for stories and people to tell their stories in a specific, authentic way. We are actually robbing ourselves of a universal story and we are robbing ourselves of the truth of the humanity of all people. When you just have these stereotypical roles, you're not getting a human.
and you're not seeing that Korean people, they're just like us, you know, like, and so it's a disservice, not only to my example of Korean people, but to all of us, because it's a shared humanity. And so let everybody create their stories freely.
It's not just a shared humanity, specifically, like if we're in talking about the United States, you having grown up here are more American than I am in cultural sense, right? And it's funny, because I would like to call Randall a friend.
Roxana (45:41.55)
Everybody would like to call Randall a friend because he's literally delightful.
We've had conversations. What was interesting is, he said, is they kept trying to put him in a box too. He's, he goes, but I've been to far more diners than I've been to noodle shops. His experience growing up is far more akin to any other American teenage kid. It just happens to be of a Korean background. You're of a Latino, mixed Peruvian, Mexican background. But your experience is to a certain extent closer to those kids in Orange County.
Well, yeah, my experience. Yeah, my experience of growing up in America, right? The whole thing of feeling in between, of not one or the other. I mean, that's the whole basis of like what it is to be Chicano, you know? Which my father was a Chicano studies professor and I don't know if I identified with it growing up, but I have always.
felt in between not fitting in. And I guess I have been drawn towards people whose parents were immigrants, who at least had one parent who was an immigrant, because I felt like that reflected my experience of being your foot in two different worlds. And there is a wonderful openness about a lot of the kids of immigrants who were born here.
because they already understand that they're negotiating these worlds in their experience in such an intimate way. And there's so much humor and adaptability and all that stuff. But yeah, it's really fascinating to me. Yeah. Yeah.
Cris (47:12.654)
was an expat basically for the first 19 years of my life. I lived in Mexico City from one to 19. Coming back to the U.S., like it was culture shock, you know? And there's a bunch of things that contributed to that that are, that people wouldn't even think about. They put an embargo on American products coming into Mexico when I was six, five. Like I don't remember seeing anything American right now. No, my dad would sneak them in.
You didn't have M &Ms?
Illegal eminence.
Yeah, Hershey's Kisses, yeah, it all got snuck in to us.
Besos de Hershey's?
Cris (47:45.496)
See, this was the first she said. It's always made me a fish out of water, but isn't that a brilliant, curious, optimistic place to be if you take it that way? And I love it.
Everyone should experience being a fish out of water at some place. You know, I mean, now that word other, being othered or feeling like an other, and I grew up feeling that way for sure. Like, what are you? Who are you? Because I'm like ethnically ambiguous. And then I went to Europe and every country that I went to, it was like, you must be French or you must be Italian or you must be Spanish or you. And I was like, nope. And then I went to the Czech Republic.
And I really felt like a fish out of water. Again, I was like, my God, I can't even fake the language. I don't look like anything. And whereas American, I felt American and I felt of it, even though people looked at me like I wasn't. In the Czech Republic was not from there. didn't look like I couldn't fake it, right? Some of my best acting was done probably growing up in Orange County, just trying to fit in, you know? But that experience in the Czech Republic, I just think.
It is great to experience like, whoa, the vulnerability of like, I don't know how to navigate this culture. I can't communicate, I can't, right? It's a good thing. I'm sure in the amazing race, you got to be exposed to all sorts of that. Man, if I wasn't such a chicken.
I could do the Amazing Race. I'm trying to get my husband to do it with a friend of ours, because I go, I don't- You should totally do it. No, because they'd send me off. Because I know that they probably interview people and they go, what's your fears? You know, we know we've got a lot of people afraid of heights and they're going to throw you off of a-
Cris (49:28.232)
No, they're not. It's not that planned.
but you can't escape it, Chris.
I know you can't escape, just saying the planning for the challenges is happening separate from the casting.
Okay, okay, that's good to know.
In general, most of the time, some of that stuff's already in motion while casting is starting to be finalized. Because remember, it takes a whole lot of planning and safety and all kinds of things for a lot of those things. we could get this, this would be a whole other podcast, but.
Roxana (49:52.782)
Yes.
Roxana (49:59.628)
I can't wait for it. Can't wait for it, Chris. I need to know everything.
So part of the reason I started Blissful Spinster was as an extension to my film Alone Girl, which I am currently manifesting into being and putting all of the pieces in place. And it's becoming more and more apparent to me that I'm going to have to try to figure out ways outside of the Hollywood system to get it made, which is perfectly fine. I'm up to the challenge. But our friend Vivian, she actually came to very first reading of it. And I know she came to your, so she's such a great friend.
Aww, what a gem.
So great.
But the film is a coming-of-middle-age story wrapped in an unromantic comedy. So it's the rom-com every woman's wanted to see where she says no because she likes to be single and happy. And that's my story basically. I'm in my 50s. I'm single. I love it. I don't want or need a relationship. I think it's lovely when it works and I think romantic love is great, but I also don't think it's the pinnacle like we keep being told. And I think women, we're taught
Roxana (50:44.302)
Hahaha!
Cris (51:03.662)
from the first Disney film that's put in that our happiness is exterior to ourselves. It's given to us by a partner.
Little town, it's a quiet village. Okay, yeah, I've seen them all.
But it's given to us and it's not ours to begin with and happiness starts with us. And all of our relationships benefit when we learn that, that it comes from within. And I'm wondering, is there anything you've learned that you'd like to pass on to me as I'm on my journey? Yes.
Yeah. Okay. Don't get daunted by the obstacles. I like the concept of divine timing. Yeah. And trusting that the moment is, it's all happening in divine timing. You can't see it yet, but when it is time, that will be its time, right? There's something divine about it that you could not possibly know or push. Some babies take longer to birth.
That's another one. The gestation period of some things is longer than others. And the climate, the time for it to come forth, again, it will come forth when the time is right. However, you have to be onto yourself if you feel like, you have to take little steps forward, especially when you're feeling the voice. This expression, you can't wait for the pool to get warm.
Roxana (52:23.788)
Like certain things, the pool's always gonna be cold on that. You just have to cannonball. You gotta jump. So you have to make sure, be wary of two things. One, the aversion, know, my through line of my story where you're not like waiting for the circumstances to be perfect in order to jump. That's one of the things. And you have to feel it out with your instincts, whether or not you're avoiding jumping or...
that the timing, you can't push too much to the point where there are some real things that need to be in line. You can't compromise. For example, my show, written, writing 10 years, I couldn't get the structure right, right, quote unquote. I wasn't pleased with it. I had many people telling me, you just need to put it up. You just need to do this. You just need, many people will have opinions. But my thing was, I think I'm at the point where I need to put it down.
Yeah, sometimes that actually is really good. Yes.
But I had to say that amongst the voices of people saying, you should, you should, you should be wary of people telling you how to do something that is yours. Be wary of the shoulds and just trust what do I think my next step is. And sometimes the step is putting it down for a moment.
and then going back to it. The other thing is, for you it's very important, like for me it was, I gotta find who's gonna direct my show. I need to have the right collaborator. And it took me four years until I saw somebody's work and I said, he's gonna be my director. And he said no when I asked him.
Cris (53:55.325)
wow.
And then I said, well, he was running a writers group at the time through the theater company I'm a part of, Ammunition Theater Company. And I said, well, can I get in the writers group? And he said, yes, totally. And my thought was he's gonna fall in love with it and then he'll be my director. And that's what happened. Okay, so there's a little bit of like trusting what you believe is the way and following that.
and not being too influenced by other people's voices, which probably means you shouldn't listen to a word I'm telling you right now. So end of podcast.
Cris (54:35.0)
Do you have any advice for any of our listeners?
Yeah, if you want to be an artist, I say cultivate the mentality. Read books that are supportive of artists. The creative act, I think, is one of the artists' way. Start really having the mentality that you need because there are so many talented people. Talent is the easy part. It's really the mentality like an athlete that you're going to need to persevere.
In a turn the tables move, do you have any questions for me?
Tell me everything about the Amazing Race. Go! A five-hour podcast.
I will leave you with, send me an email and we will come up with a five hour period when I can talk to you.
Roxana (55:17.134)
My only question is, is it the fairy tale that I think it is when I watch it? Look, the thing about the Amazing Race, my question is, okay, the people that win the race, they really won the race?
Mm-hmm.
Roxana (55:32.568)
That's what I love about the show. like, feels like mostly the good people win. Where can you find that in life?
The Amazing Race, I have always contended, and I will die on this hill, and everyone else who's listening to this and might have worked on Survivor or Big Brother, it is by far the realest of all of those shows. We give them a clue and we follow them. We are not allowed, as a crew member, to say anything to them. There are camera crews that have gone to
completely different countries and had to give elimination clues to a team because they got the clue completely wrong. That is all real. I think it is a little more well-oiled right now, but I worked seasons 3 through 13 and the best episodes when I was watching what I worked on were the ones where I was like, they almost beat us to the pit stop, where it was chaos for the crew or, my God, we need 12 camels for this challenge. They are 10 minutes away and only four showed up.
How do we rewrite these clues and the rules? So I used to write the clue copy and the host copy from season eight through 13, and I produced Phil. So that was always a really fun thing to do and to learn. And yeah, I got to travel and it was amazing. No pun intended, pun intended.
But it is, but that's the only word. Listeners, you must. I mean, at least for Chris to see her brilliant work, but then for your own souls and your hums. I'm like a super fan. Travel. You know what? Season one has no cell phones in it, guys. This was a world before cell phones and social media existed. And to be able to go back to that time and just see how people functioned was great.
Cris (56:58.51)
Also travel.
Cris (57:14.124)
Yeah. Do you have anything you want to get the word out about?
Well, that Black Barbie documentary that I voice directed on Netflix. Yes, Shonda Rhimes, thanks to Shonda Rhimes who bought it. So now it has a life on Netflix. And then I voiced Celia May on Monsters at Work on Disney+. wow. Googly bear. Yeah, so I got to voice match Jennifer Tilly and take over that character last season, which is like a dream.
Amazing
Roxana (57:46.146)
get to work alongside all those people. And lastly, just if you want to watch on Netflix, the Casa Grande's movie is a wonderful family movie based on the characters from our show on Nickelodeon. And it is an epic adventure. It's funny. And the animation is incredible.
Well, I'm gonna check that out. And also, I'm gonna make sure to put the link to your Latina group in case anybody wants to join.
Latina's acting up, but yeah, on Instagram, you can, you know, I'm just a member. It's not my group, but it's fantastic.
No, but I want to amplify it. Yeah
Yeah, amplify it. Yeah, these ladies are really making amazing change and they've been to the White House. I mean, they're really advocates for women in their pro-union group.
Cris (58:30.487)
I am too. I'm not a member yet, but I will be at least when I get my film made.
I can't wait to read it, Chris, and thank you so much for having this conversation today.
Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much for tuning into Blissful Spinster. If any of these conversations are resonating with you, please consider following, rating, and leaving a review on whatever platform you're listening on. It really helps more folks find the show. And if you'd like to support my work or get access to extra content like behind the scenes journals, deep dives into my guests, and updates on all things life, accidental organizing, and of course, getting a lone girl made, check out my brand new sub stack.
Blissful Spinster. For just $5 a month, you'll get all of that and more, of course, when I find time to create it all. Seriously, though, this show is a DIY labor of love and your support helps keep it going. You can also find me and Blissful Spinster on Instagram, Pinterest, and at blissfulspinster.com, where you can also find some pretty cool merch if you're into that sort of thing, which I really hope you are. Thanks again for being on this journey with me and until next time, go find your happy.