Mexican actress becomes Hollywood’s rising star

Mexican actress Eliza Gonzalez, at age 27 and on the point of premiering the movie “Baby Driver”, promises to become a real Hollywood star with “Alita: Battle Angel,” produced by James Cameron.

“It’s all a question of perception,” the actress from Sonora, Mexico, said about her meteoric career in an interview with Efe news.

“It might look like it’s gone really fast but I don’t see it that way. There’s been a lot of work, dedication and patience to get this far. I’ve stuck to my ideals and it’s given me results,” said the artist, for whom everything changed when she moved to the US.

Her first big chance came from Robert Rodriguez in the series “From Dusk Till Dawn,” after which the UK’s Edgar Wright set her to shine in the cast of the frenetic “Baby Driver,” which premieres on Wednesday.

“I was the newbie on the set and the only one who had to go through the casting process. That changed everything. I was scared, nervous but very enthusiastic and at peace because I knew I had won the part. I worked very hard and they gave me the role thanks to the sheer sweat on my part,” she said.

Included in the cast are Kevin Spacey, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx.

After that shoot, the actress got to work almost immediately on “Alita: Battle Angel,” a Robert Rodriguez film produced and co-scripted by Cameron, in which she shares scenes with Mahershala Ali and Christoph Waltz.

Though her career is going full speed ahead, Eliza Gonzalez did recall that “it’s not easy to be a woman and much less a Latina in Hollywood.

“There are a lot of stumbling blocks, and you do a lot of falling down. You get rejected every day. Sometimes for not being tall enough, for the tone of your skin, for being more or less Latina… There’s always something. But I’ve learned to take it easy and know who I am,” she told Efe.

For Gonzalez, the key to success is to be consistent and have patience.

“I’m part of a minority and I lose parts that are assigned to Asians, African Americans and other Latinas. But it’s all work for women and that makes me happy,” the actress said.

IANS