Melissa Barrera is conscious that her profession has made her one thing of a “style actress” — however whereas she has no intention of working away from her movie roots, she is all the time seeking to broaden her profession horizons. After a starring position within the sequence “Vida,” Barrera got here to theatrical prominence in 2021’s high-profile “Within the Heights” (a musical) and two “Scream” sequels (decidedly horror) in 2022 and 2023. She then doubled-down on horror with final yr’s well-received “Abigail” and the indie “Your Monster.”
“I really like horror. It’s tremendous enjoyable. And there’s so many nice horror scripts,” Barrera stated on “The Seeds” podcast, praising horror administrators as a few of the largest “danger takers” within the business. However she added that she wished to “stretch” as an actress. “I even have by no means appreciated placing myself in a field of any form, and I do know that I’ve a variety of different abilities that… I need to showcase, and I need to like play with. So, I really feel like I’d get bored — I do get bored simply if I’m doing the identical factor or the identical style.”
As a Latina actress, Barrera stated she has needed to work tougher to get thought-about for sure roles all through her profession.
“You form of need to battle for extra room,” she defined. “Folks [are] not essentially searching for people who appear to be you for a task, however you bought to form of try to… knock on the door and be like, ‘Hey, I do know you’re not searching for me. However like, perhaps, would you thoughts? I’ll simply do it, and for those who prefer it, perhaps.’”
Barrera stated that there’s a internet impact anytime a Latino performer is added to a manufacturing’s forged that advantages greater than only a single actor. She used the casting of the fifth “Scream” installment for example. “The large cause that I wished to get that position so badly was as a result of I knew that this character was going to have a household, and that if I acquired the position, then that meant extra alternatives for different Latinos within the different roles. In order that’s form of factor that you consider,” she defined.
Barrera will subsequent be seen alongside Simu Lui within the Peacock sequence “The Copenhagen Check,” bringing her into a brand new style: espionage motion thriller. A launch date has but to be introduced, although a trailer was proven on the NBCU upfronts final month.
