INTERVIEW BY IRVIN RIVERA

Honduran-American actress KARRIE MARTIN plays the relentless, unapologetic, queer artist Anna Morales in the Netflix comedy-drama series GENTEFIED.

The show is about a Mexican–American family and their struggles to fulfill and chase their American dreams while operating around the conflicts of internal and external gentrification.

Martin’s free-spirited, charismatic character is one of the many important threads connecting the show’s narratives woven by all the other characters.  

In this exclusive interview, we covered a variety of topics ranging from her character in the show, to the importance of representation and visibility, to her upcoming wedding, her favorite Nicholas Sparks book, and her plans in the industry.  We also spoke about the value and the power of knowing that “You’re enough.”

How do you create Gentefied?

The story was so special and was written from the perspective of two first generation Mexicans so it has so much authenticity to it that I don’t think would’ve been there had the individuals who are actually going through it had not written down these important stories.

I think the idea behind Gentefied is sewing all the perspectives of the actual action of “Gentefication.” Knowing the good, the bad.   In essence, there’s so many different perspectives to the idea anyway. America (Ferrera), in an interview said, “this is so complex.” That even 4 years in after she had been introduced to all this [gentrification], she was like “I’m still learning.“  There are many facets to this idea of Gentrification and Gentrification from within. There’s so many opinions behind it. And I think our show beautifully depicts every idea without completely vilifying one over the other.

Let’s talk about your character Ana Morales. How was it to play her?

It’s amazing! I learned so much about myself and so much of the power I could stand in, while playing her. My character is queer. But what I love about her and the way that she’s portrayed on the show is that it’s not the forefront of what she is. It’s just a part of who she is.

She’s a strong woman that’s unapologetically herself, that’s fighting for her dream and hopes for the support of her family and her community to get behind what she’s doing. Queer is an adjective to who she is but they did it so beautifully and so respectfully that I’m not a label. I feel like that’s why it’s so easy for me to fall into her character without judgment and just honor her, and be able to represent this character and all the different facets that she uphold in her life.

That’s really beautiful to be able to play a character that way.

Yes. And she have so much incredible depth. I grew so much in playing this character. I was so educated. I was so enlightened and I feel more and more comfortable standing in my power because of how dynamic she was when she stood in hers.

How different are you from Ana’s character and how did you find pieces of yourself in her?

I would say that I am very different from my character. We laugh about this throughout press because I’m probably the one who said this the most. I am completely different from her. I come from a family that’s so incredibly supportive and have supported my life through the arts.

Then we have Ana here who is just really struggling with her mom. And that relationship is so dynamic in the story. In the midst of how different we were, I also saw pieces of myself in her. She had this positive joy about her. She works really hard and doesn’t let anybody bring her down. And I feel like that’s something that I have in myself. I was always just very competitive growing up. And I was always saying-this isn’t gonna bring me down.

In this industry, just trying to strive to be an actor is so hard and I never gave up. I found that grit in Ana and I was able to find that in myself. You hold on to anything that’s similar in your character. But to have that, I just walk in her footsteps because the creators and the writers wrote such beautiful words that were so human and so realistic that I have to play something that was as authentic.

You played her character seamlessly. It’s amazing.

Thank you so much. I think it goes without saying, when I got the call that I had booked this job, I was very nervous about trying to play her. One of my friends is a lesbian and she was like, Karrie I am so proud of you. And I was like, thank you so much.

I knew that it wasn’t going to be that fear that I held on to. It was more bringing in that chicano authenticity to it. Am I enough of this?

I remember Marvin (Marvin Lemus, series creator) telling me- “Everything you did, just be yourself because that was enough.”

That resonated with me so greatly. Then to add the Latina aspect, they didn’t ask me to put on a Mexican accent. That wasn’t authentically me. And that addition to it, it was out of this world for me in this industry to be told that I was enough and what I was about to bring to this character was exactly what they wanted. I was just able to be me and just have all these beautiful flavors added to her because of how complex she is.

That’s really powerful to be able to have someone say that to you.

That’s exactly the word. It’s so powerful.

It was so encouraging throughout this process as it is my first lead role. So for somebody to say that and have so much confidence in your work is amazing.

I work in casting prior to this. So I know the background; what the behind the scenes was like with the producers, with the directors, and what they’re looking for. It’s so much work. When I went into this project, I had so much more respect for it because of the experiences that I had in casting. I was like, wow thank you so much that I was the one you chose. You’re like on this pedestal and you have to honor this character because at the end of the day, our characters are everyday people. To honor that individual held a lot of weight. Knowing that I was enough was powerful and encouraging.

Absolutely. That’s also one of the ongoing themes of the show. Am I Mexican enough, Am I Latino enough?  And it’s really good hearing this from you.

It’s amazing because I am a Southern born and raised first-generation Honduran-American so it has been a thing of like—oh where is she from? She doesn’t have an accent. I haven’t lived through what some of my castmates have lived through. But being proud of how I was raised and still kowing that I am Latina enough even I was raised in a more predominantly Caucasian community-

It’s just an honor for people to allow me to be able to play myself and be recognized that I am enough.

How does that help you embody your character? It’s a totally different thing growing up in the south and playing someone who resides in East LA. Did it pose any challenge for you?

I don’t think it posed a challenge necessarily in where I was gonna go with my character simply because as a cast, we were so close. And I know specifically, with the boys who played my cousins, it was just like, let’s have fun and let’s do exactly what we did in that audition room. How fun it was to banter back and forth in doing that. I do that with my cousins too; with my mom’s family, my dad’s family and all of my immediate cousins. Maybe I didn’t have that in school, but I had that in the core of my family. It is exactly what the story was with the cousins. Natural bantering.

You just go with it.

Exactly. We just have fun. We didn’t put a judgment or any label on our characters for who they were. We just literally enjoyed it for what it was and everything that was coming at us.

But sometimes, we were like—oh that scene was hard. That really challenged me. But to be challenged in this way for my first go at it on such a massive platform was probably the greatest gift an actor can have.

We can all play our types, but the greater challenge is to identify and honor something that isn’t your usual type. I have no words on how much growth I had on this set because of Ana.

Are you still esctatic of how well the show was received?

Oh my god. I get messages up to this day. I think people are still watching it in quarantine, which is so amazing. There’s people who watched it numerous times. I’m on my third go round. I’m on my fifth go round. And I’m like what?? But it is that Netflix effect- where you’re like, oh I wanna watch it again because I don’t know when the next season is coming out. I’m pretty sure my mother have it in her house every single day. She’s on her seventh or tenth round and she binged it. I get DMs that said: Every time I watched it I always find something new that I didn’t see the last time. And that was like, wow, we’re affecting people in so many amazing ways. And I got people telling me—thank you so much for being a face in our community.

I didn’t realize how proud the Honduran community would be. I recently did a post acknowledging I’m Honduran-American and I don’t think they had ever seen that posted anywhere about me and so many people had so many encouraong words and wow, I am so so proud. Not only to be Latina, but also to be Hondureña especially in this platform. This has been such a gift.

I will be on my second round soon.

Thank you so much. You cry, you laugh and you hurt just like anybody.

It’s just so real. People are seen in the show in such a profound way.

I get messages from people outside of the US. South Africa, Berlin, India just saying that – they see themselves in t. It is representative of cultures. It extends in so many cultures because they are authentically everyday people. 

Absolutely. For you, how important do you think the show is, especially right now?

I think it’s so important to start these types of conversations. I’ve never experienced personally what these characters are experiencing right now. When I went to Los Angeles from the first time—my sister and I comes from a city that is so full of history and tradition and then you go to LA, you’re like, yeah it’s Hollywood but where’s the culture? Where’s the history? And then I set foot in Boyle Heights and it’s in your face colors and history. “Savor” as we say. This is where it fits.  First of all, for people to acknowledge that’s where the depth of greater Los Angeles area is… that’s such an honor to be honoring that community.

And then for Latinos to see themselves in leading positions- where the whole cast is the lead of their own story, that’s so huge. “Es un gran honor!”  To be in this position right now and to be the face of that. There’s so many latinos and Latinas who have paved the way for us and who have had their leading roles, but for an entire cast to be this, is so beautiful. There’s just no words. I think we are all proud to be a representation of all that.      

What’s next for you? I know you have a wedding coming up. Congratulations!

I do. Thank you so much! He’s been the greatest support through all of this (fiancée, Ryan Lachney). He’s such a number one fan, always rooting for me, thank you so much.

There’s so much I wanna do. Casting really opened my eyes to a lot of things that I like about the job. And seeing America direct and produce and be a part of something bigger than herself, that was like- wow. I can do this too. There’s projects that I have in my head that I wanna produce. I would love to direct at some point. I really want to do film and have a lot of great projects in the little moshpit of things that I’m doing. We’ll see what happens. But I think film is definitely always something that’s driven me. Obviously television, we are all hoping for that Seaosn 2. We are hoping for an announcement for that. That would be the highlight. I’m just continuing to audition and get myself out there.

Exciting times ahead for you.

Now final question. If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

I would be a rom-com. That’s the world that I live in for sure.

I am an incredibly huge Nicholas Sparks fan. There’s this beautiful book that he had with a Latina lead (See Me) and I became so obsessed with the story. I think I would be a Nicholas sparks book if I were a book.

I read The Notebook a while back.

Oh it’s not bad.  I’m just the person that if there’s a book that goes with the movie, I have to read the book first because it gives me so much excitement when the character I fell in love with in the book comes to life. Oh my god you’re alive. I see your face. You’re talking!

It’s like how you imagined them.

Yes! It’s such a joy. I’m such a kid when my characters come to life.

GENTEFIED is currently streaming on NETFLIX