For the youngest, her voice embodied one of the most beloved characters in the Disney universe, Dory, from Finding Nemo. For the slightly older ones, it was Diana Freire in 7 livesone of the first times in which the daily stories that happened to a lesbian girl entered the homes of Spaniards in the late 90s and early 2000s in ‘prime time’. He has also been Pruden for 122 episodes of Thieves go to the officeBenign in Love is forever for 2,406 episodes and until Celestina, a play in which he stars today.
Anabel Alonso Gómez (Barakaldo, 1964) makes time in her busy schedule to attend elDiario.es/Euskadi and take a tour of her work, her multiple characters, conciliation or the lack thereof in the world of cinema and television , personal opinions on social networks or the different scale between the beauty of men and women. All this in a career full of successes that has taken him where he started: his native Euskadi.
When did you know you wanted to be an actress?
At 15 years old. I can’t tell you which came first, the chicken or the egg. I think that first I wanted to be an actress and then I found a little theater group in Santurtzi. When I went in there I saw that it was really my thing.
This question may be difficult to answer, but what is the character that has fulfilled you the most throughout your career?
It’s complicated. Let’s say that the one who ‘consecrated’ me, in quotes, was Pruden de Thieves go to the officefor all the cast with which I was accompanied and everything it meant for me.
And which has been the most difficult?
Let me think.
Sure, calm down.
Look, I just remembered. For me, the most difficult work was a performance I did in Basque, because I had to learn it by heart. I don’t know Basque and I learned everything by heart. I remember that I played a witch and, although it was complicated, I succeeded.
Have you ever performed in Basque again, even from memory?
No never. Then I moved to Madrid and I have spent my career there.
In the series ‘7 Lives’, did Sole’s neck hurt, the character played by Amparo Baró?
(Laughs) Let’s see, in general no, although sometimes I didn’t hit the right spot and then it did send a chill down your spine. But come on, the one who really wanted it was the fruit bowl.
To Santi Rodríguez?
Yes, to Santi. He gave it to him with great enthusiasm. With [Carmen] Machi or me was benevolent.
Putting a lesbian in a ‘prime time’ series for the whole family and seeing the reception it received was a gift that we had not anticipated.
What was it like working with that cast?
Well, it was amazing. When you’re in trouble you don’t realize it, but then you look back and see that you have worked with the best actors of your generation and that, in addition to that, we had a good time, we had fun and we enjoyed it a lot. The series also had a lot of impact and was very successful. What more could you ask for? Everything was wonderful, the colleagues, the scripts, the reception from the public… In addition to the fact that they gave us many awards, it was outrageous.
It was a series that broke ground and was very advanced of its time. In fact, he had to interpret Diana’s wedding, a wedding between women, when that right did not yet exist in Spain. What did it mean for you?
It was something amazing. When they proposed to me to change the character, a little to give it more life, we were not aware of what it implied or the impact that the fact that Diana realized that she liked women would have. Suddenly putting a lesbian in a ‘prime time’ series with a large audience on a Sunday night for the whole family and seeing the reception it had, was a gift that we had not planned for, because from then on you don’t know the cards that came to us. They gave us many awards from LGTBI groups and associations. We received letters in which boys and girls told us how much it meant to them to watch the series with their parents. Small-town girls who saw themselves represented in Diana and realized they weren’t actually weird. We went into the houses in a fresh and direct way because the same things happened to Diana as the rest of us: she was fired from her job, she fell in love and they didn’t reciprocate… The scriptwriters did a wonderful job because they did it absolutely everyday, fresh, direct, without big coconut eats and demonstrating that LGTBI characters are mortals to whom exactly the same things happen to the rest.
What was it like for you to start as a voice actress playing a character like Dory?
When it was proposed to me, I was excited to play a Disney character, but I thought it would be a character with four or five sentences. When I saw what Dory was like and the prominence she had, I told them that I had never done dubbing in my life. Thanks to Eduardo Gutiérrez, the film’s dubbing director, who helped me a lot and gave me a lot of confidence, we managed to do it this way. He was the one who took a risk and invented the Dory that we have in the Spanish version, which is more expressive and less monotonous than the original.
Today she is working on a play playing Celestina. What does theater provide that television or cinema do not have?
In the theater, first there is the work process until you premiere, which is very rewarding in the sense that you try and discover. You have 45 days to try, investigate and make mistakes, but once you release the work, the work does not end, another begins, in which you consolidate or discover new things. I am now in the 130th performance of Celestina and it is still alive because you are discovering new things with your colleagues or with the public. You know the text, but you get to know the character as you do the performances and that is something that enriches you and contributes to you as an actress. This in addition to the relationship with the public, the immediate response and the fact that no function is the same as the previous one. There are many things that make theater something different and unique.
Reconciliation is very complicated and even more so when you do not have family support. They don’t make it easy for you
Beyond his work as a performer, he has participated in television programs such as MasterChef. What was that experience like considering the criticism of the program?
I personally have enjoyed it a lot, and I have also been a repeat offender. Everyone always tells the story as it goes and it is a television program in which you have to put on a show, apart from working, which we worked a lot. Obviously, there was tension and you had to get the dishes and the tests out, but you also have to entertain and have fun. I never saw anything strange. When I screwed up they eliminated me. My experience was fantastic.
In such an extensive and powerful career, is there room for work-life balance?
There is, but barely. Reconciliation is very complicated and much more so when you do not have family support or grandparents to help you. When you can’t, you have to babysit. It’s complicated and they don’t make it easy for you. Fortunately, I have the means and can hire someone, but if I didn’t I would have to give up many things to enjoy the dwarf. With work I have to travel and go out, but I measure my commitments a lot and say no to everything that is unavoidable. The departures and premieres went down in history for the moment.
She is one of those actresses who does not hesitate to give her opinion on social networks. Has giving your opinion openly about something ever caused you not to get a role or caused problems in your job?
As far as I know, I have not lost any job for giving my opinion online, but I don’t know. You may also have lost a job because someone disliked you. In this job everything is so fickle, so random and depends on so many things that it is difficult to know. This job is not about giving your opinion or because you stop giving it, you can lose it directly because someone doesn’t like it.
Men don’t have to conform to one type of beauty in movies. There we have Luis Tosar, Javi Gutiérrez or Javier Cámara
In the case of women, do other factors such as age or physique also come into play or are things improving in this sense?
More or less it remains the same. Now there are more female directors and screenwriters, but it is still difficult. Steps are being taken, but you see the general picture and in the case of men they do not have to adjust to a type of beauty. There we have Luis Tosar, Javi Gutiérrez or Javier Cámara. However, in the case of women, everything is more conventional. In film or television, the scale of beauty in men and women is still very unbalanced.
You have been seen lately on EiTB, what does returning to Euskadi mean for you?
I have returned for love of the land. Since I started they have never called me and it has been almost 40 years. When they called me to collaborate I said yes although it is quite complicated to go to Donostia. I have done it because of that nostalgia and that affection. Enough of not being a prophet in your land.
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