Marilyn Sanabria – the New Jennifer Lopez or Salma Hayek?
“I don’t know what came over me, but when the band joined in, I felt really free. I fell in love with the stage, and the world of creativity. It allowed me to be free, and I felt alive – I told my mum straight away: “That’s what I want to do” and I never had a doubt from then on that I’d be an actress. It was almost a religious experience”.
That little girl was Marilyn Sanabria, who is now older – although she will only admit to being a September Sagittarius – and, after living in New York for years, has recently made the move to the City Of Angels to pursue her dreams. It was a risky move, because she had studied under Wynn Handman and had been working steadily in theatre, notably in Sex, Shame and Tears, as Juliet in the Shakespeare classic, and had earned an ACE nomination in To Catch The Lightning.
“I’d always been very lucky in New York, but I knew I had to come out to Hollywood if I wanted to move into films – so alongside Lady Luck, I got on a plane- and it’s already been unbelievably good”.
Very soon after she arrived, she won a part in hit series The Shield: “It was awesome. I played a very gritty, dark role – a prostitute – I love those type of roles” and then she moved straight onto a “really spectacular” short film directed by Francisco Lorite called Cuco Gomez Gomez Is Dead!, where she played a teen runaway in love with a man who has just died.
The chilling psychological thriller Between directed by David Ocanas was an audience favorite at Sundance in 2005, and again saw Sanabria being the centre of attention. She plays a Mexican girl assisting Nadine (played by Poppy Montgomery from Without A Trace) in the search for her missing sister in Tijuana: “It’s a strong supporting pivotal role in a very different script – a different kind of story with Latinos – and everything about it was unique and special”.
The Latino connection – her sultry looks and husky voice have already ensured comparisons to Salma Hayek – are a comparison that Sanabria expected, but finds flattering:
“It’s OK. God, they (other Latino actresses) have a lot to offer to the work, and it doesn’t bother me – on the contrary. It’s like when you eat chocolate ice cream and describe how good it tastes – “heaven” – it’s just natural to compare. But like every good Latina, I do love dancing – Spanish, Argentinean, Brazilian. Samba is my favorite – it gets me going like there’s no tomorrow.”
When she’s not taking acting classes at the Actors Studio with her teacher Kristin Andersen-Groh or attending auditions, she hangs out around the cafes of Venice Beach with her “lucky charm”, a white poodle called Pan that she found in the streets of Miami:
“I found him on the anniversary of the day my brother passed, and realised that things happen for a reason – we have to go with the flow”.
Romantically, Sanabria is again shy about issuing any statements: “I don’t like to talk about my private love – but I am romantic” and at the moment she is looking at scripts, “reading and debating” about what she wants to do next: “I’d like to do something challenging that allows me to give the music that I have inside”.
Hopefully Between will see her coming to the fore, but if not, she still has a desire to work with Pedro Almodovar, Oscar-wining writer/director of films such as All About My Mother, Talk To Her and Bad Education. Sanabria met him years ago, when, in typical fashion, she crashed a press conference he was giving and read out a letter in Spanish to him, thanking him for his work and saying she was going to leave Puerto Rico for New York – and wanted to be in one of his films:
“Pedro: I’m still waiting for you!”
