Yalitza Aparicio. It may not be the easiest name to remember but by now you will probably have seen it in magazines, newspapers, online blogs and practically any form of social media.
It belongs to the indigenous Oaxacan actress whose debut performance as Cleo in the critically acclaimed movie“Roma” has earned her an Oscar nomination and shot her to a dizzying level of fame.
From Tlaxiaco, south of the Mixteca region, Aparacio had no desire to be an actress and yet now she is walking down red carpets in couture dresses, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s A-list celebrities. It’s a life-changing experience that would overwhelm even the most experienced of actors with dreams of being a star, let alone someone who had never set foot in front of a camera before.
When Aparicio first heard of the casting for “Roma,” she was skeptical it might be some kind of human trafficking scam. She had just finished her teaching degree and envisioned her future would consist of working with children. Her sister was actually the one who wanted to audition for this mysterious project and she brought Aparicio along with her.
By this point, the director, Alfonso Cuarón, had been looking for his lead actress for almost a year but couldn’t find someone who embodied his childhood domestic worker, Libo, whom Cleo was based on. When he saw Aparicio, he said she made an “immediate impression” due to her physical resemblance to Libo, as well as her shy yet warm demeanor.
Aparicio had never heard of Cuarón, who won a Best Director Oscar for“Gravity”in 2014. When he asked her to play the part she considered the fact she had several months before she could begin teaching and told him, “Well, I think I can do it. I have nothing better to do.” It was clear that she had no idea of the massive undertaking she was agreeing to.
The premiere of “Roma”was at the Venice Film Festival last August. Aparicio hadn’t seen the movie and was deeply moved by the whole experience. This, however, was a mere taste of what she could expect over the coming months as she traveled the world attending various festivals and awards ceremonies, being involved in dozens of interviews and posing for countless photographs.
In December, Aparicio became the first woman of indigenous descent to grace the cover of Vogue Mexico in its 20-year history. Despite the “mestizo”ethnic configuration of the country, Mexican magazines predominantly feature light-skinned people on their pages. Vogue’s editor-in-chief was allegedly concerned at first how readers might react to the cover, but it received much positive feedback and generated the magazine’s biggest social media response ever.
Of course, there are always those who will try to demean a person’s success. One of those was the sister of the pop star Thalia, who teased that Aparicio had ‘the luck of the ugly.’
Aparicio responded diplomatically: “I think that the amazing reaction that the cover got just shows how deeply the public is ready for this kind of diversity to be present in the media.”
Prior to her nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Aparicio had spoken eloquently about the breaking down of stereotypes. “Because we’re indigenous, we’re told we can’t do certain things because of our skin color. Receiving that nomination would be a break from so many ideas. It would open doors to other people, to everyone, and deepen our conviction that we can do these things now.”
Aparacio does not know if she will continue acting but is making good use of this moment in the spotlight to spark a conversation about how indigenous people are treated and the socioeconomic divisions in Mexico. The question is, will it continue after the current glow of this “it girl” begins to fade?