Oh, what's up?
Oh, that's a terribly hard question.
Um? Um!
Um Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Oh goodness!
I really should've read these questions beforehand.
[Speaking in foreign language]
Right now I can actually feel my heart a little poundy.
[Laughing]
I'm sweatin'!
Is anyone able to answer these questions?
[Classical music]
Oh wow, childhood movie crush.
Childhood movie crush.
I had quite a few, I will edit it.
Probably would've been Lola Bunny, from Space Jam.
Like my most recent crush is an animation
and it's Shrek when he turns human.
You know when he turns human [laughs].
You know when he turns human?
Ah, I would say an Incredible, the Disney Pixar movie,
I was in love with the ballet but I know that it's a cartoon
Probably Kelly the broad from Weird Science
which is I mean such an unwoke piece of misogyny.
The one two punch that was Halle Berry
and Rosamund Pike was oh!
[woman laughing]
Oh, it had to be Billie Dee.
Gregory Peck, he kind of looked like my dad.
Jonathon Taylor Thomas, always.
Probably like a good balanced
mix of Leo and Kate in Titanic.
Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo and Juliet,
and Titanic obviously, I think it was mainly him.
I mean but then I got a bit older
and then I'm not gonna tell you who that was.
I would say Prince.
Brad Pit.
David Bowie.
My relatives refused to sit with me
when we went to see Purple Rain,
I sat up front and they sat way in the back
because they didn't wanna deal with my emotions.
Ray Fiennes, 'cause I remember watching him
in the English Patient and I was like
oh my gosh, he is so handsome.
Albert Brooks in Defending Your Life and Modern Romance.
Still trying to find the Albert Brooks in my life.
Richard Gere was my husband.
You couldn't tell me anything about Richard Gere
he was gorgeous, but I also had a big fat crush
[laughs] on Julie Roberts [laughs].
I mean, the smile, and she seems real nice.
Matt Dillon in The Outsiders.
I still have a crush on Matt Dillon [laughs].
[classical music]
Whoa, my first ever audition, can I think back that far?
Does church count?
I guess it was for the church musical.
And I got the part of the worldy wiseman.
For the Nativity story at church
and I auditioned for the role of Joseph
who had no lines and I didn't get it.
It was about reform school girls
and it was called, are you ready?
So Young, So Bad.
I guess the worst part of that audition
was that my mom was the pastor.
The toilet was next to the auditioning room,
and I had to go for a wee before I went in [laughs]
and I remember the director going
"Just Whistle or something" as I was in,
I was like this is not right.
And then I ended up getting the job!
It was me, it was Tom Sturridge Eddie Redmayne,
Rob Pattinson, Charlie Cox,
it was just kind of all of us like slightly post pubescent
trying to figure out like pretending like we were punk rock.
I had just gone into this audition and I had decided
to cut all of my hair off because all of the girls
that I saw going out to little auditions,
we all looked the same,
we all had long, curly hair and we were all about
the same color and they were all looking for like
the curly headed black girl.
So I decided that I would cut my hair
because it seemed like the casting director
was just going like pick you, pick you,
like with her eyes shut.
So I cut my hair really really short, radical move,
my manager told me at the time I'll never work again,
I'm no longer commercial or cute,
and I booked the job on my first television show
called Living Thoughts.
[Interviewer] And you kept the short
hair for a long time, right?
And I kept the short hair,
it became iconic for me.
[Classical music]
The best piece of advice I've ever received
was "Good things come to those who do."
"Keep your sense of humour,"
because you're gonna need it.
"Be overly prepared and to be on time."
"To dress to feel the part, not to look it."
"It's not always about how good you are
but how good you are to work with."
[Speaking in foreign language]
"Do not have a plan B," because
you'll resort to plan B if you have one.
"Be patient," which is something I'm not.
"You can control your reaction to events,
you can't control the events."
Maybe "Not to take advice" [laughs].
"Comparison will kill you."
[Interviewer] What's the best piece of advice
you've ever received?
"Shut up."
[Interviewer laughs]
[Classical music]
How do I deal with nerves?
Not very well [laughs] is probably the truth of it.
I like silently implode.
Ohh!
Oh God, it gets harder and harder.
Yeah, I still don't know how to deal with nerves.
I actually could take some advice,
if anyone has advice for nerves.
Just take a deep breath.
Well you can use them,
because nerves generate an incredible energy in you.
I come to a point where I shake
and then, boom, I go into a blackout.
It's like OK... Then from there it's like
everything is hill down, down hill,
and then I relax.
In terms of camera nerves,
I always think that I'm not on screen.
I'm not scared of nerves, at all.
If anything I find them quite helpful
and when I'm not nervous then I get slightly concerned
I'm not gonna be very good.
We get nervous around those people we love.
You see somebody beautiful,
you see somebody that you admire, you get nervous
and it's a good thing, it means blood is going
and we're alive and I don't fight it anymore.
The biggest mistake I ever made
was trying to get rid of them.
It means when I start to feel them,
it means I'm getting close to something that I care about.
Alcohol. No, just kidding [laughs].
Red wine!
I do not deal well with nerves, at all.
The first thing that happens is that my hands get icy cold
and they get wet. I mean did you ever shake a hand
that's icy cold and wet?
It's, actually it's disgusting.
"Don't fall in love all the time" [laughs].
I would tell my younger self to do everything you did
girl, because you doing OK.
"Go and see a therapist" [laughs].
"Go to sleep, just go to sleep.
Nothing good happens after 2am."
"Your grandparents are the coolest people,
some of the coolest people, you are ever gonna meet.
Spend as much time with them as you possibly can."
[Speaking in foreign language]
I would say to my younger self, "It's OK,
you're enough. It's OK, you have it.
You don't need to impress anyone,
you don't need to impress yourself,
you don't need to be something that you're not."
"Stop smoking.
Stop smoking cigarettes."
"Be patient and trust the process."
"There will always be people who are uncomfortable
with your ambitions, you know.
Some folks will tell you that
your dreams are too big, they're not!"
"Just hang in there.
You're gonna end up in places that you wouldn't dream."
To a younger self, I would say,
"Being Puerto Rican is a fine thing to be."
"Be proud of who you are and don't care so much
what other people think.
You know, worry about what you think,
worry about liking yourself."
"It's OK if they don't wanna make out with you now [laughs].
Because one day you'll get a boyfriend. Don't worry."
I still don't have a boyfriend
but I keep telling myself that.
"Don't choose beauty over quality and character."
Not a good idea.
I did that with Marlon Brando.
"Enjoy life." Especially if I knew what the world
was gonna be like now, listen!
I remember when I used to work in an office,
there was some women who were like in their thirties who worked there
and I was like 18 or 19 or something
and they used to try and give me advice
and I'd be like, "Yeah, whatever" [laughs].
Everything they've said has come true, basically [laughs].
"Pull your pants up." Next question.
[Laughing]
Mmm, we did it!
Thank you.
Thank you [laughs]!
Bye y'all.
[Classical music]