Award-winning Yvonne DeLaRosa reflects on acting inspirations and her time at UCLA
UCLA alumna Yvonne DeLaRosa is an actress on TV series “Los Americans,” which recently won the “Best Drama Web Series” Imagen award. (Courtesy of Ute Ville)
By Kelsey Rocha
Aug. 26, 2012 3:22 p.m.
As one of Barney’s one-night-stands on “How I Met Your Mother,” a gossipy maid on “Weeds” and a witness to a quinceanera gone wrong in “Law & Order: L.A.” actress and UCLA alumna Yvonne DeLaRosa is rapidly becoming a Latin American icon.
After graduating from UCLA, DeLaRosa defined herself in the industry as a renowned actress and writer. In 2003 she scored her breakout role in “Senor White” and later won the 2009 Imagen Award for her performance “8 Ways to Say I Love My Life and Mean It.” Her most recent accomplishment was for her role in “Los Americans,” which received 2012’s “Best Drama Web Series” Imagen award on August 10.
DeLaRosa, a Los Angeles native, attended Performing Arts School at Hollywood High School, an experience she said really prepared her for the UCLA school of Theater, Film and Television since it gave her an early background in studying theater. DeLaRosa’s continued her education, earning her Bachelor of Arts in directing and her Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting. She said she was most grateful for the artistic freedom she had access to at UCLA.
“UCLA is known for getting you to think outside of the box,” DeLaRosa said. “They’d say “˜Do whatever you want. What’s your vision? Let’s make it happen.’ Being free to express ourselves was one of the coolest things I got from UCLA.”
While at UCLA, she was also a recipient of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts scholarship for her achievements as a Latin American actress. The scholarship as well as the Chicano/Latino student group on campus introduced her to many Latin Americans in the industry. For example, Esai Morales, who originally awarded her with the scholarship, now plays her husband Lee Valenzuela in “Los Americans.”
“Los Americans” depicts situations that modern middle-class suburban Mexican-American families face in everyday life, like cultural identity. Dennis Leoni, the writer and director of “Los Americans,” cast DeLaRosa as the sassy mother Alma Valenzuela, a character who is very loving and sexy but also knows how to kick butt. He said that she outshone everyone else who auditioned.
Currently, “Los Americans” has stopped production. Leoni said that he is unsure if they will make another season but hopes that another online network will pick up the show, so that they can film at least the second and third seasons. In the event that this does not happen, Leoni said they may just cut together the first season as a movie.
The actress has been successful in getting very diverse roles and breaking down many racial barriers. She has played everything from a whimsical hippy in “Helter Skelter” to her current role as a strong Latina in “Los Americans.” Though her versatile looks have helped her in being cast for such a broad spectrum of roles, she said that it is her ability as a character actress that has allowed her to get those parts.
“I am proud to classify myself as a character actress. When I go in for a job I’m not Yvonne, I am that character,” said DeLaRosa, “Even when I write I become each of the characters inside my head and dialogue comes very easy for me because I put myself in each of their positions.”
The actress, best known for her strong female roles, said she gets her inspiration from her mother, who immigrated from Colombia. DeLaRosa’s mother raised her and her sister as a single parent while working two full-time jobs.
Aside from DeLaRosa’s mother, she was heavily influenced by her Colombian grandparents, who only spoke Spanish. DeLaRosa said that some of her comedic savvy was a product of the language barrier in her house.
“I would go home and perform jokes I had learned on TV. Obviously I’d have to translate them, but they don’t always translate right. … I’d have to change the jokes around so they’d be funny in Spanish,” said DeLaRosa, “I think that’s how I really learned how to tell a good joke.”
DeLaRosa credits her sense of timing, comedy and shtick to her celebrity role models Mel Brooks and Don Adams. She recalls coming home after school and just watching re-runs of “Get Smart.”
“I guess having a middle-aged man as your role-model as a little kid is kind of not typical, but that’s who it was,” DeLaRosa said.
While further production on “Los Americans” is on hold, DeLaRosa turns to her root in comedy for her new project. She said a TV comedic pilot for a show called “Adam and Eva,” which centers around a border-romance, is in the works. She wrote and will be starring in the pilot episode, but because the project is still in development, an exact release date isn’t available.
Though DeLaRosa has accomplished a lot, she was after all a little Bruin before everything else. Her secret to success in school is not quite the average approach. To current and future UCLA students she extended a word of advice on what she believed was most important in college.
“Just go for it while you’re there. Go out and do everything. Yes, you’re supposed to be learning and you’re supposed to be taking your life lessons and putting them toward your future career, but at the end of the day just have fun.”
