Roselyn Sánchez is a force to be reckoned with.
The 52-year-old Puerto Rican actress continues to pave the way for Latinas in the entertainment industry as one of the leading Latina faces in Hollywood. From dancing to acting, to producing, Sánchez is the definition of a multihyphenate talent. Remezcla exclusively sat down with the actress to chat about her longevity in the industry, Bad Bunny’s impact on Puerto Rico, and her new partnership with Lysol.
“I just want to serve as inspiration and I just try to do work that speaks for itself. I try to have a career that is– there is no controversies involved,” she says about not feeling the pressure of being one of the few Latina actresses in Hollywood. “I want to keep it clean and simple and just do what I love. You know? By doing that then there is no pressure so I think I am doing something, something right.”
Before taking a chance on herself, Sánchez was studying marketing in college but she felt that her destiny was in the arts so she left the island of Puerto Rico to pursue her dreams in New York.
“All I wanted was to prove [to] my parents that it was the right decision. I left college, I was doing business administration because my dad is an accountant and it was very important for my dad to have a degree. To show him a degree,” she shares reminiscing about her humble beginnings. “So leaving and saying ‘No no, I’m a star’ – I’m going to go to New York to pursue my dreams. It was hard.”
Fast forward years later, she’s back in the city tapping back into her dancer era by hosting a salsa class with Lysol in New York. “We’re encouraging people to, when you clean, do something fun and dance. I grew up as a dancer so this scent itself [is] for feeling happy.” And her return to the city is also a full circle moment as she remembers her initial struggles in the Big Apple.
“I look at New York, I’m looking at the buildings and think wow this is crazy, I was here for years trying so hard, it was difficult but it was glorious at the same time.”
Known as one of the few Latina actresses in Hollywood, Sánchez makes it a priority to take on bilingual work projects and when there are none – she creates them herself. She currently has an iHeartRadio podcast titled “He Said, Ella Dijo”, which she hosts with her husband, Eric Barrett Winter.
“My first language is Spanish, it’s interesting that most of my career has been in English. When I moved to the States, I started working in English and now, I’m looking to do more things in Spanish because it’s easier for me but people identify more in English,” she says about keeping her bilingual projects. “But it’s part of who I am. You know, I’m born and raised in Puerto Rico but I’ve lived in Los Angeles for half of my life. I want my kids to be bilingual and everywhere I go I tell people, ‘Listen my first language is Spanish.”
The Boricua also spoke wonders of fellow Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny when asked about her opinion of what he’s been able to do for the island.
“It’s supernatural. To be honest with you. To be able to carry an entire culture on your shoulders and to be able to educate the world, because we’re not just talking about Latin America. For you to make every country, even the furthest one away, to learn about our culture, our music, our roots. It’s almost like it’s supernatural. It’s hypnotism.”
This year, the English movie that helped catapult her career in Hollywood, Rush Hour 2, will be turning 24, to which she says she’s more than willing to reprise her role as Isabella Molina if another Rush Hour movie is in the works.
“Oh, I’d love to. It would be amazing. It would be incredible. They’ve been talking about that for years but it hasn’t happened. It hasn’t happened– So I don’t know what is going to happen with that. I think at some point even Jackie and Chris said we can finance some of it. So they’ve been talking about it. I don’t know if they’ll call me, if they call it would be marvelous because that’s the movie that changed everything.”
