DECEMBER 16, 2019
Meet Yelyna De León
Today we’d like to introduce you to Yelyna De León.
Yelyna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started when I was a kid on the Southside of Chicago and the NBC hit show “Crime Story” came knocking on my grandmother’s door. They wanted to shoot a scene from our 2nd story porch, this was way before drones. I was her translator so at first she told me to tell the location guy, a polite, ‘no thank you.” Honestly, she didn’t know what he was asking for. He then insisted and told me to tell her that he could pay $400 for the use of our porch. She then told me to politely tell him, “yes.” So for an entire week, I had the entire cast and crew in my living room. My grandma didn’t know that the set had craft services so she would make breakfast for everyone in the morning and this experience changed my life. Hollywood literally came knocking on my door.
After that, I attended a prestigious performing arts high school where I majored in musical theater. During my high school years, I wrote and starred in a 3 act musical, had three shows on the local Chicago channel, a sketch comedy show, a teen talk show and a weekend live show of all things happening in Chicago. It was a lot of fun and I learned how to shoot and be in front of and behind the camera. Theater was my life but I knew I wanted to go into film and TV so…
Flash forward, I ended up in L.A. after going out on an audition a friend of mine sent me on while I was here on vacation, she was a manager and said if I booked it she would sign me. And sure enough, first audition, series regular role and I booked it. After that, I booked other TV shows and performed in a touring Shakespearean musical theater show for kids on and off for about 15 years.
I then attended UCLA and earned my B.A. in Film/TV/theater and Chicano studies. And my M.F.A from USC School of Cinematic arts where I co-created and was the showrunner for USC’s first single-camera comedy. I then did a couple of writing labs, the NHMC, sponsored by ABC/NBC, the NALIP one hour writing incubator and most recently the L.A. Skins Native drama film lab where I finished writing my next feature film in 10 weeks.
All while working steadily in both TV and film, (“A Better Life”, “Ray Donovan”, “Shameless”) and most recently guest starring on “Will and Grace,” and writing, acting and producing in an upcoming feature film, “Murder in the Woods,” with Danny Trejo (Machete) to name a few.
I’m also a bilingual literature advocate through Readconmigo.org and published award-winning children’s book author for “Yely’s First Day,” a semi-autobiographical story about a little girl who is afraid to go to school because she doesn’t speak English very well. In the summer, I teach workshops on acting for camera to kids/youth in Boyle Heights, Chicago, and Mexico.
My credits can be found at www.imdb.com/name/nm0209680/.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth road? What’s that? Being a woman, being a character actor, being Latina there honestly have not been and still are not that many roles out there for us. And if they are there they are for the most part stereotypical in my experience. So there have been a lot of struggles, such as waiting for the right role to come and then deciding whether or not to take the stereotypical roles that I have been typecast in. There really isn’t much control over the way the pendulum swings sometimes, which is why I also write, direct, produce and yes even edit! As the saying goes, “hurry up and wait.” Sometimes projects look promising but they get pushed or fall through those are always struggles in the business. A show can get picked up, then canceled, your character can get edited out for no fault of your own. So many struggles but that is why I have always focused on doing what I love so even in the most up and down roller coaster of times, I remind myself that this is what I love doing and I also remind myself that Hollywood literally came knocking on my door, so I practice being grateful and enjoy every moment of my time as a storyteller.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a hyphenate. In short, I’m a storyteller which includes being a filmmaker. A content creator. An actor. A writer. A director. A producer. And an acting coach for kids/youth.
I specialize in comedy and children’s content.
I am most proud of the fact that I deliver both in front of the camera and/or behind it. And when I’m on a project, it will be seen somewhere on a big screen, on a stage, on television, on your phone or on social media.
What sets me apart from others is the fact that I am bi-cultural, bilingual and that I can make you laugh even if we don’t speak the same language. Kidding. I absolutely love what I do and even when things don’t go as planned, I am there to make sure there is always a way to complete the task, so not dropping the ball is what I am most proud of as an artist that I always give my 3000 %, I spread love and light by looking at the positive side of things and hope to inspire others to do what they love.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success by “doing what you love” and being genuinely happy with whatever it is I am doing. The fact that I am a storyteller and can share my story on a global level is success to me. The ability to chose projects that I want to work on is success to me. The ability to create something from nothing is success to me. Ten weeks ago I did not have my next script written, however by staying focused and doing a ten weeks film lab, I now have the next feature I wrote, will produce and direct in 2020. That to me is success. Having a network of super talented colleagues/friends that I respect, adore, trust and love working with is success to me. The ability to spend time with my family and travel with them regardless if I have to take some work with me sometimes is success to me. Setting goals, completing tasks, achieving them is success to me. The fact that I am healthy and can sleep well at night is success to me. Simply the ability to create every moment of my life and career is success to me. Living my dream and making it a reality is success in my eyes.
Contact Info:
Website: yelynadeleon.com
Email: info@yelynadeleon.com
Instagram: @yelynadeleon
Facebook: @yelynadeleon
Image Credit:
The 2 photos of me sitting by the computer and with the scripts behind me are by photographer Yunuen Bonaparte. The photo of me smiling in the sequence silver and black is by photographer : Roberto Tetlamatzin. The pic of Megan Mullaly and I with the NBC logo on the bottom is a screen grab from Will and Grace.
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Carmen Jiménez
Gracias a su amplia trayectoria en el mundo de la actuación, producción y dirección, del 1 al 7 de julio Yelyna de León estará en Tampico impartiendo dos interesantes talleres.
Valeria Zaragoza, parte del equipo coordinador del evento, visitó las instalaciones de EL SOL DE TAMPICO con el fin de invitar a la sociedad interesada en formar parte del taller de guión cinematográfico y taller de actuación para cine y tv.
Explicó que este taller ofrecerá a los participantes un acercamiento con la televisión, el cine y la actuación, permitiendo conocer todos los detalles que están detrás de una producción.
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En su visita explicó que el cupo es limitado para 30 personas, cada una de las actividades tendrán como sede Kamer Coworking, informando que al concluir la teoría todos los asistentes tendrán la oportunidad de participar en un proyecto en donde se pondrán a prueba los conocimientos adquiridos.
Los interesados en formar parte de este importante taller pueden solicitar detalles en la fan page "La vía films".
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Actress and Chicago native Yelyna de Leon landed a remarkable guest spot as Blanca in season two’s Tex and the City of NBC’s Emmy award-winning sitcom “Will and Grace”. The character’s remarkable journey and presence allows us to see a special bond and transformation between her and Karen Walker (Emmy award-winner Megan Mullally) where drama and comedy merge into one, addressing one of the nation’s leading issues - immigration.
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A barrier between two neighbors will be torn down in “Houses Without Walls.”
Susannah Rodríguez Drissi, an alumna and lecturer in UCLA’s Writing Program, wrote, directed and produced the play set during the tumultuous years of the Mariel boatlift in Cuba. The show will premiere Sunday at Hollywood Fringe, an annual performing arts festival.
In the context of the Cuban Revolution, Rodríguez Drissi said the one-act play focuses on the trials of motherhood and womanhood in an effort to leave the audience with a better understanding of the complex ways in which political turmoil impacts women.
“It’s this conversation that takes place over the wall in much the same way as we would have a conversation with ourselves where you reveal things that you wouldn’t share with others, the fears, and those dark moments in your life that you don’t dare speak about, they speak to each other,” Rodríguez Drissi said.
In the play, two women, who each had daughters who joined the mass exodus of Cubans fleeing Fidel Castro’s regime, speak with one another through the wall dividing their houses. The women discuss their daughters’ potential fates, at times believing they are alive and well, and at other times believing they perished en route to America. The dialogue between the two women is reminiscent of internal dialogue people often have with themselves, making the distinction between the two women less clear, said actress Maria Hojas, who performs as the narrator in the play.
“All the characters are just one character, and it’s this sort of multiple personalities that a woman can have especially under these circumstances,” Hojas said.
Much of the play was inspired by Rodríguez Drissi’s experiences as a child in Cuba, when her own family was unable to leave the country. Rodríguez Drissi particularly remembers the fear she felt after her family was unable to leave. Groups of students and workers, contracted under the state-sanctioned acts of repudiation, were bussed to the homes of Cubans who had intended to leave, Rodríguez Drissi said. They were instructed to yell insults and threats, destroy the houses and brandish chains and metal rods.
Rodríguez Drissi’s family members were victims of the brutality about seven times, and the lasting impression prompted Rodríguez Drissi to include the experience in the play, she said.
“Very violent, very ugly, very traumatic, and I never forgot it … and so it was important to me to include this in the play,” Rodríguez Drissi said. “To me it was important to say these things, and for the characters to speak the insults and to write them on the wall, and to say exactly what’s going on.”
With the historical background of the Cuban Revolution as the play’s context, the narrative primarily focuses on what it means to be a woman and a mother. The two women discuss how they are dealing with problems such as the separation from their daughters. They often draw on their deepest thoughts and emotions, such as fears of inadequacy and loneliness, which can be a difficult task, said Magdalena Edwards, who portrays one of the mother and daughter duos and also serves as assistant producer. She said she hopes the audience is able to relate to these women and feel connected to their story.
“I hope that they can enter into the space of these women’s lives. These are women who don’t have material comfort or security and who are living in a very difficult political time,” Edwards said. “I hope they really have an emotional connection with them and to go along that emotional ride with them.”
The theme of mother-daughter relationships is expressed through the evolution of women, said UCLA alumna Yelyna De Leon, who plays one of the mothers, Candela, and one of the daughters. The play highlights how women often don’t appreciate or understand what their mothers taught them until much later in life, a phenomenon symbolized in the play by the fact that the daughters themselves are not introduced until the end of the play, De Leon said. The play presents a counter-narrative to what many expect motherhood to be like: Rather than portraying a simple mother-daughter relationship, the play shows the nuance of the dynamics between women and their children, as well as between women in general.
“That’s really what women want to be, they want to be the best mother they can be, but then life happens,” De Leon said. “This story feels like a very raw and real portrayal of what women go through, through being a daughter to becoming a mother, and how that impacts a woman’s identity,”
Rodríguez Drissi said she hopes that the audience members, and particularly women, gain insight not only into the history of the Cuban Revolution but also into the emotional and psychological state of those involved in such highly dramatic events, including feelings of abandonment and anxiousness. “Houses Without Walls” provides an in-depth look into how women, and in particular mothers, dealt with trauma during times of intense political conflict, a scenario that has often repeated itself in history and is likely to continue to do so in the future, Rodríguez Drissi said.
“I hope the play sort of frees women – mothers in particular – from the kind of conversation that takes place in indoor playgrounds and parks where everything’s rosy,” Rodríguez Drissi said. “No one told us it could be this beautiful, but also no one told us it could be this hard.”
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Antonio Zavala
Chicago (EE.UU.), 11 abr (EFE).- La actriz, productora y guionista de origen mexicano Yelyna de León quiere acabar con la asfixia que supone para los actores latinos los estereotipos que Hollywood mantiene al retratar a los hispanos como “cholos (pandilleros), nanas y criadas” y ofrecerles a cambio papeles complejos y diversos.
De León, que regresó a su ciudad natal para presentar su última película, “Murder in the Woods”, en el Festival de Cine Latino de Chicago que se celebra hasta el próximo 19 de abril, reconoce la difícil tarea de luchar contra los persistentes clichés de la industria del cine, sacudida en los últimos años por la polémica de la falta de diversidad delante y detrás de las cámaras.
“En mi larga experiencia yo he tenido que desempeñar varias veces el papel de una ‘chola'”, lamenta la actriz en una entrevista con Efe en la que indica que dichos papeles limitan al talento de los intérpretes hispanos que buscan más diversidad en los repartos.
Aunque ella es de Chicago y habla perfecto inglés, se ha topado en demasiadas ocasiones propuestas para interpretar personajes arquetípicos que, dice, asfixian a los actores que buscan representar una mejor imagen de los hispanos.
“También he tenido la suerte de participar en otros papeles asombrosos que contienen más diversidad y más inclusión, pero eso ha sido porque los guiones han sido escritos por personas de color”, precisa.
Y ahí precisamente, considera, está la clave, pues los papeles simplistas asignados al talento hispano en Hollywood son producto de una “visión limitada” de lo que son los latinos.
“Los hispanos somos más que eso, somos más diversos y con una rica historia, y no somos monolíticos. Yo, por ejemplo, soy de Chicago, primera generación méxico-americana y estoy muy orgullosa de eso”, apunta.
A este problema hay que añadir que los hispanos apenas representan el 3,1 % de los personajes de las películas de Hollywood, cuando suponen el 18 % de la población del país, según datos de un estudio de la Universidad del Sur de California (USC).
“Hollywood tiene que entender que el color café es bello, muchas veces veo películas sin ningún rostro café hispano en ellas, Hollywood necesita saber que estamos aquí, que somos fuertes y que nuestro tiempo es ahora”, señala.
De León se animó a actuar cuando ella tenía apenas 7 años, después de que el equipo de la serie de televisión “Crime Story” (1986-1988) rentara la casa de una de sus abuelas para filmar en ella algunas escenas.
El equipo permaneció una semana en la casa y De León preguntó si podía hacer algo y el director de la serie le asignó un pequeño papel. Cuando, meses después, vio la escena en televisión quedó atrapada con la chispa de perseguir esa carrera.
Varias películas después, como “A Better Life” (2011) y “Ricky & Melinda” (2014), y programas de televisión como “Resurrection Blvd” y “Roswell”, ambas en el año 2000, ahora busca romper el esquema de los arquetipos y avanzar una agenda que permita a actores y actrices hispanos tengan más opciones en Hollywood que ser pandilleros, prisioneros o drogadictos.
Para eso De León propone que los hispanos mismos escriban, produzcan y dirijan sus propios proyectos fílmicos, tal y como ella hizo en la película independiente “Murder in the woods”, protagonizada por Danny Trejo (“Machete”) y dirigida por Luis Iga.
El realizador comparte su visión de luchar contra los estereotipos a la que ambos se enfrentan a diario y lamentó que, como Hollywood exporta películas al mundo entero, el público global recibe una imagen distorsionada de los hispanos.
“Mi meta es empoderar a la generación Latinx (termino que usan jóvenes hispanos para referirse a sí mismos) creando contenido hecho por latinos que es universal en sus temas y que cruce al mercado general, así transformando la manera en la que los latinos son vistos en el mundo”, dice Iga.
A ese esfuerzo se quiere unir la protagonista de “Murder in the Woods”, Jeanette Sámano, de 23 años, que explica que, aunque ella se presenta a numerosas audiciones para el papel de la “mujer bonita” de las películas, finalmente le ofrecen el papel de una “chola”.
“A mí me gustaría actuar en el papel de una superhéroe en una película de Marvel. Me siento muy capacitada para eso”, asegura. EFE
The award-winning horror/slasher film Murder in the Woods, directed and produced by Mexican filmmaker Luis Iga starring José Julián (A Better Life) and featuring distinguished actor Danny Trejo (Machete) has played to packed houses in Los Angeles, New York and Portland thus far and now will have its Midwest Festival Premiere at the renowned 34th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF), home of Latina writer and producer Yelyna De Leon. The film will play on Saturday April 7th at 9:15pm and Monday April 9th at 8:45pm. “I received the news while I was at Sundance and I couldn’t contain the excitement. I want to thank Pepe Vargas (ILCC Founder & Executive Director) and the Chicago Latino Film Festival for being pioneers in reshaping how the world sees Latinos and Minorities in cinema. I’m honored and grateful to be part of this festival and thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase this film to the over 1.9 million Latinos that reside in Chicago” said director and producer Luis Iga.
“Being a Latina born and raised on the Southside of Chicago in the Back of the Yards, attending Curie High as a performing arts theater major, who has attended this amazing festival in the past, I am humbly honored and thrilled to bring it back home and have it premiere in Chicago at the Chicago Latino Film Festival. As Latinos in Hollywood, we need all the support we can get from our communities to show Hollywood that we are done with stereotypes, so I am extremely grateful to festival director Pepe Vargas for his support. Mr. Vargas is a force who has always advocated for Latinos and Chicago native filmmakers and is very much a part of the change that Hollywood needs, by showcasing films like Murder in the Woods, which I wrote with non-stereotypical roles for Latinos to star in. The lead character is a strong Latina from Chicago and some of the songs in our film are by Latino Chicago natives, so I know that audiences will have a great time watching this film, and I can’t wait to go back to my roots where it all started,” said writer and producer Yelyna De Leon. Murder in the Woods distinguishes itself as being an All-American horror / slasher film in English, with an All-Latino cast in non- stereotypical roles, created by Latinos with a story that is of universal interest. Critics give it “4.5 out of 5 stars” and call Murder in the Woods “a fun, popcorn film” with a “phenomenal storyline” that “delivers on its promise in heaps.”
Get your tickets now before they sell out again. They are available here: http://bit.ly/mitwCLFFtktsnikpr For more information on Murder in the Woods, visit www.murderinthewoodsmovie.com.
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As a part of the 34th annual Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF), Back of the Yards (BOTY) native, writer and producer Yelyna De Leon is in town debuting her newest film Murder in the Woods for its Midwest premiere.
A discussion followed by a meet and greet of the cast and crew of the award-winning horror/slasher film will be held at La Catrina Cafe (1011 W 18th St.) tomorrow Sunday, Apr. 8, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. where you’ll have a chance of winning free tickets to Monday’s film screening. RSVP for the Meet and Greet here.
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