Paula Velasquez has graced our screens with her acting talents for many years in various movie roles. The Venezuelan born actress’s most recent work is her leading role in the feature film, ‘California Coyote.’ The Hispanic driven movie is centered around living in the world of the Mexican cartel and coyotes. Paula leads the film where she plays the daughter of the Cartel leader who is trying to escape from her father’s enemies and finds herself in situations that will challenge her decisions.
“My character’s name is Leticia Nava, AKA Leti,” explained Paula. “She is the main character of the film along with Danny De Leon. She is the daughter or a very important head of a Cartel, Diego Nava. She is a very smart girl that has been trying to get away from the Cartel environment. She wants to have a regular life and be as free as she can be.”
Set in southern Mexico, Paula’s character has a very strong personality that definitely does not put up with anyone’s nonsense. “My character is strong mixed with major trust issues because of her upbringing so she is always skeptical of what people tell her. Deep down, she is a hopeless romantic and all she wants is safety, something pretty uncommon for anyone in the Cartel.”
Life has certainly made the character Leti toughen up and grow up really fast. She craves to have fun and loosen up a little bit. She’s very outspoken and she would say anything that is on her mind. She’s very loyal and not afraid to fight for the people that she loves. Playing a character that complex takes skill and talent as an actor, blend that with leading the movie and giving it the desired pace is crucial to the success of a film.
“I am not that dissimilar to my character in Coyote California,” stated Paula. “Which actually makes the whole process harder to play as it hits hard. You start to maybe realize a lot of things about yourself and sometimes it feels like a slap in the face in a very therapeutic way. It makes you be more empathetic towards yourself, and it feels just very comfortable sometimes but also very vulnerable, which is the tricky part. You definitely need to dig deeper within yourself. With this particular role I became more patient with myself. I love the fact that she challenges me in that way. I absolutely love doing my own stunts too and that is something that I have the opportunity to work on for the entire time that we are filming.”
‘Coyote California’ is a feature film made with an exceptional Hispanic cast and crew. “Being in a movie that is also full of my own culture has been instantly gratifying. I feel so at home to work with people that understand my roots and culture. We have been filming in and around California, but we aren’t done yet!”
To find out more about Paula Velasquez follow me on Instagram and also on IMDb.
