Ana Asensio's Interview at Spain Culture NY

Ana Asensio got her start acting in children's plays while she was still studying Acting and Philosophy at the University of Madrid. She then began
appearing as an actress in television series, most notably the hit series "Nada Es Para Siempre." Following that experience, Asensio moved to New York City to continue her acting studies and expand her career.
Nowadays, she is an actress and director who currently divides her time between her native Madrid and New York City and is back to the Philosophy's Studies. Last week, we met at an East Village's Bistro to talk about hers never-end plans and projects.

HOW DO YOU MANAGE LIVING BETWEEN SPAIN AND NEW YORK?
I came here 11 years ago. At that time, I was really focused in just NY, trying to understand how I could work in here. For long time it was that way till I realized that the ideal would be TO WORK IN BOTH PLACES. Especially since the world is changing so much, the GLOBALIZATION, and now you can actually do an audition from here for a project that is happening in the other side of the world. The communications have being changing over the years I've been here, so I had to adapt to that, and also take advantage of it.
So now I have a place in Madrid, where my mom lives and I will always have a home. I go a few times a year a year there, to keep the professional relationships active, and I've an agent there, but my main place is NY, Brooklyn actually. Also, once I went to Miami and they offer me to travel to Latinoamerica to work in Telenovelas but it was taking a different direction in my career, I wasn't interested at that time. But I would really love to bring my theatre productions to Latin America.


Since she arrived in 2001, Asensio has managed to cultivate an impressive body of work, as an actor and director-working in film, television and theater, in both Spain and the United States:

• Asensio's FILM acting credits include: "The Afterlight," co-directed by Craig Macneill and Alexei Kaleina; "The Archive," by Oscar winning director Ethan Spiglan; "Zenith," by Vladan Nikolic; and, the HBO short film, "Betty La Flaca," by Hugo Perez.
• Asensio's most significant THEATRICAL role to date has been in the one-woman play, "La Diva" by award winning playwright, Jeronimo Lopez Mozo, that she translated to English, adapted and directed. "La Diva" has been performed in Europe, Africa and North America.
• Her latest production is another one-woman show, "Medea's Got Some Issues", which premiered in NYC in 2011, and will soon be staged in Chicago as well as again in NYC, this time as part of the Broadway Theatre Festival United Solo.
• Asensio's ongoing interest experimental theatre is evidenced by "Re-creo", a theatre group she created and directed for mentally challenged adults with the ADCOR foundation in Spain.

 

TELL ME, WHY TO NY?
 

I remember that one of the first acting books that I read was from the Actor's Studio, with the entire legendary actors as Marlon Brando... I romanticize the idea of NY and Theater. And that was my DREAM, to come and see how it is.
So I justify coming here because of the theater but once I arrived here I realized that I wanted to be in the city but it wasn't that much for the theater but to grow, to explore, to learn about myself and other people. There is so much to learn just watching people! I found more theater on the street that in any school or stage.
 

TELL ME WHAT PEOPLE REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR WORK?
I think what people tend to say is that MY RANGE IS VERY WIDE, in the sense that I've done TV, films, commercials, theater... I'm starting to write my own projects, even directing and producing.
Actually, I try to don't DEFINE MYSELF in one aspect. I'm an artist as a whole, whatever happens that you ended up doing. It might happen that you ended up doing a play for kids, or a one-person show. I kind of open myself as much as I can and continue learning from it.
Overall I'm an ACTRESS, however I'm becoming more an artist in order to create and learn others ways to express myself. As an actor you usually get your lines given, and the time, where you can actually improvise or play other things, is barely. I've been lately exploring the improv-site, the writing-side, kind of creating and trying to be more ACTIV in others sides, aside of performing what someone else wrote.

Ana Asensio at Diva

 

YOUR MAGIG PLACE?
My magic place is... Conney Island
I love the mix between the decadence of the place: what it was, what it represents, what is not anymore. The random estrange people that you find there...
It's a perfect mix of the dream place that it was, and the charming essence that you can get from each corner, the nostalgia you breathe...
 

AND TO FINISH THIS CONVERSATION, YOUR ADVICE FOR THE SPANISH PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT

COMING TO THIS UNIQUE CITY:

Come with a very open mind, very open eyes...
Be ready to take the step when the opportunity presented. Because it is here, in every corner, and if you are willing, you'll have the opportunity and you'll take the risk. Don't be afraid of this overwhelming city.


Currently, Asensio is developing her first feature film as a writer/director that will be shot in NYC. Don't miss everything that this intelligent woman has to offer on her website www.ana-asensio.com

Published at Spain Culture New York, Consulate General of Spain in NY's website, on September 13th 2012: http://www.spainculturenewyork.org/beta/cms/mapping-the-arts/spanish-creators-in-ny/spanish-creators-detail/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=27&cHash=62ce236f2bf47ba146163e4077b89ad7