Paula Roman's Interview at Spain Culture NY

Paula has a vibrant and colorful character. I saw it when she walked in the coffee at Tribeca, where we met to chat and had Brunch.
Paula is a Spanish actress, writer and producer, but overall she is a New York Lover. After starting in many independent films in New York and working with upcoming New York University and Columbia University directors as well as established filmmakers, she decided to have her own voice, to create her own projects, to manage her own production company: MARCAPASOS FILMS.
The first project where she wore the producer's hat was the play "THE COLOR OF AUGUST" that took her to Sidney; the second, the TV pilot "LA MANZANA" (THE APPLE) co-created and directed by Lee Friedlander is like a Latin "Sex and the City" and she had a big success with the short film BLACKOUT.

TELL ME WHAT PEOPLE REMEMBER ABOUT YOUR WORK?

The colors, the funny lines, having a good time, my Spanish culture, a fresh view of things, my crazy ideas... I think they also remember the optimisms of my work. In LA MANZANA and BLACKOUT, the protagonists are always looking for something, something they need desperately, though they are not depressed about it and oddly they have so much fun in the journey they embark themselves to get what they want.
That is my way to see live. I'm a really happy and optimistic person and my work has a lot of my character. I grow up laughing and the sound of people laughing is my symphony. That's what I want, I need it and try to put into my work. We have to have fun in live! You fall down; you laugh, and you get up!
I try to make people see things in a different way, with a positive eye. I know life can be very tough and unfair sometimes, but if you have the chance to see and experience its wonderful side, enjoy it, embrace it, no matter what! Life is beautiful but fleeting!
I think that comes from medical background, I've seen death; I've seen people dying very young. We are alive now and we can run. Let's run!!!

 

And people run, people laugh and her personal work has received recognition: a Nomination for INNOVATIVE THEATER AWARD for her work in the play "Some Historic, Some Hysteric"(2007); BEST ACTING Award at the ITV FEST in LA (2010) for "LA MANZANA" - "THE APPLE" and BEST ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE in the NEW YORK CITY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (2012) with "BLACKOUT."

HOW DO YOU MANAGE LIVING BETWEEN SPAIN AND NEW YORK?
In the beginning, I kind of flee from Spain, because I was a doctor and I wanted to "kill" that person, "Doctor Roman", and come fresh to New York to become the actress and artist I always wanted to be. So I've been... kind of avoiding Spain, to find the actress I had inside. And once that I found it, I think I'm ready now to be able to come back to Spain, and to work there. 
 
Now I have an agent in NY and LA and I am talking to another one in Spain, but regardless where I work I would like to always have my base in NY, the city I adore and where I grow up as the artist I am.

Additionally I am VERY EXCITED to present my work in Spain. In the short film BLACKOUT I tell the story in English and Spanish, so when I show the film in Spain the scenes in English will be shown with subtitles. Recently I presented the film in the NYC International Film Festival, and the multicultural audience that we had, laughed more in the scenes that happen in Spanish. I really hope that my Spanish audience likes the film and laugh too regardless of the language.
She is from Seville, Spain, but her father is not an artist, but a doctor, and she should follow his path. So she did, she studied medicine and just after becoming a doctor, Paula decided to leave it all and pursue her acting career in New York. She studied Drama at Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen HB Studio, improvisation at UCB and screenwriting courses at New York University.

YOU ARE LIVING IN NEW YORK SINCE 2004, WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE CITY?
I've always dreamt to come to New York, why? Because it's the city that never sleeps and the one you always see everything is happening in the movies.
I love Woody Allen's work, and he showed me the city through his genial movies. He is a lover of NY, and so I am, even before I came here!!!
When I was studying Anatomy, the thousand muscles, bones, arteries, nerves galore and all we have inside! I used to daydream with New York. I was dreaming of one day being an actress and a New Yorker, even though I had no clue what all that meant. And then after a lot of thinking and some inspiring patients, thank god I didn't kill anyone! I said to myself now or never, it was just the moment, to dream or not to dream, to be or not to be.
I arrived here without knowing anyone, I didn't know where I was going to sleep the first night. It was all or nothing. It was risky but it was my dream and is the best thing I have ever done in my whole live.

YOUR MAGIG PLACE FOR PEACE AND RENEW ENERGY?
Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, there is a park between Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, where I can look at the city and I think about what the hell I am doing here! (she laughs). I used to say to myself in my beginnings staring at the city from Brooklyn like there is no tomorrow "I am in New York, this is my city, there is a place FOR ME THERE AND I AM GOING TO FIND IT"
And I did. I still go but now I say. "Ostia I am still here, this is my city, there, my city is New York!!! And if I listen to George Gerswin's Rhapsody in Blue at the same time I think I can fall on my back and loose consciousness till the next Woody Allen's movie come out."

AND TO FINISH THIS CONVERSATION, YOUR ADVICE FOR THE SPANISH PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT COMING TO THIS UNIQUE CITY:
To pick up a plane and come!

Time pass so quickly, that if you feel YOU NEED TO COME, just
come. Now, you need to know that if you fall in love with the city
and the city falls in love with you, you are going to stay forever!!! If
happens, it happens, but maybe not and you go back to Spain with
an amazing experience and a picture of you with the Statue of
Liberty!!

Don't be afraid about this very big New York. Each New Yorker gets through the first year, they know how difficult it is, and they will help you. When I came here, people embraced me, took care of me. The first year it's really really hard. But if you have the drive like a locomotive nobody and nothing can stop you from getting what you came here for. It's a big sacrifice to be so far away from your family, friends and jamon Serrano, so there is no time to loose, you have to make the best of this precious momento!

If you want to learn more about Paula Roman and his secret for success, check her web www.paularoman.com and this authentic interview out!

Published at Spain Culture New York, Consulate General of Spain in NY's website, on August 29th 2012: http://www.spainculturenewyork.org/beta/cms/mapping-the-arts/spanish-creators-in-ny/spanish-creators-detail/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=26&cHash=95f340b78329354fab82329bd0039723