Being seen as attractive is a problem for Colombian actress Estefania Gomez, who is despairing of ever getting roles that require actual talent as opposed to being used for her looks.
After playing the popular sassy receptionist Aura Maria on the Colombian version of Ugly Betty, Gomez spent three fruitless years in Mexico and Miami trawling for work, but found the market to be stubbornly closed to girls wanting careers as real actresses and not just as eye candy.
Miami appalled her: “All they wanted was for me to be sexy. I wanted to get out [of the sexy woman typecast] so I didn’t accept anything.”
Some might see such a move as foolish, especially in these tough economic times, but not Gomez. Every audition she had “wanted uninhibited, fresh girls. To which I had to say, ‘no thanks’.”
Since the pretty airhead role was the only one being offered her, Gomez started working in retail in the States, selling clothes. Her ability to stick to her principles is admirable, but buying clothes in Los Angeles and selling them to friends in Colombia, and selling her own swimsuit line to department stores, was surely not what she envisioned when she thought of making it big in acting.
At her wits’ end, Gomez returned to Colombia and started knocking on doors. “I know there were a lot of people travelling and saying, ‘I was in this or that film, I was involved in such and such project.'” It’s hard not to suspect Gomez of being bitter, but she is adamant that refusing sexy roles was the right move: “For me, truthfully, nothing was easy, but I’m not sorry, because it was something I had to go through. I needed to leave my country to love it more, to value it more,” she says. Bet her fans love to hear that.
Her return to the Colombian screen has not quite been a triumphant homecoming yet. However, after months of auditions, there is a light at the end of the thespian tunnel. Gomez will appear in the family drama ‘Parents and Children’; ‘The Victorinos’; an episode of Fox Telecolombia’s ‘No Return’; and is currently starring in ‘The Capo’. Unfortunately for Gomez, all of these new roles are unable to hide her inevitable curves.
However, what Gomez really wants is a role in which “it doesn’t matter if I am pretty or ugly.” Poor thing. Maybe she should give being ugly a real try before she continues to moan about her great misfortune in being beautiful. Anyone want to trade places?