We talk w/ Carla Díaz: the young promise of Spanish

After conquering the industry with her role in Élite, we talked to Carla Díaz about her beginnings in acting, her references, the situation of Spanish cinema today and much more.

Carla Díaz has established herself as one of the most promising young talents of the moment. The Madrid-born actress, who already has a community of 1.7 million followers on Instagram, always had the desire to become an actress and soon set out to try to follow the path of Meryl Streep, Margot Robbie and Emma Stone, some of her main references in the world of cinema.

When she was only 11 years old, she made her debut in the series Águila Roja. She later participated in El internado and Punta Escarlata and became known for her roles in Tierra de Lobos, El Príncipe and Seis hermanas. However, it was the worldwide success of Élite that catapulted her to fame with the role of Ari. And, as if this were not enough, the young woman is working on a play called Espectros and is an ambassador for Mahou Rosé.

HIGHXTAR (H) – Who is Carla Díaz?

CARLA DÍAZ (C) – What a difficult question! I have no idea although I don’t want to know either because I think the more you create an image of yourself in your head the more freedom you lose. Or maybe I’m just answering this because I’m young, maybe haha.

(H) – You started acting at a very young age, at what point did you decide to become an actress and why?

(C) – The truth is that I don’t remember a moment when I decided as such to become an actress, but I remember always having that desire. I used to watch films like Annie or Maldita when I was very young and I would tell my mother that I wanted to do what those girls did. My parents were very scared of me getting into that world so young but I was a very insistent child and in the end they gave in, although I don’t think they expected my ‘whim’ to last so long.

(H) – Acting involves a high tolerance for rejection. How do you deal with being given a no for an answer?

(C) –It’s something you get used to whether you want to or not. Sometimes it’s difficult because you fall in love with a project or a character in the casting process and then maybe they don’t give it to you and it hurts.

(H) – Which genre would you say you feel most comfortable with and which would you like to challenge yourself with?

(C) – The truth is that I like all genres and I find it fun to jump from one to another. Besides, I realise more and more that the genre is not interpreted, the genre is written and it’s not something I like to think about much when I work. I focus on living the character’s situation from the character’s mind, and the reaction that this generates in the spectator is more known by the director who is watching it from the outside than by me.

(H) – After the international success of the series ‘Elite’ where you play Ari, how is your relationship with fame right now?

(C) – It’s getting better and better, at the beginning it generated a lot of anxiety but I think I’ve managed to put it in a place where it hardly affects me.

(H) – You have also recently participated in the film ‘Mañana es hoy’, how much of Carla Díaz was in the character?

(C) – The truth is that it’s probably one of the characters that most resembles me of those I’ve played. Maybe not so much the Carla of today, but certainly the Carla of 18 years ago.

(H) – Right now you’re working on a play called ‘Espectros’, what’s exciting about theatre that makes it different from film?

(C) – In theatre I find it fascinating that every performance is different from the previous one. In addition, in the small theatre of the Español you feel the audience very close and it’s nice to feel how every day they receive the story in a different way.

(H) – Apart from film and theatre, is there another artistic discipline you would like to venture into?

(C) – I also like fashion very much, although I know that I lack a lot of knowledge. I would like to train and in the future I would love to design.

(H) – Who would you say are your references at the acting level?

(C) – I have a lot of references, I’m a film buff and I’ve loved watching films since I was a child. Right now Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Stone, Eduard Fernàndez, Margot Robbie, Luis Zahera, Julianne Moore, Adam Driver or, of course, Meryl Streep come to mind.

(H) – How do you see the Spanish film scene and what would you change?

(C) – I’ve always been a big fan of Spanish cinema, I think it has a charm and a very unique approach that I tend to empathise with. There is a lot of talent here and maybe sometimes I think we undervalue ourselves by comparing ourselves to what’s outside and then outside, they love us.

(H) – Recommend a play and a film.

(C) – Just yesterday my friend Júlia Molins recommended me to go and see ‘Sucia’ by Barbara Mestanza in Barcelona, I haven’t seen it yet but I trust her judgement a lot. And a film… Boiling Point comes to mind, which I saw recently, or May December, which I was lucky enough to see for the first time at Cannes and I was fascinated by it.