Giovanna Andrade: ‘Television feeds me, theater gives me life’

Everything will be revealed on stage. Miss Funnyverse is called the monologue that Giovanna Andrade will premiere at the Sánchez Aguilar Theater to relate the reasons that led her to give up an international title. Giovanna assures that being a candidate for the Mrs. Globe beauty pageant, a competition in which married women can participate and that was held in December 2019 in China, she fulfilled her childhood dream of participating in a Miss Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian was chosen as viceroy, but later renounced the title. “I wrote the skeleton of the play, it is my life story, and (the playwright) Martha Márquez turns it into a wonderful play”, She indicates about this staging that she will approach with humor how such a decision responds to the defense of her values ​​and principles.

“When I became vice-queen and I reached the last day, because I had a signed contract, I ran into a reality that I already knew. I saw and said to myself: ‘I don’t represent this.’ What happened I say in Miss Funnyverse. History, the common thread is China and why do I decide to take off that crown; I explain and tell everything that happened in the contest. It is like a catharsis of my personal and professional life ”, he assures.

So it will be an excuse to speak without restrictions about everything that two years ago generated controversy. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate 18 years of an acting career packed with drama and comedy.

For his black eyes

In that time, leading roles, supporting roles, television, theater and film characters have come into his hands, inside and outside the country.

It all started in 2003, in the acting workshops I received from Mariela Alcalá and Maribel Solines. AND I sell black eyes Ecuavisa telenovela, was his first big step. A challenge he took on after graduating from high school, traveling to England and doing street theater. “It all started with acting workshops; they were super intense, because we were a young group of new actors. Marcela Ruete, Juan Carlos Román, Priscila Negrón, Roberto Manrique also began in that production. María Elisa Camargo also had a character; we were a big group, ”he says.

This leading man, his first professional job, was a character who had been proposed for another face of the channel of the hill, he reveals. “The protagonist was not me, it was the Skinny Guerrero, who was also in his top. I was a girl who went down to the Borges studio, lived in the workshops in the morning, and came down in the afternoon, where the castings. I would sit and watch the castings of all. In the workshops we prepared ourselves with the texts that came out of the novel, we all did all the characters. I had a secondary role in the production, ”he explains.

His opportunity came the day that actress Toty Rodríguez had a rehearsal. “The skinny girl I was unable to reach it because of a song on the channel itself and I offered to give Toty a foot for the scene because I knew the text. Veiky Valdez saw me, I was always very hippie and my look He was always that big, long-skirted sambo, very jungle-like. A month passed, Rodolfo Hoppe arrived, the director of the novel, he was not in the castings, I was reviewing the video of casting Toty and he falls in love with my profile for the protagonist. He told her: ‘she is the protagonist. I want this girl to be the protagonist, ‘”he says.

Giovanna affirms that she found out that Guerrero was going to be the protagonist many years after the telenovela was released

“That was top secret Nobody knew about them, and I found out about ten years ago, it is a cool anecdote because I understood that in this world you cannot take everything so personal, because many times it does not depend only on your talent, on your preparation, they depend of other factors. I clearly remember that when they told me that I was going to be the protagonist, they called me to the third floor of the Borges studio, and when I began to read the character of María, I realized that she was very similar to me. He told me: how crazy, this character is me “, he says.

The recordings of the soap opera began after Giovanna turned 18 years old. “When they gave me the role I told my parents, it was hard, they did not agree, they said that this world of television was going to be a very difficult world for me, and today, the first two fans of my life It is them, and I set out to show them that thanks to the principles and values ​​that they had instilled in me, I was going to get ahead in this, ”emphasizes the 38-year-old artist.

‘Bad’ proposals

Throughout his career, some of the invitations or calls for him to join a project have not been entirely satisfactory and professional. “It has happened socially, outside of the workplace, when you meet people. When I was in I sell black eyesI’ll never tell who it was, or what position he held, but it was someone from a channel. He met me at the Hilton cafe. I was excited because the Black eyes, and before at 18 years, 19, I did not control my emotions. And when this old man tells me what he’s saying, I took the table, picked it up and threw it at him, and I started screaming and screaming and I left. I did not return to the Hilton in years of shame. And Diego my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, wanted to accompany me and I had said no because he was not a professional. Nowadays, I swear to you, it has given men a cycle of madness, that they write as if to try to see what chance there is. I read that and let Diego take care of it ”, he confesses.

“I do not judge any of the women who have chosen that path, because in the end life belongs to each one, and each one knows how to reach their goal, period. I preferred all my life to face myself and go to sleep calmly knowing that what I earned was due to my effort and that is why many times I have been eating rice with eggs and when there is not for everyone, they give it to the children and we stay eating rice with lemon, which is delicious. All these years of career I can summarize them in that acting has made me a better human being ”, Giovanna Andrade, actress.

New challenges

After I sell black eyes productions such as El Cholito with David Reinoso. At 19, she became a mother for the first time. Rosa arrived and with her other dreams.

“I went to New York with Diego, I went to an acting institute, I had to leave my graduation halfway through and he went to Miami to give birth. I was living there until Rosa’s year, but studying with Martha Zavaleta. From there my daddy got sick, thank God he’s still alive, but he got seriously ill and asked us for help. He called us and told us: ‘take charge of the estates.’ My husband, very committed, said: ‘Giova, let’s leave this life here’ and we went to Los Ríos. From Miami I went to live in Mocache, next to the river. I remember being transported by raft to go to Quevedo. I took off for three years to see Rosa grow up, to be able to enjoy her. They were hard moments to join Diego and me as a couple, “he says.

From that season away from the cameras, the artist travels with her family to Uruguay (her husband’s native country, Diego Azanza), where she stayed for almost a year. “We literally ate our shirts with my husband because there was no work, it was a very difficult time for Uruguay, I sold cell phones in a booth in Spain, I cried every day because I said: My God, I’m supposed to be an actress. And I was crying. At one of those moments, my great friend Guillermo Ushca called me and told me that he was going to make the telenovela of El Cholito and that the character was for me. There I grabbed my little things and we returned to make the girl Maria Grace ”, adds.

After this soap opera, Giovanna sold cell phones door to door due to the lack of new papers. “I had to go to sell cell phones and people saw me selling and said to me: ‘Are you not the actress?’ What are you doing selling? I told them there was no work and I had to earn my potato. I became the best cell phone salesperson. I could not stay alone with my husband’s salary. It was very hard and Peru’s proposal was a salvation ”, he indicates.

After El Cholito jobs came in Peru. There it was part of Los Barriga (Latin Frequency), Group Five (América Televisión), I worked with Carlos Alcántara, among other.

“I spent two years in Peru without stopping, from there I returned to Ecuador for the second part of El Cholito, with Mostro de amor (2010). From there i did Happy Couple (two seasons), Pieces of life, that’s where Lucas came from (her second son), I stopped acting for a while, but I spent it conducting shows like Divinas, N’Boga and From woman to woman and from there I went to Colombia ”, he recalls.

Colombia, your second home

Giovanna and her family are clear that their residence will always be in different places. To establish itself there must also be prosperity that is synonymous with work, as well as tranquility and peace. “We have learned to be brave together, united wherever,” he says.

They have settled in Bogotá for three and a half years. The only pause that has been taken was due to the pandemic. Her perseverance has linked her to outstanding productions at an international level. Between them, The Law of the Heart 2, The End of Paradise (available on Netflix), Manuel de gallanes (Sony Mexico on Claro TV), At 2.50 a cuba libre (theater), Las Manuelas, with Alejandra Borrero (theater).

He recently filmed the series A quarter to three. In this he shares with María Cecilia Botero, Carolina Cuervo, Diego Ángel. “I was so happy, there were two occasions that I finished some scenes and my country came to my mind, I felt like saying all this I am doing in a country other than mine, but I do it for them, I thought about it when I felt those applause. In Colombia I have where to send castings, I have to do auditions ”, he mentions. This production is a show of support from the Ministry of Colombia to certain series and dramatizations to contribute to the audiovisual, cultural and artistic industry of the country.

This series will be seen nationwide (in Colombia) on all channels in that country. “It is precisely because of the support of the Ministry of Culture, that is the contribution, for me it is fantastic because all of Colombia will see me, this wonderful country that will see me, because it will reach an entire audience. The truth is that when I knew it was of this level I loved it. I was very proud of myself, ”she says.

He has already signed a contract for his second job at Netflix. The Ecuadorian will be part of the project Fake profile, of which he cannot yet reveal details.

With the desire to continue discovering new scenarios in Mexico and Los Angeles, Giovanna, who if she had not dedicated herself to acting would have wanted to be a dancer (she studied ballet, but an accident in a square changed her plans), emphasizes that if she had to choose, she would prefer the theater. “Television feeds me, theater gives me life.” (AND)