Interview with Nataly Valencia and Jorge Ulloa, from Enchufe TV: “We have a lot of professional and romantic chemistry”

Admiration. It is the first word that comes to mind when listening to natalie valencia and Jorge Ulloa when talking about the other.

The beloved actors of the comedy channel TV socketof which Ulloa is also director, have formed one of the most established couples in the artistic medium and also one of the most mediatic. His followers on social networks (more than a million between the two, only in instagram) are super hooked on their publications of your travels as a couple (his last destination was Qatar, for the Soccer World Cup), with his humorous videos and his announcements of the new productions that they conceive together.

Jorge Ulloa on the tenth anniversary of EnchufeTV: Humor carries a great responsibility, because it can hurt feelings

And, in itself, they are pending the love story that They have been starring for more or less 10 years. Many place the beginning of their romance in 2014, when Nataly shared their first photo together, during a 30 seconds to mars concert, in Quito. But they prefer not to talk about dates, the truth is that their idyll was spontaneous.

There is a lot of respect, when sharing the same job and the same workspace, and above all admiration between both filmmakers: he is a director who sees the world in a magical waysays Natali; for George, she is the actress with whom he has always wanted to work. They don’t see it any other way.

What has been your secret to having a lasting relationship?

Jorge: One of the things that has united us the most as a couple is that we love working together. Probably for a person who is not in the same environment, it could be a problem to be with someone like me, who spends thinking about the next movie, the next series… On the other hand, with Nati, it is something that feeds us in the relationship . We get very excited (thinking) about what could be the next project that we can do together.

Nataly: I think it’s growing up together. We study cinema at the same school (Incine), not together in the same year, because I am older (4 years older than Jorge). Then we were together in Enchufe… I think getting to know each other at different stages of our lives has helped us. It also has to do with admiration. I remember Jorge, since I saw him directing in Enchufe, I remember the first sketch I went to, I said to myself “this man, how does he know so much, if we study the same thing” (laughs). I’ve always had an admiration for how he directs, how he sees things from a magical point of view.

have made a matches As a couple at work, it also gave us a lot of support, because our work is very demanding of time. The previous year we spent five, almost six, months outside the country, working day and night to get the new project off the ground. If we had been with other couples, who can put up with you for half a year outside?

‘Misfit’, the second feature film released by Enchufe.tv

Have you ever felt that spending so much time together at work affects your relationship as a couple?

J: I have heard people who cannot work with their partner because there are, suddenly, other interests and other conflicts that contaminate the romantic relationship. But in our case, there is a very nice society. We have a lot of professional chemistry and a lot of romantic chemistry. And that’s hard to find. We have tenacious luck. If I have a new idea, she’s the first person I tell it to, I know she’s going to give me the best reply.

N: Of course, to have a healthy relationship you have to have spaces, so that it’s not all work, we have to go on dates. We also force ourselves to have individual spaces, to miss each other.

And vice versa, have you feared that your relationship will affect your work? Are there favorites?

J: No, rather we are hyper demanding with each other. As a director, for example, when she acts, I tell her that I am going to continue to be on top of her until I get the best of her, I over-demand her. And it happens the other way around, she overtaxes me as a director, she questions me.

Before you were a couple, did you consider yourself good friends?

N: In Incine we didn’t get along at all. He was a child (laughs).

J: It all started on the set of Enchufe. Before it was her for her side, me for mine… I think when you introduce yourself to someone with a romantic interest, there is a shield and a mask and you just want to show the best of you. Since we weren’t that close when we were students and didn’t like each other at all, we were able to get to know each other without posing.

How did you see each other before dating?

N: For me Jorge has always been a supportive person, he is a good person. His main characteristic is to be a good guy and it is very difficult to get a person like that in a relationship, now with all the toxic relationships that exist, who is not selfish, who thinks about the well-being of the other.

Then he’s a super talented guy, one of the best directors, he has a sensitivity with actors and he’s good at comedy. I know that as a director he has to explore other genres, if he wants, but comedy is his forte. Ultimately he is a family person and in that we are very similar.

J: Nati was one of the most ‘savvy’ girls in school (laughs). She always had good grades and, before graduating, she tutored. That was how we met. She started giving me classes and she was super strict. I presented her with scripts and she questioned me, and I was just learning… Besides, I always wanted her in my productions, she ‘punished’ her (casting) for short films, but she always had other projects and never accepted mine… I always loved her as an actress. When we managed to bring Enchufe to him, we just started working together and we started to like each other, because of the conversations we had.

N: It’s just that we’re both very passionate about our trade. We have full debates when we watch a movie. When we talk, we discuss the actors, the scripts…

When did they finally become a couple?

J: Since we were working together, it was a secret because the company belonged to friends. We were in the “closet” of the relationship. We would close the door to the script room and we would kiss and open it as if nothing was happening, with the lipstick on (laughs). Everyone knew about us, except us. There is no clear date.

Was it around 2014?

J: About 9 years ago more or less.

N: Yes.

What has been the biggest test you have faced as a couple and how did you solve it?

N: Since I’m older than him georgie, I have always been asked how we handle the relationship. There are always these questions. He was afraid to take the next steps. Saying “let’s be boyfriends” scared him; coming to live with me terrified him (laughs).

J: It’s just that I’m a minor, I had never lived alone… She did, in Spain (she studied for a master’s degree in Barcelona).

N: But when the pandemic started, he came to accompany me and stayed. Now that we live together, and our friends have married, have children… there is a social pressure.

J: And we want to! But we don’t want them to be uncomfortable topics. And that’s something that surrounds us a lot right now.

Precisely on February 14, 2021, Nataly wrote to Jorge “I want us to build the house, and a family, and to plant an avocado tree…”

J: And we have been building the house for two years (Valle de los Chillos). We have not been able to advance so much because of the trips. We are planning to finish it this year.

N: Maybe the house is a metaphor. At some point we are going to have to live outside, abroad. We are the house, we are the family we want. Our children are our projects

Is this idea of ​​having children, in any case, still an unfulfilled dream for you?

J: Yes we would, yes we are very excited. Yes, it is something that we want to do and we have to hurry, due to the issue of age and the biological clock. At least it is in my plans (laughs). (AND)