Jesenia Bailey is a comedienne who recently launched her own web series. We spoke to her about “Becoming Ricardo,” which follows an actress who finds success pretending to be a man, and the subsequent fallout when she’s discovered.
MW: What’s this show about?
JB: In a desperate attempt to get her career started, a down-and-out actress, Jesenia Cruz, decides to audition for a lead role as a male character she’s played many times before – Ricardo Montalban. Jesenia lands the lead role in “Crime, Law and Justice,” and quickly finds herself struggling to maintain this double life façade.
What she thought would be easy easily turns her life up-side-down, as Ricardo Montalban’s career skyrockets, and Jesenia remains a struggling actress. Somehow Ricardo has all that Jesenia wants, and although Ricardo and Jesenia are the same person, Jesenia finds herself resenting the person that she’s created. How will Jesenia cope with her double life? What kinds of situations will she end up in – living as a man? Will someone discover her secret?
With a meddling mother, a crazy ex-boyfriend, a new boyfriend, a cousin full of crazy ideas and a co-star that has fallen head-over-heels for Ricardo – Jesenia has more on her plate than she can imagine!
MW: Is it a web series? How did you decide to do a web series?
JB: This was originally formatted for TV, but due to the overwhelming popularity of Latino’s on the web and the lack of Latin webseries, we decided to reformat and produce the show as a webseries.
http://youtu.be/97PoMxPCiXM
MW: How did you come to comedy? Acting?
JB: I’ve been acting for about 10 years and after about two years of acting, I realized that comedy was “my thing,” which I quickly dedicated myself to. I have been doing comedy for about eight years — performing it, writing it, producing it, directing it. I started as a stand-up comedian, but because I like to share the stage and feed off castmates, I found that improv and sketch were perfect for me.
MW: What are your professional goals and how will this series help you get there?
JB: I’d ultimately like to become a television actress, so doing this webseries will help me feature myself as a lead in a series and feature my work as a comedy TV writer. The series will definitely feature the fact that not only can I play a normal person, but I can play a character at the same time – and make them both very believable and sympathetic.
MW: What are you trying to say with the story of the show? Is it sexist or racist, or how do you respond to those allegations?
JB: It’s not racist at all. In fact, race isn’t really the main subject in the show, even with a Latin character. I guess some can consider it a bit sexist, as the point of view of the webseries is all about how a woman lives as a male character, and it touches on the benefits that men have over women. But mostly, it’s a lighthearted comedy about how a woman can actually pull off living as a man – and do it quite well, not including all the awkward moments she goes through, just trying to not get discovered.
[Courtesy image]
Sara Inés Calderón is a journalist and writer who lives between Texas and California. Follow her on Twitter @SaraChicaD.
