Orange is the New Black, Diane Guerrero had the biggest opportunity in her career as an actress, and she has used it well. As the character Maritza Ramos, she created one of the most sensitive characters in a world of tough women; later, in Jane the Virgin, she transformed herself into Lina, Gina Rodriguez’s best friend. But the show that has best proven her amazing acting capabilities is Doom Patrol, the television adaptation of the DC comic, in which she plays Jane, a woman with multiple personality disorder, who has 64 different characters inside of her, each one of them holding a superpower. But Guerrero is not only known for her acting chops. A few years ago, she wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times in which she told of the grueling experience she lived through as a teenager. When she was 14, she returned home one dinner time to find that ICE had detained her Colombian parents and her older brother, leaving her, the only American born family member, alone to fend for herself. She later expanded on that ordeal in a book, In the Country We Love: A Family Divided, which was quickly acquired for development as a TV show, a project which is still waiting to materialize. We spoke to Diane about her return for the second season of Doom Patrol in HBO Max and also about her painful experience as a teenager.

What I really love about superheroes is that they always go through these very big traumas that change them forever and gives them superpowers. Do you feel sometimes like a superhero because you had that trauma when you were a very young girl?

Doom Patrol.

Do you feel that you learned some particular strengths by being left alone at 14?

Jane is like a dream for any actress but it’s also very challenging. How has playing this multifaceted character changed you?

Of all these characters that live inside of Jane, which is your favorite, and which is the hardest to play?

Do you have to feel empathy with all of the characters in order to have a connection with them?

Were you a fan of superheroes when you were a kid or did you learn when you got Jane?

Doom Patrol, is unlike any other. I always wanted to be a superhero, but I thought most superhero stories were kind of fluffy and cheesy. I wanted to be a superhero, but I didn’t want to be that kind of superhero – I wanted to be a superhero who was intricate and interesting. And Jane on Doom Patrol is just that. She gives me exactly what I was looking for in a superhero experience. So, I really had to learn quickly; but even though this world is wacky and at times existential, it’s also really grounded in reality and that is what I like so much about it.

What people will see in the second season that they haven’t seen in the first?

How complicated is it to work in a show like this?   

As soon as you became famous with Orange Is the New Black, you wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times telling your story. Why did you feel that it was important to revisit that time in your life?

When you wrote your book, it got so much success that it was picked up to be adapted for a TV show, but then it didn’t happen. What have you learned about how Hollywood works through that process?

In which ways do you think you are Colombian and in which ways do you think you are American?

Do you feel that it’s important to be a role model for girls in Colombia so that they can see how far they can go?

How was it to work in Blast Beat, the film about two Colombians in America that was seen this year at Sundance?

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EN-US’>clichédBlast Beat was a beautiful story that was different from the rest. I think it was a very important story to tell, so I was very glad to a part of that.