Vida. The pioneering series about Latin and LGBTQ communities is in its third and final season. “I’m proud to say that I was a part of a groundbreaking show. It is something that feels like it’s more important than just an acting job. That it became something that made a shift in the television landscape in the United States and opened the door to a lot of creators that were maybe afraid or maybe felt that their stories weren’t important enough to be on TV,” she tells HFPA journalist Gilda Baum-Lappe.

Barrera describes Vida as a series that shows the struggle and pain in the Mexican-American neighborhood but is also a universal story. “The issues they go through, the questions of identity, the questions about sexuality, their pleasures, and their dreams and hopes, anyone can connect to them. And I think that’s what makes a good show; when you can connect to it no matter who you are and no matter if you have the same experience as the story being told or not.”

She attended the American School Foundation of Monterrey, Mexico, where she learned to speak English without an accent. Later she studied in New York. “Then I went back to Mexico and I worked there for a while. Three years ago I moved to Los Angeles. I’ve been adjusting to a lot of changes because Vida definitely made me take a lot of risks as an actor and stretch myself in ways that I never thought that I could do some of the things that I’m doing on Vida. Mostly because of the way that I was brought up and the way that I was taught to feel ashamed or embarrassed of certain things because I’m a woman and because I was raised Catholic and because I’m a Latina.”

She decided to put her personal and artistic growth first. “I left all the judgments and the fear of judgments behind because I realized that if I keep living in that fear then I’m never going to get anywhere. I’m never going to do the things that make me happy and I’m never going to be able to grow to the point where I can become the kind of artist and the kind of storyteller that I want to be.”

She made that choice with the support of her family. “I have an amazing mother, grandmother, and sisters. They all had supported my judgment and my choices throughout my entire life and that has meant the world to me because I know that I’m lucky to have them on my side.” 

Listen to the podcast and hear how she is spending her time with her husband during Covid-19; how she benefits from speaking English without an accent; who helped her to be comfortable at the Emmy gala; how she is spending her money; how she met her husband; whether she believes in faith; why she is eating more meat now than before; seeing the Broadway play In the Heights