When she was in first grade, Annie Gonzalez would often stare into space in class. That got both her teacher and mother concerned.
Asked what was the matter, the 7-year-old replied she imagined herself as an actress one day getting on a stage to pick up her Oscar and Tony awards. “I have wanted to be a performer since I was a little girl,” says Gonzalez. “I never saw myself doing anything else.”
Her mother encouraged little Annie to hit the books and pursue her dreams. Three years later, the little brown girl landed her first acting gig, playing a Guatemalan immigrant in the ABC police procedural drama television series Without a Trace. “I had to get a haircut for the role,” she recalls.
That was the beginning of a long road in search of roles for the actress who identifies as a Chicana, an American woman who’s proud of her Mexican descent. She was one of the original dancers on Jamm X Kids for the former WB Television Network and went on to other small roles in movies like Mitú’s Beauty School and 20th Century Fox’s Spies in Disguise and series like Showtime’s Shameless and Starz’s award-winning Vida.
Those minor parts are of big importance for Gonzalez. “I’d say every single project has amalgamated the actress I am now,” she states.
Then came Gentefied, the Netflix series that gave Gonzalez her breakout role. Premiered right before the beginning of the pandemic in February of 2020, the show is about gentrification, family and dreams of a better life centered on three Mexican-American cousins in the East L.A. community of Boyle Heights. She has the role of Lidia Solis, the pregnant and highly educated girlfriend of Erik Morales, one of the central characters played by J.J. Soria. Gentefied is executive produced by America Ferrera (Superstore, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and created by Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chavez.
“Playing Lidia has opened me up and matured me so much as an actress,” she says. “She is a woman anyone can relate to, who feels pain, has weaknesses, shows vulnerabilities, who has gone through so much and done a lot.” In Gentefied’s second season, which returned in early November, Gonzalez’s character becomes a mother, moves to Palo Alto and starts a new job at Stanford University. “I feel Lidia thinks she has to carry the world on her shoulders,” says the actress. “But she’s human and, like any human, she makes mistakes.”
The multilayered Lidia raised Gonzalez’s profile and may have helped her secure a starring role in the upcoming film Flamin’ Hot from Searchlight Pictures, which marks the directorial debut of actress Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame. The biopic tells the story of Ricardo Montañez, the Latino who reportedly created the popular snack Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and who is played by actor Jesse Garcia. Gonzalez’s role is Judy Montañez, the wife of the Cheetos’ inventor. Shot this past summer in New Mexico, the film’s release date is yet to be announced.
Gonzalez credits Longoria and other renowned actresses for opening up doors for new generations of Chicanos and Latinos in showbusiness. “I wouldn’t have been able to do my work without the predecessors paving the way for us, people like Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, Linda Yvette Chavez and Rita Moreno,” Gonzalez states. “They all have shown us that beautiful brown girls can make it in Hollywood.”
One can expect to see more of Gonzalez in the near future. In addition to Flamin’ Hot, she’s been cast in Once Upon in Aztlan, a drama starring and exec produced by George Lopez that the comedian is currently developing for Amazon Prime Video. Gonzales also appears in The Edge of Her Mind Anthology: Her Movies Vol 1, an upcoming collection of independent drama shorts focused on women’s mental health. The Chicana stars in the short Cafe Abundance playing a woman who breaks down in the middle of a hip restaurant.
All those accomplishments earned Gonzalez to be the inaugural recipient of Latin Heat’s Rising Star Award this month. “It is no surprise Annie has booked three major roles in a span of just a little over two years,” says Bel Hernandez, the founder, and publisher of this trade publication that covers Latinos in Hollywood. “She is talented, authentic, and smart, qualities that make for a rising star.” Adds Hernandez, “In 30 years Latin Heat has covered many rising talents like Jennifer Lopez, Jay Hernandez and Salma Hayek on their journey to stardom. We feel Annie is on the same trajectory, and are honored to award her the Latin Heat Rising Star Award”.
Gonzalez has big hopes for her career in 2022 and the coming years. “I’d love to be able to do another two features and star in a comedy,” she says. “I want to demonstrate the full range of my acting chops. Also, I have a lot of stories to tell.”
Apparently, some fantasies of 7-year-old Annie, the first-grader from East Los Angeles, have been coming true. Maybe the major awards she dreamt off could arrive soon, as well.
Featured Photo: Annie Gonzalez (Photo: Juan Veloz)
