In May 2020, on Mother’s Day and in the middle of lockdown, Lana Parrilla (Once Upon a Time, Why Women Kill) had a long and candid conversation with Daphna E. Ziman for Cinemoi Channel.
An artistic family, and a tragedy
Parrilla grew up surrounded by imagination: an aunt who was a Broadway and television actress, a mother who paints, a grandfather who made comic home movies on 8 mm film. Her father, a professional baseball player, wanted boys and pushed her into softball. He came to every game and every practice. It was stressful, and she felt she was never good enough, but she is grateful today that he was always there. She lost him when she was 16: he was murdered, an innocent victim in a neighbourhood hit by the crack epidemic. She was angry for years, at everyone and at God, and her only escape was acting. Therapy, reading and prayer helped her. That loss is why she now wants to help young people in communities like the one she grew up in, who need programmes and counsellors she never had.
She has grown much closer to her mother over the last ten to fifteen years, by letting go of her expectations and loving her as she is. She took her to the small Sicilian town her family came from, a lifelong dream.
Regina, without judgment
To play the Evil Queen in Once Upon a Time, Parrilla refused to judge her. She looked for the source of her behaviour, her pain and despair, and found compassion for her. A character who is only angry and vindictive would quickly become a turn-off; showing why she acts that way makes her human. The fear of losing her son Henry started Regina's redemption. Parrilla would have liked her to find love again after Robin Hood's death. The hardest scene to film was Regina facing her father in the Underworld, because Parrilla has always wished she could see her own father one more time.
Facing her fears
She had been training since the previous August to play Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway, but the pandemic put those plans on hold. The musical episode of Once Upon a Time gave her the idea: her rule is to move towards what scares her most. During lockdown, daily meditation and prayer helped her move from fear to faith, and taught her to celebrate every opportunity she has.