In a long interview with BUZZ 360, Lana Parrilla talked about saying yes to things that scare her, from releasing a song to returning to theatre, and looked back on the Evil Queen of Once Upon a Time.
Yes to what frightens her
When two friends from the dance music world asked her to record a song with them, the answer could only be yes. Not a natural singer, she approached it as an actress, by creating a character. She grew up admiring an aunt who was an actress, in a family that made home movies on 8 mm cameras, and began acting professionally around 20.
After the strikes, she wanted to keep her creative energy flowing. A chance meeting in London with her friend Gloria Calderón Kellett led to a role in Kellett’s play One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse, her first time on stage in more than 20 years. She also appears in the Netflix film Atlas, with Jennifer Lopez, as a scientist who creates human-form artificial intelligence.
A “PhD in acting”
She calls Once Upon a Time seven magical years. To play the Evil Queen, she refused to treat her as a fairy-tale figure: she had to be “a real woman with a heart who’s hurting”. She estimates she played around twelve versions of the character over the series, which she describes as her master class and her “PhD in acting”.
Keep It Regal
A lover of fashion since she staged shows for her family at the age of three, she launched her brand Keep It Regal in 2020, when the world felt so divided. Each collection carries a message about self-assurance and feeling good about who you are; some support charities. Her latest, “Keep It Peaceful”, responds to a time of division and war. Half Italian, half Puerto Rican, she loves to feed people, and makes time for walks, reading and meditation.