It is always a great pleasure to interview the actress from Santiago, Ileana Wilson, who recently won the Gold Medal of the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences.
How did you get into acting, did you always want to be an actress?
First I was a gymnast, nothing to do with it, but my life was not going that way. I came to acting by chance; it was almost a coincidence. Because regardless of my vocation, which was always latent, I had opted for other careers, but I was lucky enough to go through the place where they held the auditions to enter the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) and I passed all the tests, with hardly any preparation time. . I think they were waiting for me and I didn’t doubt it much.
No less than three great masters were the members of that jury: Flora Lauten, professor of acting and theater direction, Sonia Pérez B. and the baritone Ramón Calzadilla. They confirmed my aptitude for interpretation and a month later a letter arrived at my house granting me a scholarship to enter ISA.
In February 1995, I was in Vitoria, the Basque Country, and one totally wintry night with two friends I attended the premiere of “Maité”, a Cuban-Basque co-production starring my interviewee today and the Spanish actor José Ramón Soroiz.
We left delighted. It was a delicious comedy in which the spell of a Creole mulatto and her beautiful girl, Maité, took possession of the heart of a Basque businessman.
Three years earlier, Wilson had received the award for best revelation actress for her performance in the telenovela “Pasión y Prejuicio” What place do these already distant productions occupy in your heart?
How nice that you remember that, because it has rained for many years, thanks for bringing them back to me!
“Pasión y Prejuicio” was my second most important appearance in Cuban series. It was the soap opera of the moment and thanks to Silvano Suárez, my great mentor on television, I met Eduardo Macías, the director of this wonderful screen production that I will always carry in my heart, since he gave me the opportunity to embody that character so endearing that “María Merced” is, a gift for any young actress of those days.
Eduardo seduced me with that peculiar magic that directors who know how to interpret have and provoked me at every moment…emmmmm! the courage to throw myself into the void, since I did not have much experience, but I did have a lot of desire and admiration for that work.
Such was the impact that this character had on me, that today it surprises me that many people continue to remember me for that interpretation.
“Maité” was my first leading role in cinema and I felt very honored since there were very strong and well-known candidates to play Deisy… and I was lucky that it was my turn. It was another challenge, since she had never had that responsibility on the big screen and it was very important for me to defend her, especially since she is a woman with a lot of decorum who does not fade so easily and who defends dignity above all things. her.
The directors Carlos and Eneko were also a gift for my growth, since at all times they cooperated with my new condition in the cinema and gave me a lot of security, affection and professionalism.
You have played many characters with different ideologies, emotions, circumstances, how do you face them and introduce them into your skin? What are your favorite genres: comedy, drama, thriller? Where is your comfort zone?
The characters for me are like open books that whisper paths, emotions, feelings to me and almost always, I read them a lot because I need to understand them and then immerse myself in them.
Later I listen to them, I search for life to find them somehow and I think I’ve been very lucky, because there is always a mirror that gives me direction. I prepare them with all my love, I spend a lot of time feeling them and later I memorize them until I put them on their feet.
I do not have a preferred genre as such, but I admit that I love comedy and navigate very comfortably in dramas. I don’t usually have a comfort zone since the characters don’t always write for one, so it’s time to be permeable and transmute into what each director wants or needs.
You are an actress committed to the theater. Do you see it as a social responsibility or is it just a playful action?
Theater is always a social responsibility. I do theater because it is my home, my best partner, my greatest therapy and my most healing constellation. Doing theater is a quality that I never want to lose in my life. I love theater!
Ileana Wilson does not stop. In his 40 years, his work on stage has been intense: in Cuba, Romeo and Juliet (1983), If it rains you get wet like the others (1983), For a dwarf prince (1983), María Estuardo (1984), La Gaviota (1988), Othello (1990), Celestina (1993), The Inventions of a Shop Window (1994) and Tales of Mama Concha (2006) are some examples.
The Spanish public has witnessed his staging from 2011 to date: La Loba, La Duda, Las Herederas, Cena de Vanidades, Cecilia Valdes and currently TINA, where she gives life to the character GG in the musical that hosts the Coliseum Theater in Madrid. In good Cuban, not for Santiago.
You have said in this same interview: “I do theater because it is my home, my best partner, my greatest therapy and my most healing constellation”. What is cinema and television for Ileana Wilson?
Film and television chose me and I learned to love them. They are different languages, but they fall in love at first sight. I feel like a learner. I have a lot of respect for the cameras, they make me restless and somewhat shy. Despite the time, whenever I have to be in front of that eye it gives me a very big chill.
Then I take a deep breath and accept the challenge. It is a strange and at the same time wonderful sensation. In the theater I allow myself certain rituals and on TV and the cinema I do not. Are very different. I love the effort involved in working for the technique. You have to repeat it many times and make it as fresh and organic as the first time.
In your substantial career you have shared the seventh art, the stage and the small screen with talented actresses and actors. Without committing yourself, which of them have impacted you so that you keep them in the most intimate of your being?
I have worked with great actors and actresses, but I will always carry José Antonio Rodríguez in my heart. To him, I will be sincerely grateful, because he offered me the path of delight in our profession. With the teacher I learned a lot in the telenovela Magdalena, in addition to the good theater that we shared.
Years have passed; The woman from Santiago lives and works in Spain, where she recently received, together with seven compatriots, the Gold Medal from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of that nation.
By the way, what are the prizes for you: passing lovers, permanent joys? Where do you store them? Is the newly received special?
All awards are special, because they are always recognition of our work. I don’t see them as trophies, but as gratitude. I feel very grateful and happy because that means that our work makes sense.
Ileana, the situation in our country could not be worse, politics messes everything up, there is total disrepute, the economy is ruined. In your opinion, what could the Cuban intelligentsia do to fight for life and not just to survive?
I believe that the Cuban intelligentsia has been compromised and continues to be. It is very difficult to reconcile politics with many dreams that aspire to a superior society, and I can tell from a distance, because it is not easy anywhere.
If I were a politician I would give you another answer, but sadly I am not and I know that many have done and sacrificed everything to achieve a better reality and still we did not achieve it. I trust in human improvement and that one day we can have the desired peace.
What does the future hold for Ileana Wilson in terms of professional plans, any in Cuba? Tell me about your family. Do you have children?
I have no future plans, I live in a permanent now. Of course I would love to work in Cuba, you never know…
And yes, I have two wonderful daughters, Habana and Lucila, and they are my greatest treasure. They were born here and live with me. I am very happy to have them and our lives are full of small and simple details that make us very special and happy.
Do you want to send a message to the Cuban public that, in the distance, follows you?
Well, I want to tell my beloved Cubans that I always carry this Island and everything within it in my heart and I do not forget everything that this wonderful country gave me, its people, its affection and that special way of being Cuban.
I feel deeply grateful because it is a town full of joy and love. There is so much talent in Cuba and so much desire that it would always deserve the best. Thank you thank you thank you.
Iliana Wilson could have been interviewed by me several decades ago when in her beginnings she leaned towards gymnastics but, although Cuba may have lost a great champion, it won an undisputed ARTIST, so with capital letters!
Successes to seas for this woman from Santiago who does not forget her origins and who makes all our people proud!
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