Exclusive: Jessica Darrow on Being a "Gateway" for Latino Representation in Hollywood

There is power in vulnerability, and sometimes, the biggest show of strength that a person can demonstrate is truly being in tune with who they are as a person.

Jessica Darrow not only portrays that in her carefully chosen roles, but she also exudes that in her everyday life. In her most recent role, the Cuban American actress brought to life the physically strong, yet exceptionally compassionate Luisa Madrigal in the hit Disney film, Encanto.

But, one of her biggest triumphs has been helping others who feel different like her feel seen, which is why she takes so much pride in participating in fandom events like MEGACON Orlando, which runs from May 19 to May 22 at the Orange County Convention Center.

Recalling an appearance at a previous fandom event, Darrow explains, "There was one person who came up to me, who didn't even watch Encanto, but they knew who I was and they knew that I was Latina and they just wanted to come meet me and talk to me and tell me how much it meant to them that I went out of my way to go to Comic-Con to meet people."

In an exclusive interview with People Chica, Darrow dives into how Captian Hook helped her realize she would pursue art for a living, why Luisa's song "Surface Pressure" is such a big deal and why she will continue using her platform to shine a light on Latinos and brown people everywhere with events like MEGACON Orlando.

Getty Images / MICHAEL TRAN

You were tasked with the job of breathing life into the strong and caring Luisa in Encanto. You brought strength and vulnerability to the role and your song "Surface Pressure" spoke to first-generation Latinos everywhere. What was it like for you to sing such an empowering song that spoke to the culture and societal pressures that a lot of firstborns and immigrant children in Latino families feel?

It was amazing. When I first got this song and I saw the lyrics and everything, I feel like it didn't really hit me how devastating and how much I personally connected to it until I actually started recording it and started to get like emotional myself. I was like, "Wait a second." This is a song that you can dance to and it's so upbeat and it's so much fun, but these lyrics are devastating, and it really is an inner monologue to that very specific struggle that Latino children face.

I am the youngest in my family, it's just me and my sister. I guess it's kind of strange to call myself the rock of the family. But I feel like through [observing and] living with my own life, growing up and watching [my sister] move out and then also having my sister kind of take on a lot of pressures [of having to] set an example, but [also wanting] to express her own individuality [was formative.]

Getty Images / Alberto E. Rodriguez / Stringer

And I was like, well, I have to make sure I do the right thing for my family because I am our only hope. I'm the youngest. I've seen all the mistakes being made. I've seen all of the lives lived. I've heard all of the stories. And as much as my abuela was so proud of my musical and dramatic talents, she wanted me to be a doctor and she wanted me to live in Miami. I knew that I was bad at math and science, and that was not going to happen, [but I knew that] singing and acting were the two things that I knew how to do really well. So, I was determined to figure out how to be successful in this vein, and through singing "Surface Pressure," I feel that it's an anthem for me as far as like, "God, do I even have purpose as an artist if I don't make it to a certain point?"

If I am not successful to a certain extent for my family, if I [haven't built] enough success so that I can start changing the patterns within our family [knowing] that it took so much for my mother's side of the family to come here. My abuela would always [share stories about] how lucky I am and how privileged I am to be able to have all of this freedom and to have access to all of these things so that I always remember that [I] carry that on my back.

I know that that is the same situation for a lot of first-generation children who were the first to be born here in America. I grew up around so many kids who really had to carry that weight on our backs. You can't just like do whatever you want. You have to always take your family into consideration, even in terms of like your own enjoyment, even in terms of like your sexuality, too. Like, you don't want to do anything too complicated, you don't want to express anything that is too taboo or different that might make your family freak out or have them think about anything else that's not simply just surviving and making it here in America.

Have you always known that acting and singing were something you wanted to do? What about it that really spoke to your soul?

It really is the only thing I felt like I could do from a young age. I'd say elementary school in English class, when we were asked to do creative writing and write stories, write essays, I would always make sure that the stories that I wrote could be performed. I always wanted to make sure that there was a way that I could essentially tell the story out loud in front of my class. I wanted to play all the different characters that I wrote about. I'd say that was my first taste of creating characters and wanting to tell different perspectives, different stories. Once I got into middle school, I auditioned for a performing arts middle school and I got in for acting. And in seventh grade, I played Captain Hook in Peter Pan and it was amazing.

I was cast as Captain Hook in it, and because it wasn't like the exact version of Peter Pan and my drama teacher wanted to give us the opportunity to have us put our own creative touch on it and build our characters to be something that felt maybe individual to us or just something that we created on our own. He was like, "Yeah, whatever you want to do with it, you totally can." So I decided to give Captain Hook all of these layers and that the reason why he was so angry and [was so vengeful towards] Peter Pan was because he was unfulfilled in his love life. And I made him a closeted homosexual, I was like, "He's going to be gay." I should have known then I was queer.

But, you know, that was like my first taste of it. I really was like, "This man, he is so complicated and there must be a reason why he's so evil and doing all of these foul things. It's because he does not feel the freedom and the space to love who he wants to love." And I sang the song "Somebody to Love" by Queen. That song was not in the show. I think Happy Feet came out [and] they did the cover of "Somebody to Love" in that movie. And I was like, "Oh my God, I love this song. And this is perfect for Captain Hook." I sang that song and I got to make the character my own where I had this complicated, very layered version of Captain Hook. It's a story that felt very close to my own, and I didn't even fully realize it yet. And I'd say that was definitely the moment when I realized, "I'm good at this." I went into the audience, I was interacting with the audience and I felt what it felt like to connect through art and through song.

You're going to be at MEGACON Orlando 2022. These kinds of events are a huge deal for anybody that's in animation, gaming, etc. What is it like for you to be bringing more Latino representation to a space like this where typically most of the actors in attendance aren't Latino?

First of all, I'm so happy to be bringing it to Orlando. You know, it's not Miami, but it's the closest Con that I'm going to be going to that is in proximity to Miami. And I know that there are so many Latinos that inhabit Florida, to begin with, so I'm so excited to meet the fan base out there. I was just in Canada and I specifically had some Latino people come up to me and meet me. I was even speaking Spanish with some of them and they let me know how much this meant to them. There was one person who came up to me, who didn't even watch Encanto, but they knew who I was and they knew that I was Latina and they just wanted to come meet me and talk to me and tell me how much it meant to them that I went out of my way to go to Comic-Con to meet people.

[There were] people who told me how much Encanto resonated with them and how it meant so much to them to see a Latino family in the animated universe. That felt amazing. I feel honored that I can be that Latino representation at a MEGACON [Orlando] for one on one conversation. I love hearing how much of an impact this has left on people. I love seeing the looks on everyone's faces when they let me know how happy they are to feel so seen.

I think that is what is important for [people], especially Latino people, right now to have that feeling, to have that representation, to feel seen. If I can bring that to my community in any aspect, shape or form, I'm more than happy to do it. I was so excited to do [MEGACON Orlando] because I know that it's going to be more of a Latino community there. And I'm really excited to hear all of the personal stories and the personal journeys and self-discovery that Latinos had, specifically with this film, who will be [in attendance at the event].

I never really saw acting as an opportunity to use my platform to really let other people be seen until I booked Encanto. I felt the weight and the importance of what it means to be able to do that and to be the vessel that gets to do that. I was always so focused on getting seen myself because I felt like no one wanted to [see me] because of my differences—I don't look like what would be considered stereotypically pretty.

All the things that make me different are now all the things that I am being reached out to for. So, I'm going to continue to amplify those voices and those personalities. As long as I am the gateway to that, I really think that it is important for me to use this as a segue way to make Latinos and more brown people the mainstream.