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The concept that following your dream will result in a happier and more healthy life is not simply fluff. Research has discovered that individuals who pursue their ardour expertise decrease stress ranges and are happier general. That’s excellent news for Dominican comic and actress Sasha Merci Medina, who has been residing her life based mostly on this precept ever since she determined to take her first stab at comedy.
Medina, 33 who was born and raised within the Bronx, began performing in 2016 at open mics and standup reveals. But she actually began making a reputation for herself when she started posting comedy clips to her Instagram account, @sashamerci, after the social media platform added the video function.
Shortly after constructing a good following, Medina began touchdown all the things from standup gigs to bona-fide appearing roles, together with one in 2016’s “Honorable Mike” and within the 2019 indie movie “De Lo Mio.” In “De Lo Mio,” she performed the function of Rita alongside her real-life childhood pal, fellow Dominican comic Darlene Demorizi. The pals ended up internet hosting their very own standup present referred to as “Sancocho,” which finally led to their Fuse TV half discuss present, half comedy skit “Like Share, Dímelo” in 2020. But the actress and comic lately landed her largest break but on the Lionsgate function movie “Righteous Thieves,” which was launched in choose theaters and On Demand on Mar. 10 and is on the market to lease or personal on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, and main cable suppliers.
The 91-minute motion movie — directed by Anthony Nardolillo and produced by Jolene Rodriguez — stars Lisa Vidal as Annabel, the chief of a secret group whose mission is to get well priceless paintings stolen by Nazis throughout WWII and at the moment within the possession of neo-Nazi billionaire oligarch Otto Huizen (performed by Brian Cousins).
Annabel recruits a loyal crew, which incorporates Lucille (performed by Jaina Lee Ortiz), Eddie (performed by Carlos Miranda, identified for his function in STARZ’s “Vida“), Bruno (performed by Cam Gigandet), and Nadia, performed by Medina.
Alongside a solid that consists of principally Latinx actors, Medina’s character Nadia is a Dominican lady from LA with a tough upbringing. “They did not give me a lot of a backstory, [so] I needed to create the backstory myself. She was an orphan. Her dad and mom are from the Dominican Republic, they usually moved to Los Angeles when she was a really younger age,” Medina tells POPSUGAR. “But as a foster child, she had these foster dad and mom that typically did not deal with her proper. There was that one foster father or mother that locked her in a room, and he or she was capable of break herself free.”
That’s the reason for why Nadia has an obsession with studying to unlock issues — and finally, she learns the best way to even break into safes. “That’s her energy, the truth that nobody can cover something from her as a result of she’s going to seek out it a way — someway. And then she finally ends up assembly the principle character who grew to become a mom determine for her — Annabelle,” Medina explains.
The first scene with Nadia is about at her lock retailer, the place Annabelle goes to recruit her for the mission. The movie provides off very Latinx “Ocean’s” meets “Robinhood” vibes, seeing as not one of the thieves are stealing for greed however extra so to repair a unsuitable and make it proper. Medina does an distinctive job of inserting a few of her pure wit and humor into Nadia’s character whereas staying true to her essence.
“I put quite a lot of myself in Nadia, however I’m extra of a wacky particular person. Nadia is when I’m about enterprise — when I’m business-oriented and I received issues to do,” Medina says. “But I’m very wacky and goofy, and I believe Nadia does not actually belief people who a lot, so she’s very reserved, very calculated, and chill. She does not like to point out her feelings, however she likes to be easy.”
In some ways, Medina was destined for this function. For starters, she did not must audition for it. Rodriguez tells POPSUGAR that she instantly had Medina in thoughts for the half.
“I simply knew she was gifted. She was at all times at the back of my head. I used to be like, I need to work together with her in some capability.”
“I simply knew she was gifted. She was at all times at the back of my head. I used to be like, I need to work together with her in some capability,” Rodriguez says. “And it made probably the most sense on this function particularly as a result of it was an ensemble, so I can construct round her.”
Rodriguez had been following Medina’s work for just a few years and had developed a friendship together with her. She says she at all times noticed the actress as a lot greater than a comic or an influencer — she noticed her star potential.
“Sasha is a breakout star. She’s a breakout star as a result of, one, she’s gifted as f*** and he or she has that comedic touchdown,” she says. “She’s tremendous animated the place she did not essentially have to speak so that you can get what she was doing. So, for me, it was an ideal alternative to offer her.”
Identity may seemingly play a task within the movie; between their Spanish final names and refined traces, you’ll be able to determine comparatively shortly that a lot of the group — excluding Bruno — are Latinx. In one scene, Nadia breaks out in Dominican Spanish. But Rodriguez and Nardolillo have been very intentional about not centering the movie solely across the characters’ Latinx heritage.
“The indisputable fact that it was a heist movie and there have been sure actors I knew I’d be working with, I assumed it was a cool idea to say, ‘Hey, let’s attempt to make a temple film that is made by and with Brown folks, however not must have any particular cultural message,” Nardollio tells POPSUGAR. “Just create one thing the place folks can droop actuality and be entertained.”
Nardollio believes that the trade is lastly able to see Latinx actors taking part in Latinx characters — with out the movie having to be very particularly about Latinx id or tradition. He desires “Righteous Thieves” to show that.
“I simply really feel that proper now the trade, due to the dearth of illustration, I believe they really feel there’s a have to not solely solid however to attempt to oversell or overcompensate cultural messaging, whether or not it is cinematic or a tv episodic platform,” Nardollio says. “And what I attempt to do is, as Latinxs, we’re like all people else. I would like folks to see the way in which these characters gown and embody who we’re in actual life. There’s nonetheless that unstated swag or layering that [lets you] know our characters are Latinx with out deliberately attempting to push that they take these traits to an excessive.”
The scene with Medina talking in Dominican Spanish, for instance, was really a line she improvised on the spot. Nardollilo and Rodriguez instantly gave her the inexperienced gentle. It adopted a theme of Medina feeling supported and empowered by the function.
“It made me really feel like I can do something. I’m so able to be any character.”
“It made me really feel like I can do something. I’m so able to be any character,” Medina says. “I’m so prepared for Nadia. I’m so prepared for her. I would like there to be an element two so I may play that character as a result of I cherished taking part in her.”
Nardolillo, for his half, is greater than prepared for a sequel alternative. “It simply actually relies upon if there’s the urge for food from a studio or perhaps a mini-major,” he says, however admits that the movie’s ending undoubtedly units it up for an element two. “That was the entire motive why Bruno did get shot, however we did not essentially see him. So, does he come again? Did he have a bulletproof vest on as a result of he knew higher? You by no means know.”
While we’ll have to attend to see a couple of sequel, Medina nonetheless has lots occurring as of late. Last yr, she kicked off her well-known El Teteo events, based mostly in Los Angeles. Her imaginative and prescient was to throw an authentically Dominican occasion that everybody in LA may take pleasure in, and the primary one kicked off in February 2022, with a turnout of 600 folks. Medina’s most up-to-date El Teteo occasion was almost a yr later, on Saturday, Feb. 25. It was offered out regardless of a uncommon LA rain storm, and over 900 folks confirmed up, together with Hollywood executives, in line with Medina.
“In the midst of the storm, folks got here out. Nobody canceled their tickets. People purchased their tickets however did not cancel them as a result of that is how essential it’s,” Medina says. “I felt constructing a group off-set or off Hollywood is simply as essential as constructing it in Hollywood.”
While Medina is greater than prepared for her subsequent film, she’s additionally letting this actually sink in: she’s in a function movie taking part in in choose theaters throughout the nation. It’s a dream she’s had since she was a bit of lady.
“It feels loopy. It simply feels insane. It feels surreal. When I watched the trailer and I noticed Lionsgate in entrance of it, I began to get emotional as a result of quite a lot of movies I’ve seen begin with the Lionsgate [opener] at first,” she says. “That was a big second for me the place I’m identical to ‘Oh my god. What’s taking place?’ Things are rising. Things are altering. So, that was an enormous deal for me.”
Indeed, Medina is actually simply getting began — and proving that following your desires actually can have a cheerful ending.
Image Source: Todd Rosenberg and illustration by Aly Lim
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