|
|
Actor Paula Parducz London, Costa Rica, Spain, Hungary |
|
This seems like a good place to begin when talking about film and
theater actor Paula Parducz, her stage name and you will understand why
we clarified that in a few moments. She was born in the state of Kansas
(United States), grew up in Costa Rica, lived in the London (U.K.) for
five years, lived part of her adult life in Asturias, Spain and now is
her eighth year living in Budapest, Hungary. Now you understand.
She is cerebral, talented, at home in comedy or dramatic productions,
but leans more to drama as a preference, which we will explain in a bit
and she shared some insight to that side of her acting while discussing
the role she played in the theater production Beauty, directed by
Carna Krsul.
She (Annabel) stepped out of her own shell. She is afraid of going out
(Annabel is agoraphobic), but she is masking that by looking young and
pretty. It was very powerful on stage and it was always
interesting to feel the reaction of the people when they could see the
mask dropping,” she says.
We wondered about the dynamic of an actor performing in front of an
audience and in the role of a character who had difficulty with mixing
with others and certainly Annabel would never have performed before an
audience.
Paula Parducz
explores that dynamic with us, “You are the actor, you know the story,
you know what is happening and you know what is coming, but the
character doesn’t. A Mexican director
Luis De Tavira
said actors
have the ability to be and not be at the same time. I am the actor, but
I am not the actor I am the character, but I am not the character. You
are and you are not at the same time. There are moments when you truly
forget yourself and you are just the character. It is a very interesting
dynamic. You can also see the reaction of the audience and that is why I
like theater the most. You have the people there and you can perceive
when (they are engaged) and you know when you are losing them. You know
who is connected and who is not.”
Beauty was the third play that she was cast in by Carna Krsul, the
others being the first Most Budapest in 2019 and then Square
“Most
Budapest
(2019) was the first one, then Square in 2021, before we did the
third one, Beauty. I found a casting call online for Most
Budapest. Carna is an amazing director and she is a lovely person on top
of that. The way she prepares is she uses a lot of physical exercises
and games and stuff. We had this whole afternoon doing different games
and she had several texts and having us try different scenes and to
improvise. We started to have a chat and get to know each other more.
She said if something comes up, I will have you in mind.
For Most Budapest she had someone, but (the person) was a Brazilian
actress who went back to Brazil. She needed someone to jump in and she
thought I was good for the part. That was our first collaboration and it
was good. There were people from many different places and not all of
them were actors. For some of them this was their first time.
It was a really cool experience, because it was Carna’s own text that
she wrote about her experiences living here in Hungary,” Paula Parducz
explains.
We got a bit ahead of ourselves, so let’s go back to the beginning.
“I was born in Kansas and when we moved back to Costa Rica, I was about
to turn two. My time in the States was very, very short. My father was
first teaching English at the ITCR, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica.
He then did his Master’s degree at Kansas University, which was
sponsored by the ITCR. After completing it we went back to Costa Rica,
where he was offered (a position) with the International Relations
department of the ITCR,” she explains and so the journey begins.
Continuing she says, “English was always a part of my life and we had
books in English. English has always been there and it is truly my
second language. I grew up in Costa Rica and my mother was Spanish by
origin. My mother is what
they call Spanish by origin. Her parents were Asturians and they
migrated to Costa Rica. She was born in Costa Rica, but her family
background is from Asturias. My grandparents migrated to Costa Rica at
the time of the Spanish Civil War.
I spent my childhood and early childhood years there in Costa Rica. This
is where I got into theater (laughing lightly) by coincidence.
I wanted to be a painter that was my first idea when I was a child. When
I was in high school a friend of mine came to me and she said they were
organizing a drama group, because her aunt was an actress and she could
teach us. We are organizing it. She asked me if I would like to be a
part of it. I said why not? Then my friend’s aunt would take us to watch
plays and stuff. I started to get interested in theater and by the time
I was finishing high school, I thought maybe I should apply for drama
school. I did not want to stop doing this, so I applied to both art
school and for drama school and waited to see which one took me.”
An artist attracted to acting, that is not necessarily unusual, but we
wondered what drew her in (no pun intended).
“I liked the freedom of it. I felt so alive on stage, that anything
could happen on stage and anything is possible. It is difficult to put
into words, because it is not a logical explanation. I really enjoyed it
and I thought wow this is cool!
I always say that acting chose me. The path was just there. It was just
accepting me or calling me. I started working quite young. One thing the
drama school in Costa Rica had the teachers were still working
professionally and they would encourage you to start your own projects
and to get involved with as many things as you could. We were encouraged
to not wait until you were finished, before starting to build your
career. You have to start from now, because it is a very small country
with a very small arts scene. We are talking about the late ‘90s.
Competition was fierce.
For an actor in Cost Rica at that time was, yes you are an actor, but
you also have to produce, and direct and (she laughs) you have to do
lights. They were really preparing us for the hustle. I was looking for
independent projects, but in my second year I was also called to take
part in a play with the national theater company.
It was the Teatro Universitario's 50th anniversary, the play was a
co-production with the National Theatre Company. The Teatro
Universitario is considered the first institution that consolidated
professional theatre in Costa Rica. The National Company was created
twenty years after it. The play was Las Bicicletas son para el Verano,
by the Spanish author Fernando Fernán-Gómez. The guest director was
Júver Salcedo, from Uruguay. He had been involved with the Teatro
Universitario from the early days,” says Paula Parducz.
Listening to Paula Parducz talk about her life and her career, it is
more about how she tells those stories than it is about the content,
which engages other people, because of her enthusiasm, her contagious
laughter and her warmth. If you did not already know she is an actor,
you would be thinking, this lady should be an actor. She could be
telling you how to make a sandwich and your eyes and ears would be
fixated on her, hoping there would be some new revelation for you.
The consummate storyteller continues, “By the time I was twenty-four, I
had checked all the boxes that I wanted to accomplish. I had worked in
many independent projects and the National Theater project (in Costa
Rica). I had started teaching the directing course at the university. I
realized at that point that I was not content and there was something
missing. In a way it was limited as to how much I could grow there. At
the same time, I was having an existential or vocational crisis.
When you start acting you think that you are going to have some degree
of control over your career and the reality is that many things do not
depend one hundred percent on you. Also, drama school is amazing and it
is important that you have the training, but it can be a bit of a cocoon
or an echo chamber. Even if you have this attitude I have to go out and
do my thing, you are still protected in many ways. Many things that you
could do were linked to the drama school itself. When you start to step
out you realize whoa this is way more complicated.
Then my mom got ill with cancer and she passed away after a year or so.
Before she passed away, I was getting to know more about the Spanish
side of my family. My grandparents had died, before I was born, so all
the stories that I knew were from my mom, my aunts and my uncles. There
was something missing.
When I went to Spain the first time in 2005 It was on a course for
directors and writers, I spent six weeks in Madrid, Barcelona and we
went to Cadiz as well
In Cadiz they have this huge festival to bring together directors and
writers from Spain and Latin America. The first day in Madrid it was the
first time that I felt like I truly belonged somewhere. It was the first
time that nobody was asking where are you from? They just assumed I was
from there. In Costa Rica, people said oh you don’t look like you are
from here. If they knew I was born in the United States they would call
me Gringa. I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Spain I
felt (connected) with my Spanish side and I felt so comfortable. When I
went back, I started to ask more about my mom and to investigate more. I
began to think that I wanted to go there (Spain), because now it was
calling me.
When my mom passed away, I decided it was time for me to leave Costa
Rica. I had done all I could do in Costa Rica and now it was time to
connect with the other side of me and I moved to Asturias.”
Paula Parducz
finds our next question funny; how did you end up in London?
“I met a Hungarian who was living in London and at that point, while I
was in Asturias I was taking art lessons, I went to school again and I
wanted my degree acknowledged, but I needed to do a couple of years.
Then I started the procedure to apply for citizenship for Spain. Spain
has a thing that your parents had to have it and there was a
technicality with my mom’s birth certificate, because they didn’t
specify that my grandparents were Spaniards. They (the government) said,
because they didn’t have proof that my grandparents were Spaniards when
my mom was born, so (it was a problem) when I applied. Again, it was
bureaucracy. It took four years for them to come back to me.
I was studying and in the process of trying to get Spanish citizenship.
I went to Budapest for a holiday with a friend and I met this guy who
was living in London. We exchanged phone numbers and we sent emails. I
went to see him in London and then we decided we wanted to have a
relationship. It was easier if I moved to London, because I already
spoke English, so I thought
why not London. I was (also) waiting to hear if I got Spanish
citizenship. I was on a student visa, so it limits what you can do. I
thought I can go to London and let’s see what happens with this guy. We
ended up getting married when we were in London.
It was then that I started being interested in acting before the camera.
For me theater is my first love and for me it is the best, but I
realized film is where the money is. Also, in London the industry is
huge. In Costa Rica back
then, it was film, what? Now I think they are doing more, but back then
it was unthinkable.
I started preparing for acting before the camera and I became acquainted
with the business (side). I also got involved with a Spanish theater
company that was in London at the time.
I did two audio books at Pinewood Studios in Spanish. I was the narrator
and they were two novels. It was not autobiographical. The main
character was a woman who had suffered abuse from childhood. It was a
quite hard topic. It was her journey from being abused to how she
manages to break the cycle. It was very interesting, because it was in
Spanish and I was working with the engineer who didn’t speak Spanish,
only English. He was like okay you will have to help me. I was directing
myself,” she says.
Paula Parducz explains how when she is playing a darker character or in
this case narrating a darker theme how she separates her personal life
from the stage, film or in this case audio book persona.
“For me it is easy to step out of it. It is like two parallel realities.
Now I am entering this and while I am there, I am there with everything.
There were some passages that were really, really uncomfortable. There
is a part of me that stays out and it helps me to stay grounded. I
remember this is fiction and I am telling the story, but it is going to
be fine. Just focus on the story. Once it is done, this part of me can
say okay it is done. That stays there, you step out of it. For me
sometimes I will just do something physical, like go for a walk or I
will wash my hands or if I am wearing a coat, I will shake it or shake
myself if I am still being affected by the emotions. I might read a book
that has nothing to do with (the dark theme) or I will watch a comedy. I
might go and watch one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes.
I have not found a character or play yet, that I cannot step out of when
I am done. Since I was very young, I was not keen on this type of acting
when you have to be the character all of the time. I think you need to
be able to step in and out,” she says.
After spending five years in London, “(In 2017) we moved here, to
Hungary. This is quite a long time. I was talking to a friend the other
day and she said this is the place that you have stayed the longest (she
laughs). We came here, because my husband was really, really, homesick.
He had lived in London longer than me and now he wanted to come back. I
said okay. It was a bit difficult, because I absolutely loved London. It
is expensive, but it is a great city. It is amazing. I understand that
he wants to be here with his (family) and his friends. I also thought
why not? Here the language barrier has been an interesting challenge to
navigate. I didn’t have that issue, before in London, because I was able
to communicate. (In Hungary) the first couple of years were tough. The
Hungarian language is unique. I don’t think Hungarian is as difficult as
Polish. I did a semester of Polish in Costa Rica for extra credits and
that was tough. Hungarian grammar is easier than Spanish, because they
only have three (tenses). Hungarian can be tricky because the words are
very long, but the vowel sounds are not that different than Spanish,
except for a couple of them. It is not that difficult, but I didn’t have
time to learn it (before I moved),” Paula Parducz explains.
Continuing she says, “I go for things in English, because in Hungary
they don’t have a media culture where you do not have characters that
are not native speakers in the language. In Spain you can have someone
who speaks with a Spanish accent from (other places). In English, you
can still have characters that are not native English speakers, but in
Hungary they do not have that. Not many people speak Hungarian, unless
they are Hungarian. I am not a kid anymore, so I will never reach the
same level in Hungarian, which will let me act in the same way that I
can in Spanish or English. Budapest is becoming more and more
international.”
She says she has not explored filming in other countries and tells us
why, “I have been trying to focus on the opportunities that come up
here. Last year, I finally obtained Spanish citizenship. The Spanish
government created a law for the grandchildren of Spaniards who left.
You can apply by yourself and the only thing that matters is that your
grandparents are Spanish. So, finally after all of these years, I am
officially Spanish as well. Now I am trying to (think about) my strategy
and how I can work the Spanish market.”
In 2024 Paula
Parducz appeared in the HBO series Dune Prophecy.
“My character was one of the disciples of Mother Dorotea, who had died
supposedly by committing suicide because she was unable to cope with
grief after the passing of the founder of the Bene Gesserit
order, Reverend Mother Superior Raquella.
Raquella wanted Dorotea and Valya Harkonnen to succeed her as Mother
Superiors and work together in making the order thrive, but the two
women didn't really share the same values. So, the order was divided,
and the disciples were suspicious of Valya after Dorotea's sudden death.
We refused to follow Valya and let's say we paid the price for that,”
she says hinting at a spoiler, but not quite.
Other film productions Paula Parducz has appeared recently are
Elephant’s Tango, still in postproduction, which she says hopefully will
be released in the next few months. Directed by Mansour Forouzesh, she
describes the film as being “more alternative, minimalist and
avant-garde.”
“He (the director) wants to try different ways of producing a film. How
can you make it work with what you have? Sometimes you have lots of
resources and sometimes the lack of resources stops a production from
what it could be, instead of thinking oh my goodness we need three days
or we need three hours, when we only have one. We could say we have only
one hour, so we are going to make the best of that one hour and that is
it,” she says.
Paula Parducz also
has a scene with Nicholas Cage in the film, The Unbearable Weight of
Massive Talent.
We are hoping that Paula Parducz expands her search for roles to include
more Spanish speaking and English-speaking films and theater
productions, because she is a gifted actress, an incredible person and
one gets the impression she is an actor who does not shy away from
creative challenges. So, if you are a director out there and reading
this, you may want to follow Paula Parducz on
her
Instagram page
or view her CV at
e-Talenta
#PaulaParduczInterview #EuropeanActress #ActingInHungary #SpanishActress
#ActressInHungary #RivetingRiffs #RivetingRiffsMagazine
|
“My
favorite role is Annabel in Beauty. I liked it because it allowed
me to (get into) a vulnerability that I really had not explored before,
because in a way it touched a part that I really had not dug into
(previously). 