Cristela Alonso

So I took it upon myself to just record movies that I could get off the TV on my VCR.

I'd learn their dances themselves.

Then when I got to high school and I started auditioning for college, they were like, oh, you can sing.

And I was like, I can?

I had no idea.

And yes, I wanted to be on Broadway.

Well, you know, I wanted to do Broadway and then a voice teacher when I was 18 years old told me that as a Latina, I could do West Side Story and Chorus Line and then I was kind of done.

And it was weird because at that moment, I felt like somebody had said that my dream was limited and I had no chance to do it.

And I ended up doing some kind of theater, but I couldn't get auditions.

And I stopped doing theater.

And then I decided to move to L.A.

to try to be in TV and film.

Then when I moved to L.A., they were like, well, you have a crooked tooth and you're plus size, so I don't know how that's going to work for you.

I'm like, wow, this is really great, you know?

Yeah.

Like, oh, sold, you know, so it became this thing where I was working as an assistant at a travel boutique.

My mom ended up getting sick.

My brother told me that she was on her deathbed and I had to come home, quit my job, went to Texas to see her.

My mom got better.

I showed up and she got better.