Guillermina Valdes She is a woman whose versatility is her best letter of introduction. Businesswoman, actress and model, she is someone who continues to commit to studying and training. Media figure who had two very famous husbands—Sebastián Ortega and Marcelo Tinelli—she is the mother of Dante, Paloma, Helena and Lorenzo. Curiosity and the will to constantly face new challenges were his motivation to star “The divorce of the year”the work of Mariela Asensio and José María Muscari, directed by Muscari himself. Valdés shares a cast with Fabián Vena, Ernestina Pais, Juan Palomino and Rocío Igarzábal in this comedy that emerges as one of the most innovative proposals of the summer. Propitious occasion for Guillermina Valdés’ dialogue with NOTICIAS.
News: What seduced you to join “The Divorce of the Year”?
Guillermina Valdes: We had been talking for a long time with Muscari about working together; He called me several times and finally, when I got this book, I couldn’t stop reading it. I think that the spectators are going to return home changed in many aspects, they will not be the same as when they arrived at the performance and that for me is the beauty of the theater, it makes us think and also leaves its seed of concern.
News: Is the relationship crisis that the work shows between your character and that of Fabián Vena?
Valdes: Yes, exactly, we are the couple that is divorcing. Ernestina Pais plays my lawyer, Juan Palomino plays Fabián’s lawyer and we have a daughter named Sofía, played by Rochi Igarzábal.
News: They gave you a big daughter!
Valdes: Yes, my character became a mother at 17 and Rochi plays a little younger than her real age. Evangelina’s story is that she had her daughter when she was very young, she has been in a relationship with this man for thirty years and they both suffer from the relationship because it is very toxic. They coexist with that conflictive dynamic. They are both very media-savvy; He is a well-known news journalist and she is a former model and businesswoman who shared her entire life publicly. Today he does it through the networks, but he was always characterized by exposing the minute by minute of his existence, he made his career a bit based on the exhibition show. There is a great conflict there not only internally but also in the public aspect, because you have to maintain a position and an image before the media.
News: Did Muscari seek to make a character tailored to you?
Valdes: Not really, I’m totally different. When we started rehearsing, Muscari told me: “Guillermina, you don’t have the quilombo gene. You are very reserved and intimate, very jealous of your privacy and this character is the complete opposite.” It is true that I was in the media for many years, but I always tried to avoid conflict, I tried to avoid the exposure related to that. My character is at the other point on the map, she illuminates those conflicts and if there is no theme, she generates it, which is why I found it so interesting to approach someone who in her psychology is so opposite to me. It is a dramatic comedy that begins in one way and little by little gets into a complex issue, the viewer will discover it in the second half of the work.
News: Your mother had you when she was very young, is there a nod to your own story there?
Valdes: I do see something in that! There are small personal glimpses, points that can touch certain aspects related to my story, but all the decisions that the character made are opposite to mine. She is from Paternal and I am from Necochea, we both had a simple life as girls, but the paths we chose are diametrically opposite. Maybe I tell you that at some point I love my character because I can see his humanity, understand many things he did and understand his way of being. In each rehearsal I find more things that bring us closer, I feel that I also learn from the very different energy it handles.
News: You just mentioned Necochea, I understand that you lived in different places including Tandil, Buenos Aires and New York. What was the most significant change for you?
Valdes: I think they were all strong changes, you know? At one point I feel like I looked for them, because in the desire to grow and transform, which is a concern that I have, I always went after the challenges, at first they make me dizzy until I start to go through them and everything changes. But the moment I say “yes”… ouch! (Laughs) Being in a work like this, on Corrientes Street, once again exposed to prejudices, gives me strength, a world comes together for me. Then, when I’m on stage, I realize that I’m really where I want to be. It is the first time that I have the feeling of approaching a work from a very integral place, I am very immersed in my actress, inhabiting her completely, without half measures. I am very committed to theater projects, I have a great time and I live them intensely. The same as acting training. When I’m not working I’m training all the time, but it’s not just the specific work with the instrument, I think life is also a great school for the actor. Today I am fully with my actress, I am not a businesswoman who acts, sometimes I simply do not choose so many projects because I live from my companies and I wait for the right proposal, the one that really challenges me.
News: You talked about prejudices, surely you know that some people will wonder why, being able to be on vacation in Punta del Este, you choose to stay here and do theater in January, right?
Valdes: (Laughs) Because I love it! I love this profession, perhaps I started when I was older, but there is no right age to start or shine at something, those are issues derived from mandates. Today for me it is not an enjoyment to be in Punta del Este but to get on stage, commit myself to a character and let myself be carried away by the emotion that this play allows me to vibrate. An umbrella and a wave don’t give me that feeling. I seek to connect with my emotional world, my search is to be moved as I am by a work of art or by music.
News: You have four children of different ages, is music a good place to share with them?
Valdes: In general, yes. We connect a lot with them musically; I learn a lot; They bring me closer to new artists all the time and, what’s more, we can debate. They also listen to a lot of 80s and 90s music that I consume, so it’s a great meeting point.
News: Speaking of which, and at the risk of sounding like a rabble, you met Joaquín Furriel at Lollapalooza, right?
Valdes: Ah, look how you remember, you must have read it in some note! (laughs) We had a nice bond with Joaquín, it lasted about a year and the truth is that it was good. We are very different people who knew how to respect each other and be able to say at the time: “Well, this is as far as we have come.”
News: Now Daniel Veronese is directing Leonardo Sbaraglia at the Teatro Cervantes, but did Veronese also direct you or am I wrong?
Valdes: Not at all! We made “Invencible” right here, at the Multiteatro. It was one of the times I tested myself; Whenever I dared to do something different, I had good experiences. In “The Divorce of the Year” I am getting to know an incredible director like Muscari, who comes to mind at this moment in my life, his way of working, the dynamic he generates, his commitment and his surgical precision that he manages are remarkable, he is very clear about what he wants. I really like working with someone like that, with people who are passionate about what they do, I’m not just referring to José but also Mariela Asensio who is his teammate and with whom they wrote the work together.
News: On stage you have to partner with Fabián Vena, we already know that you traveled a lot in the 90s, but do you remember him in “The Golden Rocket Band”?
Valdes: Yes, obviously! It is a pleasure to work with Fabi, with Juan Palomino, with Ernestina and Rochi. It’s beautiful, we have a synergy as a team. There is something that happens with the entire technical and artistic team that is very magical, it is a party.
News: You say party and I think of those Giordano shows in Punta del Este, did you have to be well planted to survive them?
Valdes: I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t enjoy them very much, but hey, it was a job that helped me make other different choices in life, so in the end it was good. I have a memory of a lot of insecurity during my time as a model, I was never very convinced, I knew it wasn’t my thing, but it gave me a lot of financial independence, it helped me discover other paths and I am very grateful.
News: Let’s go back to Necochea, your old man was a veterinarian, did you inherit his love for animals?
Valdes: Yes, recontra! I connect a lot with animals, that love is a place where I meet again, the same thing happens to me with gardening, nature can help me. Animals and plants have the gift of taking me to the meditative, to be in contact with my most genuine part.
