Karina Calmet in a revealing interview: she talks about “Al fondo hay sitio”, Mónica Sánchez, acting and politics

As a child and adolescent, she stood out as an athlete, initially in school Olympics, then in international competitions as part of the national athletics team. In 2011, after more than two decades away from sports venues, he returned to compete in the South American Athletics Masterwhere he won the gold medal in the hurdles and broke a national record with a time of 13 seconds and 69 hundredths in the 80-meter hurdles.

“I have been immensely happy as an athlete. Athletics gave me discipline, it taught me to be very aware of what it is to be disciplined. It was an invaluable stage”, highlights the national artist.

At the age of 25, the discipline she acquired as an athlete, added to her indisputable beauty, led her to appropriate the title of Miss Peru Universe 1994, an edition that had journalist Jessica Tapia among the candidates. That same year, Calmet she was also established as Miss Hispanidad.

“Representing your country abroad is a great responsibility, because they stop calling you by your name, to call you Peru. The fact of having been able to bring the Miss Hispanidad crown was beautiful, I met queens of other nationalities, with whom I keep in touch, every time there are international beauty pageants we connect to share our experiences and predictions”, he points out.

─ Do you already have your favorite for Miss Universe 2022? What do you think of the Peruvian representative, Alessia Rovegno?

All the misses are saying that our dear Alessia is going to be among the tops and that makes me deeply happy because I am a friend of her mother, Bárbara Cayo. I’ve known Alessia since she was little, I love her very much. I would love for her to win and she has all the conditions to do it.

─Is it in your plans to apply for Señora Peru?

Note that no. What I would like to do after being away for so many years, on pause, preparing myself, is to resume my career as an actress and host because I feel that it is a good time to do so.

From Dalina to actress

When she was a model, Calmet Brugnara tried several times to enter the Nubeluz program as a dalina, but it was not until 1995, after winning the Miss Peru crown, that the production of the magical children’s space in which they lived together in a cloud, dalinas, nubelinas, cindelas , golmodís and dicolines, set eyes on her. She later ventured as an actress and presenter of “De buena onda” and “ATV Noticias”. She acted in national productions, such as “Milagros”, “Vidas Prestadas”, ″ Soledad ”, ″ Lorenzo’s Woman”, ″ Storm of Passions ”and the historic series“ Al fondo hay sitio ”.

How did you get involved in acting?

When I decided to be an actress, I prepared myself. I entered the América Producciones workshop, then Roberto Ángeles, at all levels. I got my first important role at the beginning of this century, playing Elisa Galindo in “Vidas prestadas”, a schizophrenic girl, whom we saw crying and laughing at the same time, she took me away, but I learned a lot.

─Is it the character that has cost you the most to interpret?

I would say yes, because it was really a challenge, it was my first important role, and I must thank you for trusting me because I had just finished studying. Then came one proposal after another, and I stayed like that for several years, until I decided to take a break to continue preparing.

─A break of almost five years, living in Spain. What did you do during that time?

I continued training, it was necessary because the way of making fiction changed: before it was soap operas, then series came and now the trend is a mixture of series and novel, and that speed is different. I took performing arts workshops, studied with Spanish directors, and also worked with actors of other nationalities.

─Did you cast or act in a production there?

Despite not having a representative, they called me for important castings for big series. I did several, they didn’t choose me, but I still feel like a winner because I made it to the final shortlist together with well-known people, it was a great workout, because I have to accept that I was scared to death.

─While you were in Spain, did you receive proposals to act in Peru?

In 2017 and 2018 they called me, but at that time it was not what I wanted to do, I felt that I had to leave for a while to prepare and grow, and I feel that I did the right thing. I needed to nourish myself, see the work of other actors, see theater in other countries, capture new things, train myself, dare.

─On March 26, 2018, through a tweet, you said goodbye to acting in Peru, assuring that you were limited to having frivolous roles because you were white. Do you hold that position?

I have to accept that I left exhausted, tired, and that a good actor has to make his character great, because he is like a baby, you have to put his clothes on, give him the porridge. And at that time I was an ogre, I became a Grinch, I wanted to study, grow up, I was in a bad moment, jaded. I must accept that now I think differently from that year, because otherwise I will not advance.

─Are you willing to return to perform in Peru?

Now yes, and I hope they call me because it may be that they no longer want to work with me. Now I am trained, I have more elements and resources to do different things, the break I took was important, it helped me oxygenate and reinvent myself. When you receive a character, you have the wonderful opportunity to create something spectacular, and if they give me a new pituca or a bad one, I assure you that it will be different from all the others I have played.

─Appealing to your self-critical sense, what do you think when you see those incendiary tweets and comments that you shared before going to Spain?

Horrible, when I review things, interviews, I say: What a mess! There’s no way to delete them, but you can change your mind.

─What do you think now of Isabella Picasso Maldini, your character from “Al fondo hay sitio”?

She was a girl who tried to make up and disguise her past and the things that affected her. She had a series of complexes and contradictions because those things that she criticized and said were wrong, deep down she liked them. She said one thing and did another.

─Would you play her again in “Al fondo hay sitio”?

The problem is that Isabella was shot in the stomach and as far as I know, in a situation like this you end up with temporary or permanent amnesia. She was buried when the eighth season ended, but I don’t know if she’s really dead, because in that series anything can happen, the writers are geniuses, they never cease to amaze us.

─What did you think of Isabella’s ending?

Her death was a script theme, it was partly revenge, Carmen (Teddy Guzmán) kills her because before, Francesa (Yvonne Frayssinet) had killed her daughter Claudia Llanos (Úrsula Boza). We actors may or may not agree with many endings, in this case it was an unexpected ending that surprised everyone, it was part of the genius of the writers.

─ Do you agree with the continuity of the series?

If people like it and watch it, it doesn’t have to end, there are gringo series, like Grey’s Anatomy, that have lasted a lot of seasons and have done very well. As long as “Al fondo hay sitio” continues to be broadcast with that genius, everything is fine.

─ Do you like the current season?

I find it spectacular, especially the family of the character Giovanni Ciccia… what such actors we have. It’s nice to see them, you can tell they love his work and they make him want to. The scenes that Giovanni does are practically cinematographic.

─Through social networks you had confrontations with some actors of the series, especially with Mónica Sánchez….

My love and respect first of all for Monica, a great friend, beautiful actress, absolutely respectable. All my love and appreciation to her.

Have you resolved your differences?

Each person has their point of view, whatever it may be, there was some nonsense, a misunderstanding six years ago, in life you have to move forward, that’s over. Sometimes politics creates misunderstandings, but in my case, after so much time, so much water that has flowed under the bridge, there is nothing to talk about.

─Do you recognize that there was a lot of passion in those interdicts?

I fully accept that I acted like a spoiled little girl, a riot was created on the networks, people gave their opinions and the topic grew. However, I believe that camaraderie and friendship always have to prevail, a personal opinion never has to divide us as friends.

─In 2018 you tried for a position as councilor of Lima for Fuerza Popular, are you still interested in venturing into politics?

Definitely not now. At that time, my intention was to enter politics to help the women of my country, so that so many injustices do not continue to be committed. What I want to do now is continue nourishing myself from my artistic stage, resume acting. I returned to Peru the first days of November and I have not stopped living intense things, I was at my daughter Naelah’s wedding, seeing her enter the arm of her father to take such an important step in life, I was very moved. I am deeply grateful for everything that is happening to me.

─How do you define this stage of your life?

Very calm. Many years ago, when I was 20, I thought that at 50 I would feel tired, and now that I am at this stage, I enjoy it because there are no extremes, there are no whites or blacks, only weights. Now I understand other people more, I understand that you don’t always win in an argument, and that we are not always right. Now I live each moment with intensity, meeting my family and the public, being squashed, kissed, greeted, makes me very happy.