“(As an actor) it is almost impossible to be on the payroll, but we always pay our taxes”

Instead of attending his graduation in Hotel Management, Christian Ysla That same day, he preferred to attend his first class at the Catholic University Theater and never looked back. That first step would mark the career of an unorthodox actor who had to wait ten years from when he began his artistic career to be able to make a living from his art. Today he performs until November 26 at the Julieta Theater with the play “Bull” and competes to win the culinary program El Gran Chef.

Molded in the theater school of Alberto Ísola, Ysla stands out for his humor in works such as “Perú JaJa”, “Recontra Hamlet”, “This work is a disaster”, “Hasta las paws”, “Sueldo bajo? You don’t have to pay!”, among other works where he transformed from a serious actor who could not tolerate the lack of the slightest element of props when acting, to one who prefers to improvise and who finds his playing space on theatrical stages. shared.

During the artist’s career, he also ventured into music with Los Juanelos, whose origin is found in the rehearsals of the play “Las Tres Viudas”, where Ysla would create a kind of Creole group with a touch of comedy and a lot of political satire. His character of Pedro Juanelo, like Culebra (“Yuru: La Princesa Amazónica”), is one of the interpretations that he most appreciates, but that does not define him as an artist. “I’m not a hardcore comedian. Barraza, Melcochita and JB [Jorge Benavides] “They are natural comedians, I am an actor who does comedy, something that is different, because I am not funny, it is a chip that I have to insert into my characters”mentions Ysla.

Another of the actor’s peculiarities is his apparent indifference to the setting where he will play his characters. “I think that cinema is something deeper and better than television, for me theater, cinema and television are just the medium through which one will act”says Ysla, who believes that the distinctions lie in the roles he will take on, rather than the medium in which he will show his art. “What matters is the interpretation, it has to be completely different, if the public feels that it is the same actor, even if it is in theater, film or television, the artist is doing something wrong”sentence.

Life lessons

After acting improvisation, Christian Ysla found in clowning an almost impossible challenge to overcome due to the constant separation between his comic self and the interpretation of a comedian, something that at that time was indistinguishable for the actor. Little by little, he found himself and discovered his particular way of making art. “Before I took things very seriously, but I had to find a space to make it more fun, propose things and do new things. In my personal life it also changed me because I learned to listen to people.”, he comments.

Another challenge he faced, without coming out very well, was last year when he took over the direction of the theater company Los Productosres. He was in charge of a critical moment for the entertainment industry in general: the return of the public to the seats after covid. “We were achieving this goal, but when they closed the theater where we were, we found ourselves in serious problems. We didn’t know anything, everything was uncertainty and constant questions. That made me sick”.

After a couple of months learning about marketing, advertising and logistics behind theater productions, in addition to the difficulties of meeting the economic needs of the actors after each performance, Ysla changed the phrase “what is behind each work” by “what is always ahead of each work”, since to sustain their projects it is necessary that they be viable. “Now I think differently, I consider the schedule of the year, the functions; Now it’s different, it’s not just acting. In this area it is almost impossible to be on the payroll, but we always pay our taxes”, emphasizes the artist.

The Great Chef

Christian Ysla is no stranger to television, a space where he participated in projects such as “Mad Science” alongside Ricardo Morán and Joaquín de Orbegoso, as a contestant in “The Dream Show” in 2009, and his current participation as one of the members from El Gran Chef, where he spices up his dishes with comedy and good humor.

“In El Gran Chef everything is a challenge, I do cook, although in this program the demands are at another level, but I am not here because of my good taste, but because I am the comedian, I am not the pretty one, nor the sexy one, Not even the intelligent one, my task is to make you laugh.”confesses Ysla, who also admits that this challenge almost surpasses her. “There was a time when I was more concerned about not cutting myself than making jokes. When they told me that I was very tense I thought: ‘I’m scrubbing it and I’m not doing my job’, happily I managed to adapt and everything is going well.”he adds.

That good energy that accompanies him, on Friday night was enough for him, along with Checho Ibarra, to move on to the ninth level of El Gran Chef, a program where he seems to feel comfortable. “This helps me find my comic self, not as a character, but as someone funny. “Here I can play and have fun as I want,” Ysla concludes.