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Genesis Rodríguez is our latest Latina superhero, and although she always dreamt of becoming one, she wasn’t sure if it was possible until now. In her role as Sloane, the new hero of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, she shows her superpowers in the series‘ third season.
Rodríguez, the youngest daughter of Venezuelan singer José Luis ‘El Puma’ Rodríguez, revealed to La Opinion her journey to join the show and how her imposter syndrome made her believe she couldn’t secure the role.
“I feel super happy; I feel a difference between being on a Netflix show… I could say that there is a before and after being exposed to a Netflix audience, and the series has a huge audience,” she told the publication. “I did not expect to be received like this, but I thank God that they liked my character, that they liked it a lot; that has always been the challenge, and I am thrilled to have achieved it.”
According to Genesis, although she loves her scenes, there is a level of difficulty in some parts. “I think the most difficult thing about a recording like this was at the time we started recording, which was in the middle of COVID,” she said. “At first they weren’t allowed more than 12 people on the set, so the first episode you see it’s a dance of the whole cast, so we were practicing the dance, we had a chance to practice it, but we started with other scenes, and other bits until we could all be on stage. The truth is that the episodes take 23 to 24 days of recording for each episode, so we spent almost a year on the season.”
Rodríguez said that despite spending so much time filming, knowing that she represents the Latino community fills her heart. “For me, it has always been a dream to be a superhero, I did not see it possible, and especially, when I was auditioning for this role, I said: ‘they are not going to hire me because there is already a Latino in the show’… So when they hire a Latino, they don’t hire two Latinos on the same show but thank God, the executives and producers didn’t think that way,” the actress said. “For me, it is imperative that Latinos see themselves identified and feel and can dream of being superheroes too. It gives me a lot of joy, and I hope for another type of superhero too; it’s fun.”
Genesis also praised her famous dad and described him as her hero. “My daddy, he is my superhero, what he has shown me, the desire to live, the will, the mental power to be able to go through what he went through, and he did it with so much courage, so much strength, so much faith,” she told the publication.
Rodríguez also said she “dedicate this success to God, because he can do anything because he gave me these steps… Apart from my father, my mother, who has been my unconditional support, has been my strength; when I had no strength, she had strength. I have a mom who believes in you and supports you as she did. My mom is one of a kind, and I couldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for her.”