MEET Y&R’S MIA

Although Noemi Gonzalez has been on plenty of auditions, there was something different about the casting call for Y&R to play Rey’s estranged wife, Mia. “This one was unique in the way that it was a same-day audition,” says the actress. “I had three or four hours to prepare, then run to CBS. Luckily, the scene was short and the material really clicked with me. I was drawn to the role and I was drawn to the show immediately. It was to me a wonderful experience to do it this way where it was ‘All right, get going, make it happen!’ ”

After the meeting, Gonzalez “felt wonderful about it. As soon as I was done, the casting director had her arms in the air like a victory, like I had nailed it. I asked if she needed anything else from me and she said no, but I have had that experience before and nothing comes from it. However, the next day I was called back for a chemistry read. I think that the hands in the air was a great sign!”

The next step was reading with Sharon Case (Sharon) and Jordi Vilasuso (Rey). “Sharon was just a sweetheart; I felt her welcoming energy,” Gonzalez recalls. “With Jordi, I asked if he was willing for me to be affectionate with him and potentially kiss him, so I had to ask more of Jordi and he was game the whole time. He’s a very giving partner.”

Finding out that she won the role was the best medicine. “It was a Saturday and I was nursing a migraine,” Gonzalez sighs. “At 11 a.m. I got a phone call and my rep said, ‘What did you do at the test?!’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I was so worried, and they said, ‘No, you booked it!’ I got up from my bed and my migraine was gone! And then two minutes later, production was calling me to pick up my scripts!”

There was no time to celebrate, the actress reports. “I had to be ready by Tuesday and I had a good amount

of work because of the strong introduction, so there was about 55 pages to learn,” she marvels. “I was very excited when the day came. I definitely was way more insanely in work mode than I had ever been before in other projects.”

The more Gonzalez has been getting to know Mia, the more she likes the character. “She has a

working-class background, and she’s very outspoken and sassy and witty,” her portrayer enthuses. “She’s super-smart in the sense that she knows how to use her sensuality. She’s very savvy business-wise, which is nice to see, a Latina character like that. We can be sexy, but the fact that she’s smart with it is just so much more

exciting to play with. Mainly the biggest thing that excited me was that she’s a firecracker and not afraid of confrontation. That’s all people see from her, but there is an insane amount of vulnerability that she hides. That’s what I really looked forward to: someone who’s not afraid to start trouble and shake things up in Genoa City!”