Spotlight on actress Eiza González
The former child star talks about her career and practising self-love
A ‘FUN’ VILLAIN The Mexican-born actress jumped at the chance to join the cast of the monster movie Godzilla vs Kong. As Maia Simmons, Eiza got to play a “fun” villain. “It was fun because I hadn’t done something like that. I feel like people see me a lot as like a ‘badass’ or a ‘tough girl.’”
Eiza is most recognisable from her roles in TV’s From Dusk Till Dawn, and movies Baby Driver, Alita: Battle Angel, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Bloodshot and more recently, Netflix’s I Care a Lot.
In Godzilla vs Kong, humans try to lure King Kong into the centre of the earth to retrieve a power source for a weapon to stop Godzilla’s rampages.
Maia, says Eiza, is “funny, and she’s sort of a condescending mean girl. We’ve all seen these know-it-all types of girls,” she tells Screenrant.
“But I didn’t want to make her a stereotypical version of a villain. It was really important to me for her to have something that made her fun to watch.” CHILD STAR Eiza is the daughter of a famous model, Glenda Reyna, and Carlos González. Her dad died when she was 12 and her mom enrolled her in acting classes to prevent her being overwhelmed by grief. She talked her mom into letting her drop out of school and continued to study acting. Eiza landed her first big role at 15, in a Hannah Montana-style TV series, Lola: Érase una vez (Lola: Once Upon a Time), for which she also recorded two albums.
“It was as big as it could get for Latin America at the time. It was so intense. I was young and so not emotionally or mentally prepared for what that fame came with,” she recalls, adding that the pressure of the job saw her suffering from depression and compulsive eating.
It was her mother’s guidance, love and support that helped her through those hard years. “In a world that felt like being in a pressure cooker, I had a mother who always let me vent about my feelings and my fears.” SELF-LOVE The 31-year-old recently shared that she’s learned to love her curves.
“I’m getting to that age where I feel confident: This girl I see in the mirror is who I am, and I’ve just got to love her,” she tells Shape magazine.
“I want to give my body this message consistently that I’m grateful for it so that it keeps itself healthy – especially in [the] middle of a pandemic.”
She didn’t always feel this way though, saying that a few years ago, when she was photographed by paparazzi at the beach, she felt bad.
“You could see cellulite on my leg in the photos, and I was so embarrassed. Now I feel so sexy when I see my cellulite. I feel like a woman. I can move my body, and it makes me feel really empowered – something I never would’ve felt in my twenties.” MOVING ON UP Despite starring in several movies, and having acted for half her life, Eiza admits she’s still nervous when she gets on set. But she has grown more confident, she tells the Los Angeles Times.
“I’m learning that it’s okay to want to take up more space. I’m like, ‘I can be a leading lady. I have the talent. Let me show you I am capable of doing this’.”
Next she’ll lend her voice to the animated movie Spirit Untamed, then star in Michael Bay’s new thriller, Ambulance, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal. ❑