Paulina Chavez is a Netflix series star at age 17
NEW YORK — Paulina Chavez is still adjusting to the whole stardom thing.
The 17-year-old actress plays the lead role in the new Netflix series “The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia,” but still remembers struggling to keep it together when she first met series cocreator Mario Lopez.
“When I hugged him I turned to all the producers and was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Mario Lopez!’ ” Chavez said. “As soon as we disconnected from the hug I played it cool and was like, ‘Yeah, nice to meet you. It’s not like I watch you every time I go to a hotel and see you on “Access Hollywood.” What? No.’ He’s incredible.”
And when Eva Longoria, who directed a few episodes of the series, made a surprise appearance on set, Chavez said she almost cried.
But it’s Chavez who’s leading “The Expanding Universe,” which debuted on Netflix on Feb. 17 and follows Ashley Garcia, a 15-year-old double Ph.D. who moves to California to work at NASA and live with her uncle Victor.
“The best part is getting to portray an intelligent young lady who is also Latina, and it’s really cool because you don’t really see that on TV,” Chavez said. “There’s a lot in the real world, Latinas are engineers, they’re reporters, they’re everything.”
It’s Chavez’s first major role, something she’s been working toward since watching telenovelas with her grandmother after coming home from grade school and promising her that one day, she’d be on TV, too.
Chavez spent three years begging her parents to homeschool her so she could focus on her career, and they finally relented beginning with her eighth-grade year.
After playing various small roles, Chavez jumped at the chance to audition for Ashley, and while she says Ashley is “not me whatsoever,” she can see some of herself in the character.
“When I read the script it was like ‘overprotective mom’ and I was like ‘Ah! I can relate,’ ” Chavez said. “Aside from that, we both really focus on our careers. Ashley was going to school and she didn’t really have a social life; me too. I don’t really care about my social life, but I also focus on my career.”
She particularly delights in the show’s touches of Latino culture, from the few lines of Spanish in each episode to the Topo Chico sparkling water in Tio Victor’s kitchen to the Tajin-seasoned chips on set that Longoria and Chavez would snack on between takes.
And while much of the show focuses on Ashley’s efforts to be a normal teenager, Chavez wouldn’t want life any other way. Just look at her heartwarming Instagram post, including photos with family and costars, in front of the show’s Times Square billboard.
“I love this life that I’m in right now,” Chavez said. “Normal, it scares me. So I’m enjoying every part of being here.”