In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Alma Award-winning actor Michelle C. Bonilla, one the first openly gay Latina actors in Hollywood. Bonilla appeared for 12 Seasons on NBC’s ER as the sexy Latina paramedic "Harms" in one of the first ongoing lesbian roles on network television. Michelle C. Bonilla and Matt Crabtree have created a new sitcom web series “Failing Upwards” that follows a group of four unlikely friends who find themselves going through unemployment together. Each of the characters, inept in their own special way, ends up surprising themselves, each other and the audience with the hilarity of finding a job, even if you have to lie to get one. We talked to Michelle about her new series, how the Latino vote helped re-elect Obama and her spin on our LGBT Issues.
When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights and coming out in Hollywood, Bonilla stated, “I am very much a proponent for the Human Rights Campaign. I love what they stand for and I’m just really getting the word out about equality in our community. First of all I believe that whoever you are as an individual you have to be true to yourself. My truth at that time I came out was that I’m a lesbian Latina working in Hollywood and I had nothing to hide and feel no shame about it. A lot of questions that came up for me was like ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ Agents asked me worried about what casting directors would think or producers would think. I have been acting for quite a long time and I felt that producers already knew me for my talent and what I have done as an actor and when I go into a room for an audition I don’t think that being gay is the thing they’re thinking about. They’re thinking can you do this job. So I’ve been very lucky in the sense that I’ve been judged based on my talent and not my sexuality.”
Besides “Failing Upwards” Michelle C. Bonilla’s recent credits include “Luck”, “Model Minority”, “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” and “The Closer”. She also co-stars with Lauren Birriel in the award winning short “Slip Away” about lovers caught in a web of desire, deception and untruth that’s available on Amazon.
For More Info: failingupwardstheseries.com
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