Eiza Gonzalez wants her career to make Latina women "proud".
The 28-year-old actress has said that her main goal is to "represent" her fellow Latina women in movies "in a way where they feel proud", and says she’s thankful to her family for helping her stay grounded, even when she constantly worries about people being "disappointed" in her.
She said: "I had a conversation with my mom. Two days ago, she was with me on the set of ‘Hobbs & Shaw’. I sat down with her and I looked at her and I said, ‘I am scared.’ And she said, ‘What do you mean?’ I was like, ‘I’m just scared this is going to be the end?’ I’m still a woman. I’m still insecure and I fear when you’re like, ‘This is too good to be true!’ I’m so determined and I always want to do the best job that I can. I’m such a perfectionist that if I’m not then I feel like people are going to be disappointed in me.
"All I care is representing Latina women in a way where they feel proud. So that is daunting too. But that’s the beauty of having a beautiful family. She looked at me and said, ‘All that matters, babe, is to be a good person. Continue to be the loving, thoughtful girl that you are and that will bring things to your life.’"
And the ‘Welcome to Marwen’ star has learned plenty of lessons during her time as an actress – which began in Mexico when she was just 13 years old – including learning to be "proud" of all her roles, no matter how small they might seem.
Speaking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, she said: "Everything’s a lesson. [I’ve learned] that you should also be proud of everything you do. There’s no small things in life. There’s this stigma of doing soap operas and I’m like, soap operas prepped me. I would have never been ready for this. The things that you learn, the discipline and work ethic that you have to have at 13 in a soap opera, that keeps on going every single day and you have to shoot 100 scenes. That’s a lesson. That prepped me to be really well prepared for when I came to America. Every single step down the line has been a massive lesson to me in what not to do too."