Ana Villafañe — Exclusive Portraits

By:

Christina Casiano

December 11, 2019 3:35PM EST

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Ana Villafañe

Ana Villafañe — Ana Villafañe is an American actress and singer from Miami, FL who made her Broadway debut as ‘Gloria Estefan’ in the Tony nominated hit bio-musical about Gloria’s life, On Your Feet! in 2015. As a newcomer who was discovered through a tape she submitted for an open casting call, Ana was met with rave reviews and nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award and Astaire Awards. Following the show’s closure in 2017, Ana went on to act join the cast of New Amsterdam in season 2 as Dr. Valentina Castro. She also will join Kal Penn in the recurring role of Diana Barea in his upcoming NBC comedy series, Sunnyside.

Click through the gallery for our EXCLUSIVE portraits of Ana Villafañe!

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On Her ‘New Amsterdam’ Character, Dr. Castro

On Her ‘New Amsterdam’ Character, Dr. Castro — “My character is very driven and very assertive and knows exactly what she wants. She’s also there for the greater good. But, it’s tough because Dr. Sharpe is so individual-based and has such a great rapport with her patients already. So, Castro comes in and she’s a little more about the science. People are definitely put off by her, but I think she’s fierce and she knows what she wants, and she’s smart.”

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On Dr. Castro & Dr. Sharpe’s Relationship

On Dr. Castro & Dr. Sharpe’s Relationship — “At first she was very much brought in to be the worthy adversary of Dr. Sharpe, but now it’s kind of getting a little bit deeper and as her treatment with Max goes on, especially, I think we get to see the more human side of her.”

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On Working With Ryan Eggold

On Working With Ryan Eggold — “He’s been a great person to work with and my first scene I ever shot was with him, so it really set the tone for me coming into the season and coming onto their set. It definitely felt like I was the new kid at school at first.”

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On Her New Show ‘Sunnyside’

On Her New Show ‘Sunnyside’ — “It was also really fun just for me to learn. This was my first year ever on network television, so to have two shows on NBC and to be doing comedy and learning from those pros from SNL, The Good Place, and 30 Rock, to then the very intense hospital drama with New Amsterdam, it’s been a really good way for me to flex my muscles.”

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On Taking A Break After Her Broadway Smash ‘On Your Feet!’

On Taking A Break After Her Broadway Smash ‘On Your Feet!’ — “so I needed to kind of recalibrate and be like, “Wait, who’s Ana?” All these characters are super fun, but I needed to figure out who I am so then I can create all these characters from a really solid foundation as a human, as myself. so it’s finally feeling like it works because I had to figure myself out first.”

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On Diversity & Latinx Representation In Entertainment

On Diversity & Latinx Representation In Entertainment — “I’ve been sifting through projects for a couple of years, trying to make sure that I give myself to roles that are moving in the direction that I want to see — the things that I didn’t necessarily see as much growing up, on television or in film. Like Dr. Castro — the story is not about her being Latina, it’s about her doing her job.”

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