Teresa Riott (Barcelona, 1990) is one of those people who, from a very young age, knows what they want to do. And of those who have been lucky enough to work on it successfully and twice. She has spent three years combining two characters in two series that have caught on with the public: she is Nerea in Valeria (Netflix) and La Rubia in El inmortal (Movistar Plus). Two opposite characters that allow her to offer two different registers and grow as an actress and also as a person.
Next Friday Nerea and her friends Valeria (Diana Gómez), Carmen (Paula Malia) and Lola (Silma López) premiere the third season of the series based on the novels by Elisabet Benavent. "Nerea comes from a very repressive environment where she has not been able to express herself personally or creatively," explains the actress, who advances that in the new episodes, her character will face internal conflicts: "She keeps thinking about what society tells her to it has to be, with a normal and stable life, but fate is going to put her in check by bringing her what she believes is the least convenient for her, but what is going to be what will make her enjoy the most and get out of her comfort zone".
How is Teresa similar to Nerea? “Well, when life presents us with complicated situations, we get very neurotic and rigid. Nerea is very perfectionist and correct and tries to control everything that is inside since she cannot control what is outside," responds Riott, who also says that he is similar to Nerea in being loyal to friends and always telling the truth, "which it also has to do with everything being perfect in your own way.”
Valeria's starting point, with four friends sharing experiences in Madrid, made it be defined as the Spanish version of Sex in New York. Not only because of this approach and the topics she addresses, but also because of the fan phenomenon: "Many people come to Madrid to visit the places where we have filmed and our costumes and looks also go very viral," she explains.
The other great role for which she is known is that of La Rubia from El inmortal, whose second season is now filming and which is inspired by the life of the leader of Los Miami, a gang that trafficked drugs in Madrid in the nineties. . Based on a real person, “La Rubia is a free, wild woman, who expresses herself and is not afraid, who is constantly in danger, with an inordinate passion for money and with a very masculine part but who also enjoys a lot her femininity in a world surrounded by men”.
With La Rubia, she began feeling very far away “but it is true that I have been able to learn a little about the character because in the end you have to interpret it and there is no other. Little by little he is permeating you and he is managing to conquer internal places that make you change ”, reflects the actress, who affirms that she enjoys the characters a lot in this aspect. "Now I feel closer to La Rubia, I let myself be more free, I say more what I think and I go down the street with more confidence if I come across conflicting scenarios." She, in contrast, no longer feels so Nerea: "I have fewer fears and I stand up to neuroses."
The actress acknowledges that when she plays a character to whom she feels very attached, it is more difficult for her to get creative because she is in her comfort zone, while if it is a character that is further away, "it requires a transformation that allows me to fly and take risks, throw myself more into the pool to try and make mistakes”, which is “very nice”.
Teresa Riott studied Advertising and Public Relations, but she always wanted to dedicate herself to acting because she lived in a very creative environment "thanks to my parents." Since she was little, she took theater, ballet, contemporary dance, jazz, singing classes... "I have always known that this was my path but there comes a time in adolescence when it is time to choose and I decided to train in a career without putting aside my interpretive studies,” he recalls.
When he finished the race, he felt that he already had that box checked and that now it was time to go for his dream. He decided to leave the neighborhood where he was born, Barceloneta, and moved to Madrid at the age of 22. Before, however, he had already taken his first steps, as a small role in Barcelona nit d'estiu (2013), by Dani de la Orden. "It was a pride to have my first contact at the cinematographic level in my own city."
He has been in Madrid for ten years now. She misses looking out the window and seeing the sea, but on the other hand "I am in love with Madrid, with the people and the streets, with feeling that we all come from abroad and that you have to make a family and have many groups of friends" .
The actress declares herself an animalist and vegan. While she was studying acting at the Juan Carlos Corazza school, one day she decided to change her diet. She did not want to "collaborate" with the mistreatment of animals. “When you realize what we are doing to the planet and to the animals and how unnecessary it is today, with millions of alternatives, there is no turning back.”
He tries to make people aware of this "without getting into their private lives" and tries to lead a coherent life along these lines, which also includes the clothes he wears, the creams he uses, the brands he collaborates with... "I think small changes are powerful and that one person can do a lot.”
Regarding how she sees herself in the future, the actress says that she is now "under construction and rediscovering myself" and that, just as society is doing, it is time to rethink family and life models. “I am in my 30s and it is true that there was pressure for social success and job and family stability, but fortunately I feel that I have been able to get off that train; I am calm not being a mother at 30, not having a stable partner and a stable job, living up to date and enjoying life without prejudices”.
A position that links to the evolution of his Nerea de Valeria. "Yeah. This type of new series and new types of stories are breaking paradigms. I also think that the pandemic made us reflect on what we want.” The actress flees from doing things out of inertia and says to continue "with that idling of stopping and seeing what life is bringing me without me going to look for what I don't even know if I want."
