With Love and Responsibility

By Alicia Centelles
Photo: Wildy

This girl, very fluent and with a characteristic look, has developed a very fast career, which began on the big screen and with a difficult role. For those who are amazed of such a dizzy trajectory, Limara Meneses only has an answer: you can achieve everything with love and responsibility.

In the world of art, in recent times, the term natural has been used to designate a person endowed with an innate talent which allows to do completely spontaneously what others find hard to achieve afters years of effort and study.

Of course that all is not resolved with naturalness, to call it in some way: without improvement, perseverance and above all earnestness, it is not possible to reach any goal. Limara Meneses, born in Villa Clara 25 years ago, is aware of this and before she was 20 she had played two difficult roles in cinema. Later she has the controversial character of Raquel in a Cuban soap opera, titled "Here we are".

Somos Jóvenes talked with the young and talkative actress, and so we could know what she thinks about ther professional performance, sexuality, family and other topics.

SJ: How did you start acting?

"First I was in Olga Alonso group, of amateur actors, directed by Humberto Rodríguez in the House of Culture of Plaza. I participated there in a casting for a film about Benny Moré, and the director, Jorge Luis Sánchez, chose me for the role of Aida. Many good actors as Jorge Perugorría, Corina Mestre, Mario Guerra y Laura de la Uz came out of that group.

"At that time I was studying at Giraldo Córdova Cardín Sports School, in Havana. I never thought I could act one day, and much less in a movie. The same day I was 17 they put the script in my hands; it was a wonderful gift, I could not believe it".

SJ: But you have ever felt an acting bent?

"I confess that when I was a girl I didn’t know what I wanted to be. Bu t I was very easygoing, I was not afraid of said a poem in public, but never thought in acting. Nor do I have some artists in the family. I am the most atypical case of acting in Cuba (laughs): I went to grammar school in a little town in the center of the Island, I came to Havana at 14 and got the role in the film on Benny at 16.”

SJ: We know that you graduated at the University of Arts (ISA).

"I was doing the entrance examinations for the university when the arts tests arrive at my school, and my friends, who knew I had already made a movie, told me. They saw something in me, I guess.

"So I entered ISA, and graduated after five years. It wasn’t easy at all to work and  to study at the same time for that time. There were 60 subjects! But I had help from very good friends. Sometimes I finished in the set at 6 a.m. and at eight had to be in class.

"And you know what? I realized I had made a movie when I saw it in the cinema. I was so impressed of that experience, that I didn’t realize what I’ve done until I saw it on the screen."

SJ: What other experiences have you had in the cinema?

"Thanks to Jorge Luis Sánchez they called me to another casting, and so filmmaker Daniel Díaz Torres and his assistant I gave me a part in the film "Road to l Eden". I had the character of Nativity, which got a mention in acting.

"I have also act in a short titled 'Ode to pineapple', directed by Laimir Fano, which won a prize at the New York Film Festival in 2009.

"In 2008 the well-known Spanish director Fernando Trueba came to Cuba, and called for a huge casting for cartoons intended for adults. I did voice and image in them. These materials were taken to Toronto and Venice. They were filmed in the International School of Cinema and Television of San Antonio de los Baños, with students who would graduate that year and attended a workshop headed by Trueba.

"Almost everything I've done has been by chance. I recognize I've been pretty lucky, and it seems directors like my work."

SJ: And how do you get to the Cuban soap opera?

"I was in a casting for a film by Eduardo Moya, but I didn’t not work in it. Hugo Reyes, a Cuban actor and director, told me on a project he had.. One day he went to the ISA and called a casting. He chose me.

"I tried for three characters: Susana, Cecilia and Rachel. They couldn’t decide between the last two, and I talked to Hugo and told him I didn't want to do such strong scenes as in my previous movies. He told me Raquel had certain features, and about a month before filming he gave me that part.

SJ: That is properly controversial. Was you difficult to take it?

"Playing a character whoever it is, is always difficult,  but Raquel was much harder than Natividad and Aida. I am heterosexual, so when I had to look with love and desire at the actress who worked with me - Linette Luján - I was not easy. As time passed by both of us created a very good empathy, and that same affection you develop for your co-worker helps everything flow better. As you can see, I also had to strip myself of all prejudices I had with the character.

"At first I was terrified, because it is also the family, and you are concerned about how it will be taken. Fortunately, my mother-in-law is my number one fan, and my husband supports me a lot."

SJ: What do you think about how the issue of homosexuality is approached in the

soap opera?

"Hugo had always in mind that it was a subject that, whatever we tried it, would be strong for the Cuban society. Lesbians in the novel are treated as a common couple. There are those who say the approach is very educational, that the subject is not dealt with well. The only thing I can tell you is both directors and actresses are dealing with from the most possible loving way,."

SJ: In a previous interview you said you are not interested in the characters and the classic prostitute or the black woman in the tenement building. What do you prefer?

"There are more character parts than one can imagine. I like all the characters requiring I have to investigate deeply. I would like to play a

crazy woman, but a crazy one with a story on why she reached that condition. There are many interesting characters in our daily lives. I would also like to work in theatre".

SJ: Some advice or suggestions to young people?

"First, they must really love their profession, to feel deeply committed to the cause they support in any sphere of life: From love and earnestness, everything will come. The secret is there, at least mine is. I would also advise them to leave behind the miseries

human.

"In this turbulent 21^st century, we have to realize around us there are very special people we can do very nice things for. For example, I have a brother, he’s 18, who looks very  much like me and study  to be Civil Engineer; and my father, who is an example to follow. Everything I have achieved in life, and especially in this world so complicated of acting, I owe to him. His name is Orlando, he is a sports trainer and by the way, he was the one who discovered Dayron Robles".