Stephanie Beatriz Breaks Through the Quiet
A lot has happened in the two years since we’ve seen the demented drivers of ‘Twisted Metal’, but Beatriz is coming into the second season stronger than ever, as a Mom, a colleague and an actor.
It was more than two years ago that the first season of Paramount’s ‘Twisted Metal’ concluded, with fans of the video game franchise and the show itself unsure about the future of the program. It may shock audiences to know the star of the show, Stephanie Beatriz was a little unsure as well. Not necessarily about the future of the show, but about a lot of things in life. Yes, that same Beatriz who has brought to life characters such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Rosa Diaz, Hazbin Hotel’s Vaggie, and of course Twisted Metal’s Quiet. Those are some of the biggest bad-asses in film and television, and the actor who played them had what some may call a bit of anxiety. The “quiet” was perhaps more metaphorical, and something that as an actor, Beatriz had to break through.
“I think I was nervous for season one [of Twisted Metal] for maybe the first two episodes, and then I sort of slid into Quiet’s skin and really found how to work with everybody in a way that made me feel good” Beatriz admits. As mentioned however, it wasn’t merely a new show with new colleagues, or the pressure of ensuring the show appeased the fans of the franchise, it was all facets of life. “Not for nothing, I was a new mom when we first started the first season. My daughter was really little, and so I was navigating a bunch of personal stuff too, and I've sort of settled into myself a little bit more”.
Check out the full video interview with Beatriz, below, or continue scrolling for the remainder of the article.
It’s apt that one of Twisted Metal’s most iconic characters, Sweet Tooth drives an ice cream truck, as this is a delightful double scoop of reassurance from Beatriz. It’s reassuring to many out there suffering from anxiety that Beatriz, who is a major success story in film, television and animation still has that same feeling we are all too familiar with. The second scoop of humanity comes in the form that this woman, known for those aforementioned bad-asses is just as real, and admittedly human as the rest of us watching her play confident characters.
Kudos to Beatriz, not only for tipping her hat and revealing all the behind-the-scenes emotion that was going on during season 1, but that the end result was yet another addition to the library of memorable characters she’s created. Quite very much carried the show next to Anthony Mackie’s John Doe, and in a sneak peek of season two, this writer can reassure fans, Quiet gets even more of the weight to bear. Beatriz wants the audience to know she certainly feels as if she’s found her rhythm, perhaps even more so, in season two. After almost a decade with the ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ family, it must have been a challenge to join a new family. As a member of that aforementioned sitcom family, you would know the ins-and-outs of every coworker - when Andy Sandberg might go off script or when Melissa Fumero might break.
“I've settled into who I am as a mom, who I am as a partner, who I am as a friend, and who I am as an actor” Beatriz reassures fans. The actor, now a little more settled into the chaos and demand of being a young working Mom seemingly recognizes the opportunity of rejoining and building her Twisted Metal family even further. “I think it's an ongoing journey. I think it’s all about learning new stuff and kind of figuring out who I am in this project and how can I best attack it from all angles. But I did feel proud of what we were making in season two, and I'm excited for everybody to see it”.
One of the biggest changes is not simply going to be how much there will be for Twisted Metal fans to see, but how much they’ll hear. After almost an entire season of playing the aptly named Quiet, the character has literally and figuratively begun to find her voice. Beatriz is no stranger to using her voice both selectively and purposefully. Most young parents will recognize her voice from Disney’s Encanto (especially if their household is anything like this writer’s home, chances are you’ve seen that film over and over and over), but many new fans will even recognize her voice acting work in Hasbin Hotel.
So when faced with a character like Quiet, or the equally terse Diaz, what does that teach a veteran actor like Beatriz? “I think the thing silence really reiterated to me is how important it is to listen and react to what everybody else is doing.” Beatriz goes further to explain that when you’re not utilizing that specific tool in the actor’s toolbox, it gives the other tools more time to develop. “You're very freed up when you're not trying to remember a line. That also reiterated the other thing to me, which is that some of my best acting can only really happen when I've studied that script inside and out. If I'm not, I can't possibly be honest and really connected to the character, So it kind of reiterated lessons that I already knew. It definitely freed me up because I didn't have to memorize any lines for the first two episodes”.
Yet hidden in all of this is perhaps one of the most important lessons. The quiet is not simply a tool in an artist’s kit. It’s not a tool for introverts to hide behind. It’s something to be broken. Gracefully, during this interview, Beatriz has shared some of the moments where she had to break through the silence in order to be a mom, or a partner or an actor, but what the performer may not realize is she has played characters who have accomplished this not-so-small feat several times. In fact, during season two, Quiet reveals aspects of her character not seen in the first season. As she did in the first season, she becomes more and more comfortable with who she is, and will fight for it. It’s most certainly one of the biggest accomplishments of the bad-ass Beatriz, both on the screen and behind the scenes, that she has put herself out there, and shown who she is.
“I think that's a very scary thing to do, is to show yourself. Because, what if you are rejected? What happens if you are rejected by the community you've built, by the people you love, by the people whose love you desire? What if you are rejected by them? What if you show who you are and they say, No, I don't like you anymore. I don't like that, I don't want that, and I don't love that. That's a really scary place to be. It's probably one of the most badass things you can do, is to show yourself.”
In short, Beatriz has taught us, you can afford to be a little more Quiet.