All American: Alondra Delgado is the New Kid in School [Interview]

Alondra Delgado began acting when she was four years old — in her living room in Puerto Rico acting out telenovelas. “I always said, ‘oh, I’m the mean one, I’m the bad one mom.’ I memorized the lines and would say them out loud,” she told me, trying to describe the moment she knew she wanted to act.

The truth is, she cannot recall one moment, because even before the impromptu performances in her living room she knew acting was her destiny. Two-year-old Delgado would “stand in front of the TV and I would tell [my mom] in Spanish, ‘allí, allí’ which means ‘there, me there.’”

By the time she was seven, she’d been in a feature film in Puerto Rico. She told me she came to the mainland United States about five years ago to formally study her craft.

I got to talk to the actor and writer about her experience on set of the Starz hit Vida, her role on The CW’s All American, and the unusual place she finds inspiration to write. 

On All American, Delgado plays the new girl in town Vanessa Montes, and though she couldn’t spill anyone’s secrets to me, she did provide some insight into Vanessa’s personality.

“She’s very outgoing. She just wants to enjoy life in high school, she wants no drama,” Delgado said. “But her presence ends up bringing a little bit of drama and secrets involving everyone’s favorite characters.”

That’s not surprising at all. Where Spencer James goes drama follows whether he likes it or not. But he handles it all in stride without ever losing focus. Delgado can relate.

“I love Spencer. I think he’s my favorite character on the show, just because he loves football and he’s not letting anyone or anything get in the way of what he wants, you know?” she said. “And that’s something that I can relate to now, following my dreams and pursuing my acting career.”

Delgado also enjoys working behind the camera as a writer. She wrote and starred in Bygone which won her a “Best Actress” award at the Austin Micro Short Film Festival. We spoke about how she gets inspiration for her stories. The idea for Bygone came to her in a dream. 

“I had a dream that I woke up — me as myself — I woke up with blood on my hands,” she confessed. When she actually woke up in reality, she just started writing. “I always like to sit down with paper and pencil and just wait for ideas to come and get inspired by that.” 

Her muse is present most often when she’s having a difficult day. “I like to write when I’m feeling kind of low and down. I feel like inspiration comes a lot faster that way,” she admitted.

“So, every time I’m stressed or I’m not having a good day, those are the days that I write the best.” When the mood strikes her, she’ll even take work with her into the bath. 

“I like to take a bath and then I have a little table that I can put by the bath and then I just write while I’m in the bath with warm water and the music,” she said. “And that’s a way to release stress and just like ground myself… It’s very relaxing.”

Delgado had a series regular role on a show on Telemundo when she lived in Puerto Rico, but a lot of work in the telenovela genre has moved to Miami. So, she knew she wanted to get her bachelor’s degree in California.

She had a guest spot on the Starz hit Vida, which was canceled after three seasons, and reflected on her experience on set. “It inspired me a lot. It’s like ‘Oh, ok, this is great. The camera person is a woman, the sound girl is a woman. This is amazing,'” Delgado said.

“[Mostly] everyone on the show was Hispanic. So, that obviously makes me feel very good that we as a minority are shooting so [much] stuff right now. It was definitely a great environment to be a part of being a woman and being Hispanic.”

Delgado has several other exciting projects coming up in addition to All American. She’ll star in an action thriller called Safe House which she said is different than any other projects she’s done. One reason is she got to do her own stunts.

“I would have to run a lot and it was the desert and sometimes we were shooting and it was like 109 [or] 113 degrees. So, it was tough,” she said. But she also had fun. 

For now, Delgado can’t wait for All American fans to meet and learn more about Vanessa, who she says is the character she relates to the most out of everyone she’s played in her career so far. 

“She’s very confident and I think that’s something that, over the years, I’ve been working on,” Delgado said. “You have to just trust yourself and not think about what other people think about you.”

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All American airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW. 

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