THE ACCENT

     My Mom was born in Hollister Ca. It's a ways away from the US/Mexico border but my grandparents had work Visa's that allowed them to travel there when my Grandmother was pregnant with my mom. My Mom is a citizen of the US but was raised in Mexico. My Father was born in Mexico but through the acquaintance of an uncle, was given a passport and special permission to live in the US for 6 months at a time. When my mother and father married in 1972 they both decided to start a better life for themselves in Los Angeles. My father was already renting a house in Norwalk and after a few roommates found different places for themselves, my mom moved in. I was born in Bellflower Ca in 1973 and soon after, a few of my aunt's also moved with their husbands to Los Angeles and that was basically my immediate family. I spoke Spanish until I started school but my parents refused to put me in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program for their fear that I would be behind from the rest my classmates and maybe even given a different education than lets say the future president of the United States or something. My Mom barely speaks any English and what she can, it's pretty broken up. My father was fluent and spoke with no accent whatsoever.

So why the family history lesson? I don't have an accent. I was born and raised here. And come to think of it, my Spanish is "neutral" in description when I audition. Casting directors like my Spanish because it's plain Spanish with no accent at all. I can do an accent for sure, but my normal English and Spanish conversations do not have an accent to them. So why do you chose to use a thick Spanish accent when you impersonate me? Do you do a ghetto jive talk when you impersonate your black friend? Or a kung fu master when you impersonate your Asian friend? Or how about a high pitched voice with flailing arms when you impersonate your female friends? I don't think your friends act or talk like that in real life, so why make that choice in a show? I think we've all come across this type of performer and maybe have fallen into the same trap as well. Let's take a basic stereotype and heighten it to a 10 for the sake of "comedy" right? Well, I think it's time someone said "Wrong". I know some of you might be wondering about my accents that I do on stage from time to time and how they differ, so let me explain.

I base about four characters with Spanish accents from personal life and the characters all have specific points of view and or wants. One is a suave "latin lover" that wants nothing more than to romance you and make you feel as though you the most beautiful creature in the universe. I modify this character depending on the situation, but that's pretty much him in a nutshell. I also have my poor/sad accent character that is a little slower in pace and has a lowly demeanor. This character generally comes out when you've pretty much set him up to come out by asking for the spanish gardner or looking for "Jose" with the bill for the evening's dinner. He's my bomb shelter fall-out character that I need to go to so that I don't rip your head off on stage.  He rarely comes out anymore, but he's in there. If you really make it harsh with your Pimping then I'll bring out the gangbanger character, but I really hate him. He thinks only of himself and how to take advantage of you. I grew up with a bunch of these characters in my life and I just don't find them funny at all. Then I have my famous broken english crack-em up's character. He really cares about any given situation with his entire heart, but is held back by his accent. He struggles to communicate and swaps words like Amnesia/Magnesia in sentences and is the brunt of everyone's jokes. I made this character up from personal experience, A way to vindicate myself in my head from past "accentual abuse" and from an uncle. All three accents have a character behind them. It's their perspective, views and wants that generate the laughs..not the accent alone. Do you get it?

If I went on stage and did a "surfer bra" accent in a scene just to do it, then a "pot head" and a "lucky charms" accent in another without somehow having them be important to a scene and just doing them to get laughs you'd definitely think less of me. I wouldn't blame you. Can you blame me? And for those of you that think I lean on my accents too much, please take a look in a mirror and remember that the "surfer", "pot head", "lucky charms", "Marry :Poppins", "Sergey", "Cousin Vinnie", "Valley Girl", "Hillbilly", "Southern Belle", "Poindexter", "Burley Trucker", "Colonel Klink" are your accents and I don't touch those. Who really leans more on their accents? If you really hadn't thought about it like this before, that's great! If you still feel that playing a stereotypical character on stage for the sake of comedy is cool if the audience calls for it..please explain to me how they've asked for it! I call BS on that...and besides, if you're ever planning to be a parent, please know in advance that your kids will ask for candy all day long. It's up to you to say "No" for their own good and give them something nutritious and fulfilling instead.