During Modern Family‘s 250-episode run on ABC, Sofia Vergara not only received four Emmy nominations and four Golden Globe nominations but became the highest-paid woman on television. Since 2020, she also has been seen regularly as a judge on another high-rated network series, America’s Got Talent. This is all very impressive for a star who came to this country and to Hollywood from her native Colombia, learned English and started gaining remarkable traction in her budding career with a variety of roles since 2013 including Chasing Papi, The Three Stooges, Madea Goes to Jail, Hot Pursuit and countless voiceover roles including Strays, The Emoji Movie, Happy Feet 2, The Simpsons and the upcoming Despicable Me 4.
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But she never had done a major dramatic role — until now.
Vergara joins me for this week’s edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side to talk about her game-changing portrayal in Griselda, Netflix’s intense biopic of the notorious female cartel leader Griselda Blanco. She underwent a complete transformation for the role and is virtually unrecognizable after undergoing three hours in the makeup chair daily in a stunning performance. Drug kingpin Pablo Escobar once said, “The only man I ever feared was a woman — Griselda.”
In our wide-ranging conversation, Vergara is very open about taking on the most challenging job of her career, one she approached never having any dramatic training or past experience BUT threw herself into wholeheartedly, even to the point of hiring Jennifer Aniston’s acting coach because as she says Aniston also had to transform from a well-known comedy persona. Vergara talks about what it took to pull this off, an effort that has resulted in widespread critical praise.
To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of things from Sofia Vergara, just click the link above.
Join me every Wednesday during Emmy season for another episode of The Actor’s Side.