Victoria Cartagena at a publicity event for FOX’s Gotham.
Two years ago I did an amazing interview with actress Victoria Cartagena for NYCastings. (You're going to pass out from the exclusive pics and in depth Q&A, so if you haven't seen that interview, go right now!)
Victoria brought the comic book character Detective Renee Montoya to life on FOX's Season 1 of Gotham. Then the powers that be decided to move in a different direction and poof! Renee Montoya went buh-bye.
But at least she wasn't killed off by a stray bullet! So there's always hope that perhaps one day Renee will return to Gotham to reclaim her toxic lover, Barbara Kean.
In the meantime, Victoria Cartagena had a stint on Hulu's The Path, had her film The Pastor released and told me that she loves Turkey Hill ice cream.
It's the ice cream that did it. I had to find out more about this mysterious woman.
Victoria Cartagena has no idea this brand new interview is going live in a few minutes!
What was the biggest screw-up of your life?
Geez, I hate to sound boring with this answer but that's a tough one! As I get older I've learned that everything in life is a lesson... especially the so called screw-ups. I think at times those are your greatest teachers so I try to look at it from a positive perspective.
What drives you absolutely bonkers?
People trying to continue a conversation in the middle of a yawn. It's not like I can understand a word they're trying to say anyway! It's like, "Dude, I can wait the two seconds until you're through yawning to get the rest of your story!" It drives me mad!
What experience do you want to be a part of in the future?
I've always wanted to throw the first pitch at a Phillies game. I'd probably be that person who tosses the ball into the dugout but it would be fun. Also, I LOVE scary / horror / thriller-suspense films and dream of working on such a film. I would love to work with M. Night Shyamalan. I really enjoy his films and he always works in Philly so it would a real treat to get to work with a hometown boy in the city we both love!
Victoria Cartagena as Detective Renee Montoya, with Barbara Kean (played by Erin Richards.)
As a kid, what kind of school attendance did you have?
I had pretty good attendance. I remember really only missing a few days throughout Elementary school. It was weird because I rarely got sick (I've never even had the chicken pox even though my mom would make me play with any kid who had them so I could "get it over with") but if I did get sick it was when I was off from school... Spring breaks, holy days of obligation (I went to Catholic school), stuff like that.
Then in high school I did get sick several times but I didn't want to miss school because I was competing with Mayra Ramos (unbeknownst to her) for perfect attendance. Our high school gave out a monetary award for students who had the longest perfect attendance and punctuality record. I wanted to win so badly but I knew Mayra also had never been late or absent so I had to settle with sharing the award with her, but come graduation when they announced the name of the student who had the longest perfect attendance, they only called out my name. I was so excited not to have to share my $500! I guess Mayra must have been late somewhere along the line. But I was wrong, because after my brief victory, the principal called out Mayra's name. It turned out that not only had she never been late or absent in high school, she had never been absent or late EVER! Not once in TWELVE YEARS!!! I had no idea, all those years I could have slept in or just stayed home when I was unwell... what a waste!
Most embarrassing story?
You know how employees stand outside of restaurants handing out samples to pedestrians as they pass the store? Well, one summer while my cousins and I were walking on the boardwalk down the shore (that's what we called going to Wildwood, NJ), we passed a funnel cake shop where there was a guy handing out samples to some teenagers and a lady. I got so excited at the thought of free funnel cake that I ran over and helped myself to a piece but then all of a sudden the woman and the teenagers stopped talking and looked at me with stunned faces and I'm thinking, "Damn, I didn't take that big of a piece, why are they looking at me like that?!" Little did I know that the man wasn't an employee handing out free samples; he was actually a customer sharing his funnel cake with his wife and kids. They started cracking up. I was so embarrassed and offered to buy them a new funnel cake but they refused being that I had I given them such a laugh.