Lisandra is intelligent and inquisitive. She participates in workshops about environmental care and wants her neighbors to learn how to protect the town's mangrove forest. Sometimes she's mature and focused. At other times, she's rebellious, restless, and irreverent. Her parents eagerly await the date to celebrate her fifteenth birthday in the traditional way. She dreams of dressing up like a K-pop star that day.

We're talking about the character played by Isabella Vale Silvera in the Cuban soap opera Ojo de Agua, who in the most recent episodes questions her desire to celebrate her birthday as she had hoped. Like Lisandra, Isabella is also 14 years old. However, her dreams have always been linked to art, especially acting.

At age 5, she joined the children's theater group La Colmenita. Later, she explored dance and music, but as she tells us, these artistic expressions didn't hold her attention for long. Four years later, she joined the Abril Theater Group. “This is and always will be my home, where I met my first teachers, my best friends, and discovered my love for being on stage.”

“From the beginning, it has been a endless learning process, not only about acting but also about life. These have been years filled with love and theater. For me, the Abril Group awakened my true calling to art. My first experience on stage, with the play 'La noche' (The Night), was unforgettable and filled with anxieties. I even remember not having a single line, but I was dying to be on that stage and experience everything to the fullest.”

It was precisely her performance in this group that gave her the opportunity to join the cast of Ojo de Agua. “Teacher Yailín Coppola, in addition to acting in the soap opera, also directed the actors. She told Massiel Dueñas, director of the Abril Theater Group, that she was looking for young people to audition for the next telenovela. Among the contacts she sent was mine. After a series of auditions, I was selected for the role of Lisandra.”

-When you read the script, what was your first impression of the character of Lisandra?

From the first scenes I read, I thought she was a girl with a very strong character, but with qualities typical of any teenager: her rebelliousness, sensitivity, and her desire to discover herself and do what she loves. Lisandra and I are the same age, so I felt she was both so close to me and so distant from me at the same time that I saw her as a challenge and a learning experience.

-What do Lisandra and Isabella have in common?

Actually, we have very different personalities. We don't have that much in common, as I am much more respectful. I'm careful and meticulous in everything I do. However, Lisandra possesses qualities I envy: her inner and outer strength, her courage, and how determined she is.

-What was the biggest challenge in playing this character?

The biggest challenge was portraying Lisandra without the audience seeing her only as a spoiled or disrespectful girl. Lisandra has a good heart and flaws like anyone else. She's also very mature for her age and the environment she's in.

-And what did you enjoy most about this job?

I enjoyed absolutely everything about filming, but I especially remember the scenes with my family because it was a challenge for me to act with such screen legends and overcome my nerves to learn from them.

-Any anecdotes from filming that you'd like to share?

The horseback riding scenes made me very nervous because I'm very timid, and Rolando (Rogelio) knows how to ride, so he went very fast, and I just wanted to finish the scenes quickly because I was afraid of falling.

-How have you felt the public's reception of the soap opera? Are you satisfied with the outcome of your character and the impact it has had on viewers?

I was always a little apprehensive about how the public would react to the character, but I was fortunate that the viewers' reception has been wonderful from the very beginning. I'm happy that the impact it's having on the public is the right one, the one I hoped for.

-We also saw you on screen last summer in the TV movie "The Road So Far," directed by Luis Abel Oliveros. What was the creative process like for this project?

It was a very nice process because Luis Abel is a director who really connects with his actors. He knows how to guide them and listen to them. Also, filming for the TV movie began right after filming for the soap opera wrapped. Going from the character of Lisandra, who has such a strong energy, to Diana, so simple and fresh, was a complete change that I really enjoyed.

-Photography and literature also fascinate you. How much do these artistic expressions contribute to your training as an actress?

Photography and literature are two art forms I love. Being able to combine them with the career I want to pursue is wonderful. Photography gives me a deeper understanding of everything around me, and I think that's fundamental in acting. I love both reading and writing literature, and both are closely related to theater.

-In the coming months, you'll begin studying at the ENA (National School of Art). What are your aspirations in this regard?

I'm very happy about this new stage and I hope they will be wonderful years to remember. As a student, I'm diligent, so now that I'm going to study what I love, I imagine being even more so. I'm eager to learn and act.

-Dreams you hope to achieve?

I'm a person full of dreams and aspirations.

But I'm also more about setting short-term goals and gradually climbing until I achieve my big dreams. My greatest desire in life, however, is to be able to live doing what I love, to continue making a living from my passion.

-Will Lisandra be having her quinceañera? I hope Isabella's party is a grand affair, as you deserve…

We'll both have our quinceañera parties! I don't know if Lisandra will wear a traditional dress or something K-pop-inspired… and I'm not really into K-pop, but I'm not too keen on the idea of traditional quinceañera dresses either.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff