Yolanda Saldívar, the woman who killed Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Perez, appears in only one shot in Netflix’s “Selena: The Series.” But the actress who plays her, Natasha Perez, said she fears that fans may confuse her with the real-life murderer she portrays on screen.
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that Perez is not related to Selena or her husband, Chris Perez. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actress also wanted to make it clear that her portrayal of Saldívar is purely for entertainment purposes.
“I remember thinking I’d like to see what it’s like playing an evil villain. It sounded fascinating from an actor’s standpoint, to dissect what someone like that has going through their minds,” Perez told EW. “I remember working with the director on the scene and she asked me how I was feeling. I told her I was feeling conflicted. The actress in me is fascinated by the journey of a complex character, but the human in me has all sorts of feelings. The actress in me is also worried for her safety. A lot of people take this very seriously and think that it’s real, and in this case, the character is real but it’s not me. I’m not her.”
The real Yolanda Saldívar ran Selena’s fan club and managed her Selena Etc. boutiques. She was fired in early March 1995 after the family accused her of embezzling money from the business. A few weeks later, on March 31, Selena met Saldívar at a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas, where Saldívar shot the 23-year-old in the back. The bullet severed one of Selena’s arteries, and she died of blood loss later that day after being taken to a hospital.
According to a 1995 CNN story, Saldívar was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, which was the maximum prison sentence permitted in Texas at that time. She will be up for parole in 2025.
Perez said that although she wanted to visit the real Saldívar in prison in order to help her portrayal on-screen, she decided against it out of respect for Selena’s family.
“I was interested in meeting her even though I knew that the person I would be meeting would be a shell of the person who has been in prison and in solitary confinement for so many years. My interest was in seeing her mannerisms, and how she spoke. I requested permission to meet her, but to honor the family we decided it would be best for me not to,” Perez said. “Instead, I spent so long scouring the internet finding anything I could about her.”
Perez stressed that the series is not about Selena’s death but rather about celebrating her life.
“The series isn’t about her death. Yolanda is there to add tension to what’s going on, but what’s going on is so beautiful because it’s an artist finding herself, an artist emerging and finding her place within her family, and society,” she added. “Everyone was very careful with how it was all handled. Unfortunately, Yolanda is a part of Selena’s tragic story. But the beauty of it all is how her legacy continues until today through her music, her art, and really, her whole life. Thanks to her, we can have this conversation today and celebrate a show about a Latina, starring and written by Latinos. It’s a beautiful thing.”
“Selena: The Series” is now streaming on Netflix.
The Evolution of Elliot Page, From 'Trailer Park Boys' to 'The Umbrella Academy' (Photos)
Nova Scotia-born Elliot Page got his start as a 10-year old in the 1997 TV movie "Pit Pony," and over the course of his 23-year career has played many memorable roles. And on Monday, in only the latest example of Page's longstanding, outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ equality, he came out as trans in a Dec. 2 Instagram post, saying "I love that I am trans, and I love that I am queer," an announcement celebrated by fans and peers alike. In the following gallery, trace Page's evolution from child actor to trailblazing television and indie film star to activist and advocate and revisit some of his best performances.
Pit Pony, 1997-2000 Page was just 10 years old when he made his acting debut in the television show "Pit Pony" -- a film about a young boy who befriends a pony used to haul coal in a Nova Scotia mine. In the TV movie Page plays one of the miner kids, Maggie MacLean, and revisited the role when the story was rebooted as a television show in 1999 (and later won him a Young Artist Award).
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Trailer Park Boys, 2001-2002 As Mr. Lahey's offspring Treena, Page made plenty of runs to the greasy corner store for pepperoni and smokes in the Canadian comedy series "Trailer Park Boys." He appeared in several episodes during the show's earlier seasons in through 2002. This was his third professional acting gig.
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X-Men: The Last Stand, 2006 Meee-oow! Page played Kitty Pryde (also known as Shadowcat) in the 2006 Brett Ratner addition to the X-Men franchise. Page was the third actor to portray Pryde in the X-Men film universe, but also the most well-known -- the other two appearances in "X-Men" and "X2" were just cameos. Page reprised the role of Kitty Pride in the 2010 follow-up film "X-Men: Days of Future Past."
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Juno, 2007 Arguably Page's most notable role, and definitely the one that put him on the worldwide fast track to fame, "Juno" sees Page playing pregnant teen Juno MacGuff opposite a hapless father-to-be Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).
The role scored Page an Academy Award nomination -- though it was before he publicly came out as transgender, so it was an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
Whip It, 2009 Page plays Bliss Cavender, an indie rock-loving skater in rural Texas who falls in love with bank track roller derby and joins a local team in Austin as a way to get out of the beauty pageant circuit. Directed by Drew Barrymore, the film was initially financially unsuccessful but soon became a cult favorite.
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Inception, 2010 Page joined a cast of high-profile stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy in the 2010 mind-bender "Inception" as Ariadne, a dream engineer.
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Coming out as gay, 2014 Page made international headlines in February 2014, but not for his acting chops -- he came out as gay at the Human Rights Campaign's Time to Thrive Conference. "There are pervasive stereotypes about masculinity and femininity that define how we are all supposed to act, dress and speak. They serve no one," Page said at the time.
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Beyond: Two Souls, 2013 Page lent his voice and likeness to this video game produced by Sony and Quantic Dream, and portrays Jodie Holmes, a player character who has psychic powers because of an AI linked to her brain. Page worked on the game alongside Willem Dafoe, who voices Jodie's surrogate dad, and the game was one of the first to premiere at the Tribeca film festival. The game came out the same year as Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us," which Page later accused of ripping off his likeness to base the character Ellie on. There are a lot of similarities between the Ellie and Jodie Holmes characters -- not only do both players look similar, but they both play guitar frequently and are orphaned/estranged from their parents.
Sleater-Kinnney's "No Cities to Love" Music Video, 2015 Shortly after coming out as gay, Page linked up with queer punk rockers Sleater-Kinney to join their video short for their song "No Cities to Love." Page was one of several stars to make an appearance singing and dancing in the video, alongside Sleater-Kinney co-founders Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss -- Miranda July, Natasha Lyonne, Fred Armisen and Brie Larson also joined.
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Tallulah, 2016 In Stan Heder's film "Tallulah," (which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival) Page plays a homeless woman named Tallulah who kidnaps a toddler from her drug-addled mother and tries to raiser her while also running from the law. Page stars alongside Allison Janney and Uzo Aduba.
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Tales of the City, 2019 This short anthology series from Netflix is a reboot of the previous 1993 adaptation and based on the Armistead Maupin novels of the same title. In the 2019 version, Page plays the adopted daughter of Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), who moves back to San Francisco after estranging from her parents nearly two decades earlier.
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There's Something in the Water, 2019 Page made his directorial debut with this documentary film about indigenous and African Nova Scotians who are fighting to protect their lands and futures from environmental disaster and pollution. Page directed the film alongside Ian Daniel, and the film also stars Stephen Colbert.
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The Umbrella Academy, 2019 Page turned heads as Vanya Hargreeves in Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy" series, which has been renewed for a third season. Following his coming out in December, Netflix confirmed that Page will continue the role of Hargreeves and join the upcoming season.
Coming out as transgender, 2020 Elliot Page announced to the world he identified as transgender Dec. 1, and noted that he uses either he/him pronouns or the gender neutral pronoun they. Page's coming out was met by a landslide of positive reception and congratulations from both his Hollywood colleagues and fans -- and he said he plans to use his platform to educate the world about trans issues.
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Page scored an Oscar nomination and rose to fame with his role in teen pregnancy comedy ‘Juno’
Nova Scotia-born Elliot Page got his start as a 10-year old in the 1997 TV movie "Pit Pony," and over the course of his 23-year career has played many memorable roles. And on Monday, in only the latest example of Page's longstanding, outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ equality, he came out as trans in a Dec. 2 Instagram post, saying "I love that I am trans, and I love that I am queer," an announcement celebrated by fans and peers alike. In the following gallery, trace Page's evolution from child actor to trailblazing television and indie film star to activist and advocate and revisit some of his best performances.
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