Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins

Latina spitfire, Paula Garces is pulling double-duty these days on-screen!  Fans of the revival of All My Children can see her as tough and sexy FBI agent, Lea Marquez.  And, fans of Marc Cherry’s highly–anticipated follow up to Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids, features Garces as the most devious maid of them all!  Right now, Paula is everywhere on Hulu and OWN with All My Children and on Lifetime with Devious Maids (Sundays at 10PMEST), but this weekend she is at Comic-Con in San Diego promoting her Latina superhero, Aluna who is quickly becoming a video game star!

So, with all the success, and juggling multiple projects, the ambitious and talented Garces is also an expectant mother!  That’s right!   This gal has superpowers! As she tells On-Air On-Soaps in this revealing, candid, and lively interview, she kept this pregnancy a secret to her family and almost everyone at All My Children. You will find out why!  But what will the AMC writers do now that she is showing in real life? Write it in to the show, or keep it hidden?  Paula shares her thoughts on the matter.

Now for a big question on soap fans minds, what has it been like for Paula to get to work with the one and only soap heartthrob Thorsten Kaye, Pine Valley’s Zach Slater?  How is she fairing when she knows many fans are hoping for a Kendall (Alicia Minshew) and Zach reunion down the line?  Paula definitely has an opinion.  Plus, Garces opens up about how she landed her role as Flora on Devious Maids, chatting with Maids’ co-star Susan Lucci about a possible return by the soap icon to AMC, and she gives us a glimpse into the reaction on set when Devious Maids filmed its shocking season finale cliffhanger!

Here now is the spirited, sexy, and oh so smart, Paula Garces on her whirlwind year thus far, and what is yet to come!

MICHAEL:

In recent scenes on All My Children, Lea puts the brakes on with Zach, in part due to the fact that he is still wearing his wedding ring to Kendall.   Does Lea feel he is still carrying a torch for her?

PAULA:

Courtesy/TOLN

I think she doesn’t know what to think.  I think the way the writers have been writing our story is that they really want to take time with it, and really want to make sure that the fans fall in love with not only Lea for the first time, but all over again with Zach.  I know the fans were really adamant about his past relationship, and they loved that.  I think the writers are being very careful that I just don’t become like a home-wrecker.   I was adamant about that, and so was Thorsten.  We both really agreed.  We love working with each other, and if there was going to be a love story for the fans to support us.  Lea is career-driven and intelligent, but she is a little taken aback by Zach because he is so charming, sexy, and she has seen that he is so intelligent.  Sometimes he could be very loyal, but then again, Lea is still on cop mode.  She is on FBI agent mode, so she has to be careful, because she knows criminals can be very manipulating.  So she did not know if he was just being a manipulative criminal, or if he is just someone who is just being really hurt by his past love and can’t let it go, which is also not good for her.  There are a lot of layers to his character, and a lot of layers to our story together, which makes it very interesting.  I hope the fans agree, because it’s lovely for us to play.

MICHAEL:

During the recent broadcast of TOLN Soaps Live with Michael Fairman featuring All My Children’s executive producer Ginger Smith, the fans in the chat room were saying they don’t want Kendall with Zach, and they don’t want Lea with Zach, either!  I guess they want Zach for themselves! (Laughs)

PAULA:

Courtesy/ABC

Oh, no!  (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

What has it been like working with Thorsten Kaye?

PAULA:

I met him the first day on-set, and he was the loveliest person.  Thorsten is a jokester.  He has this very cool, dry humor, and you really have to be an intelligent person to get it.  I love that.  He is challenging off-camera, but on-camera, as well. Thorsten brings a lot of himself into the character.  When I first met him in-person I though we had chemistry.  But then, I immediately worried that I hope it translates to the screen, because if it doesn’t this is not going to work out, and it immediately did.  Thorsten was like my tour guide.  I was the new kid in school, everything from behind the scenes and on-screen.  I was a fan of All My Children before, but I wasn’t necessarily watching every single episode the last two years the show was on ABC.  I had to get recaps and learn from Thorsten.  On all levels, Thorsten is a great actor.  I have learned a lot from him, because AMC’s schedule is even faster now.  I was used to doing soaps before when I was on Guiding Light.  We now really have to be on top of our game, because of the budget and production.  We have to communicate behind the scenes.  We run our lines, and Thorsten is adamant about making every thing make sense for us first, and then making sure it translates on screen so the fans like it, and continue to follow the show, and not be like “What the hell is this coming out of left field?“

MICHAEL:

This is a medium where the actors have a lot of control over how their characters are perceived in some way, and you can infer things in scenes between your scene partners, and bring it on to the set.

PAULA:

Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Well, with Thorsten there are a lot of rewrites!  (Laughs)   I will come to a dry rehearsal and he will go, “I am cutting this, and I am cutting that.”  He does not let anything go.  He cares about his character and his storyline, which is lovely for me, because then that means my storyline will be that much better.  I learned very quickly I have to be on my toes with him.  He changes everything on the day we shoot.  There are some days I will say, “I don’t agree with that,” and the Latina comes out in me.  But I have to make sure I have a good argument behind it.  And sometimes I change his mind, and sometimes he is like, “Look, the reason I am saying this is because this and this happened with Kendall, and this and this happened to Zach three years ago.”   Then, I will be like, “Oooh. I did not know that. Why don’t the writers know that?”  (Laughs)  And then he goes, “No. We have to really take care of ourselves and our own.”  So, you are right.  This is a medium where if the actor does not really care about their work, it’s not going to be that good on camera, and it’s going to show right away.  All My Children is very appropriately titled, not only for what you see on the show itself, but behind the scenes, we are a family!

MICHAEL:

What did you think of the sex-trafficking storyline?

PAULA:

I was completely enthralled in it, and I loved it.  I was just so amazed that they were willing to dive into that, and do it so well.  All the actors, especially Darnell Williams (Jessie) and Debbi Morgan (Angie) are just amazing!  Sal Stowers (Cassandra) is so great.  I just think that storyline is really cool, and it gave me the opportunity to introduce Marquez in a very cool and sexy way.  Not only she is an FBI agent, but she is Sinnamon!  It was very soapy at first, but a cool way to make a splash on a show that I have never been on before!  I was grateful for that storyline. 

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

Have you had the opportunity to meet Alicia Minshew?  If she were to come back do you see Lea and Kendall fighting over Zach?

PAULA:

No, I have not met her.  I know there had been some conversations about Alicia returning, but I am not sure where that is going.

MICHAEL:

Let’s talk about your hot new primetime soap role in Lifetime’s Devious Maids!  I heard you had some initial hesitancy about the script?

PAULA:

I got the pilot sent to me by my agent, and at first glance looking at the script I did not know what to think of it because of the title … the title threw me off.  All I had to go on was the fact that it was called Devious Maids, and they were looking for five Latina leads and it was created by Marc Cherry of Desperate Housewives.  I thought, “Why do the five Latina leads for the first time ever have to be maids, right?”  So it took me awhile to even pick up the script and take a look at it.  Then my agents were like, “Are you crazy? This is a Marc Cherry show!”  So I read it and after the first three pages I was like, “Oh, my God!”   I was laughing out loud.  I could now see how cool and interesting he was handling the maids’ storylines.  After I put it down, of course, I wanted to audition for it.  But, I felt very guilty.  I was like, “Should I like the fact that they were maids?”  Because, I did like the fact that they were maids!  I already knew there was going to be some controversy and backlash over it.  I immediately called my mom and my grandmother.  My grandmother then very quickly reminded me, “How very quickly you forget my history in this country. When I first came here to the U.S., it was in the early 60’s, and the first job I was able to do was be a maid.  I was very grateful for the job.  I did it with dignity and respect, and was able to provide a very good living for my entire family.  And, that is the reason you are here in this country.”

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/Lifetime

So, when you went through the audition process you did not know which role you would ultimately end up with?

PAULA:

I went in for different roles; I went in for the Marisol role, which was Rosalyn Sanchez’s from the very beginning, and then I went in for Edy Ganem’s role, which was Judy Reyes daughter on the show.  But then the network found out my real age and did not feel I could play a 20-year-old, or whatever.  Marc was like, “I don’t really care what role you end up doing, you just have to be on my show.”  And so, when he said that, I thought he was just being nice to me because I had been turned down for the other two roles.  But he was not just being nice, he was being very sincere and seemed to like my work, and he made it a point to get me on the show.  I am so grateful that it is the role of Flora, because it ended up being the role I am really into it.  I love all the other girls, and I think they are doing an amazing job, but I am in love with my character.  Now that I finished the season, and it’s unfolding, I know the audience is going to love her and follow her.

MICHAEL:

What can you tell those who watch, or those who may check out Devious Maids for the first time, about your character of Flora?

PAULA:

Courtesy/Lifetime

People know that Flora is the maid that gets killed in the very first episode. That is why the hash tag #whokilledflora is becoming really popular.  They can expect from Flora anything and everything!  She is completely the devious maid on the show.  She is the devious one who got killed off, but the reason why I love Marc Cherry so much, and his writing, is that he really thinks about every single piece of the puzzle.  Flora wasn’t just evil because she is evil.  She was a very complex character who was extremely possessive, and she was a woman with a mission.  She definitely wanted to come to this country to make something of herself no matter what.  I like that she is unapologetically driven to be who she wanted to be, which was rich and famous, and head of a household, no matter how she had to get that achievement done, honey!   She was maybe not the most gorgeous one of all the maids, but she damn well knew how to use what she had! (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

We will see more of her, right?

PAULA:

Everyone will dream about her, and remember her.  There will be flashbacks and dream-like sequences of wishes they could have done with her, or conversations they could have had with her.  So she really affected everyone else’s character on the show.  Not only because of her murder … but what she was doing before she got murdered.

MICHAEL:

Courtesy/Lifetime

Did you get to work with Susan Lucci at all?

PAULA:

I did not!  But we had a lot of conversations on set about All My Children.  I have been a fan of Susan Lucci for a very long time.  I had read all the scripts so I knew what her character on Devious Maids was going to be like.  She is actually one of my favorite characters on the show, and I knew she was going to rock it.  I made it a point to see her. She was lovely, and when I told her I was going to be joining the online version of AMC she was giving me pointers, and tips, and wishing me well.  And of course, I asked her, “Are you going to come back?”  And she said basically, “I would love to.  It’s one of my favorite roles, and I am just having conversations about it.  Right now, I am just concentrating on my other businesses, and Devious Maids, but I am not forgetting All My Children.”   I think they are still in conversation about her return.

MICHAEL:

What do you think about All My Children now getting a summer television home on OWN?

PAULA:

Everyone at OWN is very excited, and has high expectations, but we are just thrilled that not only are people going to be able to watch it anytime they want online basically, but they can also go back to the way they were used to watching it, which was on TV at a certain time, and have that anticipation for the next episode, because it is going to be on their television in the afternoons.  I know Oprah has expressed she has been a fan of the soaps for years, and she is very happy that she can bring the shows back on TV.

MICHAEL:

Photo Credit: D'Andre Michael

So, not only are you in two major shows right now, you also have created a comic book character who is a Latina Superwoman!  But she is now even more than that!

PAULA:

Aluna is a comic book character I created along with my creative partner three years ago. It was just my reaction to my visit I had to Comic-Con.  So four years ago I was doing some work there with Knight Rider and The Shield, and of course, at that time was also the second movie of Harold and Kumar which I was in.  And so, there were a lot of people interested in me, and I had no idea what Comic-Con was about.  I basically went into this convention going, “Oh, cool! Everyone is in costumes and obsessed with video games and graphic novels, and I love it!”  I saw I was getting all this love from those fans that knew all about my previous roles, and were sci-fi oriented, which I love.  I saw all these Latino people walking around and spending money, and I was really taken aback.  I did not see any Latino superheroes, and the Latino people that were being represented in comic books or video games were not being presented in a very good or positive light, per se, or even cool.  It struck a chord in me.  So, I began to create this Latina superhero based on an alter-ego of mine, and making fun of myself on what I wish I would look like and what powers I wish I would have.  So through my production company, we started to discuss what this character would be, and what would she be like?  I wanted it to be a Latina superhero, but all-inclusive and with a storyline that would be universal.  It took me back to the 1500’s when Columbus discovered South America and the Americas.  I fell in love with some ancient tribes of South America, and what their beliefs were.  They still believe today that they can do these kinds of things.  I translated that into super powers for the Latina superhero.  So, three years ago we went back to Comic-Con with this little comic book, and people were into it, and because the comic book was successful we were able to license the character out to an online video game.  Now she is one of the favorite heroes, and she gets picked over 70,000 times a day worldwide. This weekend I will be at Comic-Con in San Diego July 19th and 20th at the Allegory Booth – 1621.  I will be there with new Avatars for the online video game.  So we are unveiling those, and we are unveiling the fact that she is going to have a revamped trilogy.  We are going to do a graphic novel.  I am grateful from this little idea of all of that is coming.  Now she is known in the comic book world, and slowly growing in the video game world.  We are hoping to some day make a movie or a TV show out of it.

MICHAEL:

What are Aluna’s superpowers?

PAULA:

Courtesy/HeroesofNewerth

She has this gem around her neck, and it’s an emerald where she harnesses power from the moon, and when she is fully charged it becomes red, and she basically can kick-ass, and go to the past, present or the future all at the same time.  She is one with the earth, and so she is able to communicate with animals, and is able to take on some of their forms at times.  The list goes on and on.  She kicks ass, honey!

MICHAEL:

Well, maybe Lea needs to turn in to Aluna to get Zach Slater?  Thoughts? (Laughs)

PAULA:

(Laughs) Zach seems to be digging Lea right now.  Lea is putting on the brakes, not only so she won’t get heartbroken, but like any good Latina she is playing the game.  She can’t be too easy … you gotta make them want you!

MICHAEL:

So where do you think we are in the public consciousness, and the mainstream media, of portrayals of Latina women in television and motion pictures?

PAULA:

Courtesy/NewLineCinema

I have been acting now for 20 years, and within that time it took me 18 years to play a maid.  I also took time to look at what I have played in the past.  I have played everything from: doctors to veterinarians, to astronauts, cops, to FBI agents, assistant to a lawyer, to a very rich powerful woman, to poor, drug-addicted, to conflicted, to the “it’ girl, to the wife, to the geeky student.  I have played it all!  I was struck by the fact that people don’t remember that Latina women on television have played everything.  There should be more available.  I am always going to think that.  I think Latina actresses are fighting the good fight.  Look at Selma Hayek, to Jennifer Lopez, who is her own empire and is a forced to be reckoned with, to Sofia Vergara, who is very much using who she is and what she is, and what you think is a stereotype to the best advantage, ever.  I think people should embrace the fact that Devious Maids is talking about these stereotypes, and is not just sweeping it under the rug.  The maids are the heroes of the show. 

MICHAEL:

Do you know the cliffhanger at the end of this season for Devious Maids?

PAULA:

Courtesy/Lifetime

Absolutely! Oh, it’s amazing.  And just to give you a little insight: at our final table reading of the season of the last episode, we were not given the last two pages until that day.  This is how dramatic it was … we were not given those last two pages until we got to the last chapter, and it was given to us folded.  So, when we got to the last two pages we unfolded them, and there was mayhem!  Cast members were gasping and people going, “Oh, my God!” Seriously! Not even the cast members knew where it was going, and how it was going to end.  People are going to be like going, “Why?” or, “Oh, my God!”   There are going to be lots of reactions.   But that is what you want from a show, and the reason Marc Cherry was so successful with Desperate Housewives.  I think he is going to be even more successful with Devious Maids, because he is not afraid of going anywhere with it.

MICHAEL:

You seem to gravitate to playing strong and sexy women.  Do you think of yourself as strong and sexy?

PAULA:

I never saw myself as strong and sexy.  I still don’t see myself as that, but every time I see someone strong and sexy on television, or women with balls on TV, I am attracted to it, and I want to see more of it.  That just happens to be the roles I am interested in.  Do I think I am necessarily the best at those roles?  Not all the time.  I am as insecure as any other actor you will ever meet, which is every actor. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

One of the happy bombshells that happened in your real life recently is you discovered you were pregnant!  Now you are five months along!  Did the cast and production at All My Children know about it?

PAULA:

Courtesy/TOLN

When we got the hiatus for All My Children, it was a bit needed for me, because I am five months pregnant now.  It was a nice pregnancy pause.  When I got AMC, I did not know I was pregnant, and when I was working I was feeling horrible on set.  I just thought it was the grueling schedule, and was nervous.  I threw up a couple of times on set, and in my dressing room.  I went to the doctor and got the amazing news I was pregnant.  Just to give you a little bit of the history, I had already had two miscarriages in the last four years.  My husband and I were really coming to the point where we were going to need medical help to conceive.  So we had given up the idea for a while, and gave ourselves a rest, and by some miracle of God, we got pregnant.  But, because I had those miscarriages in the past, I really did not want to tell anyone, not even my family. We wanted to keep it to ourselves until I was three months pregnant, because it was so heartbreaking in the past.  But I felt really bad, because I was keeping this big secret from production at AMC.   But of course, since I worked so closely with Thorsten, he noticed right away, and so I came clean with him early on.  He was extremely supportive.  So right away he gave me so many tips, because he has two beautiful girls with his lovely wife, Susan Haskell (Ex-Marty, OLTL).  Thorsten was my on-set guardian guarding the secret I was pregnant.  Then after the first trimester, I told everyone at AMC.  Everyone was so happy and elated for me.  I really thought when I said it they would say, “Great! You’re fired!”

MICHAEL:

Well now the question is: will they have Lea wearing big winter coats in the summer, or hiding behind planters, or counters, or never getting up from her desk to hide her pregnancy on-screen?  Or, will they write the pregnancy in to the show?  Do you have an update, or knowledge of what the writers of AMC plan to do?

PAULA:

Photo Credit: Sue Coflin/Max Photos

I am supposed to have a writers meeting, and I don’t know whether they are going to (A) hide the pregnancy, or (B) have Lea be pregnant.  The last I heard was that they were going to hide it, and they have done this in the past with other actresses and were not worried about it, and they think they can pull it off, and told me not to stress about it.  But it could go either way, because with the break they have had a little bit more time to think about it.  I know they have reworked some scripts and storylines to give the fans the best show possible, so that may be up in the air.  My boobs are huge right now, so there may be some great boob shots of Lea, and some of the fans won’t mind!  If she did show up pregnant, it could throw a monkey wrench, and maybe Zach would be trying to figure out if he is the father or not!  Let’s say he decided to go back with Kendall for a while.  It would just be so heartbreaking for Lea if it was his baby.  So, it could be very soap opera, if they do include the pregnancy.  We shall see…