Being the leading Marbella celebrities website we have decided to branch out and bring you celebrity news from a bit further afield.
Celebrities in Marbella girl about town over in LA, Claire Schaverien interviews the amazing multi-talented Carmen Perez from Puerto Rico. She is certainly no ‘one trick pony’ as she is an exciting actress, a stunning singer and an artist and a true and humble celebrity.
Claire asked Carmen Perez about her acting career, how she got into singing and what she has planned for the future!
Claire: Good morning Carmen, it’s lovely to see you again after meeting you for the first time at your art gallery expo in Downtown LA and I must say I loved your exhibits, so colourful and bright!
Carmen: It’s great seeing you too! That was fun
Claire: How long have you been painting?
Carmen: I’ve been painting for almost 2 years and did my first art show about a year after I started.
Claire: How did you get into acting?
Carmen: When I was still getting my Bachelor’s Degree in International Politics, I was always curious about the arts. I decided to take this acting workshop in Washington D.C. for fun and I was “hooked.” I graduated then moved to Hollywood, only pursuing acting at the time.
Claire: What is your most memorable role to date?
Carmen: Well I’m quite hard on myself so honestly I am still waiting for the ‘big’ memorable role but all roles I’ve played are memorable to me in one way or another and I am really grateful for everything I have done so far.
Claire: Who is your favourite actress of the moment?
Carmen: I really like how Natalie Portman is developing as an actress but my absolute all time favourite has to be Meryl Streep!
Claire: What film would you love to have starred in?
Carmen: Oh there are so many I can’t even begin……..
Claire: So you were in “He’s just not that into you?” As a huge Jennifer Aniston fan, I have to ask, what was it like working with her and Drew Barrymore?
Carmen: I absolutely LOVED working on the movie! It was so fun! Unfortunately though, neither Drew or Jennifer were there in the scene or on set. The director, Ken Kwapis, was lovely to work with though!
Claire: Are you doing any current films?
Carmen: Currently I’m not shooting any films but you will definitely hear more about them once we are in the official Pre-Production phases. One of them has a great title “Chocolate Is Not Better Than Sex” 😉 look out for it!
Claire: And now onto my favourite subject and passion – MUSIC……..How did your music career start?
Carmen: I started taking voice lessons a few years ago and realized that it was something else I wanted to pursue. I had a notebook full of songs and partial lyrics. I showed my voice coach, Kyle Puccia, some of these songs and told him it’s something I might really want to give a shot. With his guidance, I recorded some of these songs and the rest is history.
Claire: Who is your favorite singer of the moment and why?
Carmen: Adele because her voice is soulful & beautiful. I love the style of music too.
Claire: Carmen, you’re a busy lady aren’t you, you are also learning guitar? What inspired you?
Carmen: I was supposed to learn as a kid! My father, my grandfather, my uncle all play the guitar (and bass and the saxophone). My dad had started teaching me a little when I was 10 years old but literally right after that is when my parents split up and I moved to Puerto Rico with my mother. I didn’t touch a guitar since until recently. For me the inspiration came when I was recording pop/dance music and realized my heart wasn’t 100% into it. I wanted to sing in more intimate spaces, acoustically, where I could really connect with my audience and one of the things I felt would help me do that is by learning how to play the guitar. The URGE to play has also been growing lately… So I just started learning… I still have a long way to go but I’m working at it. We’ll see…
Claire: When and why did you start singing??
Carmen: I used to sing around the house all the time as a kid and when we would have family reunions, I loved singing to grandma in front of everyone. But I started singing “professionally” about 4 years ago.
Claire: So you have a new album coming out, what’s it called and where can people find it?
Carmen: Yes I have a few projects in the horizon which I can’t fully reveal yet but one thing I can say is that I just released my first Spanglish song “Velas” (candles in Spanish) which you can find on iTunes. There’s a music video for “Velas” on both iTunes and Youtube as well.
Claire: So you want to take your music over to Europe (maybe even Marbella) and the UK? I hear some DJs are playing it over in Ibiza already thanks to the talented Eddie Gordon.
Carmen: Yes, two of my songs (Emergency & Overload) have been in the Top 10 UK Commercial Pop Charts but yes, I would like to expand that with not just pop/dance music. Eddie Gordon has definitely brought some awareness of my recently released Spanglish song “Velas” to Ibiza and a few places in the UK as well! It’s an exciting journey! And thanks to him, you and I met so I’m grateful for his talent and to have him in my team! You never know I might be visiting you all over in Marbella very soon.
Claire: Well Carmen, it has been an absolute pleasure to speak to you, good luck with the new album, I can’t wait to hear it and I’ll definitely be hooking you up with some of my music contacts in Europe! I’m sure Spain would love your “Puerto Rican” presence and talent over there sometime soon!!!!! I think we should go and get that long awaited glass of wine we have talked about for so long!
Carmen smiles…
Me: (we knew there would be a mention of alcohol somewhere and Claire did not disappoint). Our thanks to Claire (as always) and to Carmen for giving up some of her valuable time in what looks like a very busy schedule. Well educated, clever, down to earth, a talented actress, a talented singer, a talented artist and now learning to play the guitar, oh and did we mention stunningly beautiful too.
Watch out world, you are about to see a lot more of Carmen Perez!!