You may know Stephanie Beatriz as an actor in Brooklyn 99, but after starring in In the Heights and Encanto, she proved she’s a singer as well! In this interview, Stephanie and Eric talk about her being Disney’s first Latinx Disney princess, Lin Manuel Miranda, what it means to see yourself on screen, and how to train your voice and sing while pregnant.
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Pushkin. I don't normally have people introduce themselves here on Backstage Pass, but I had to share this one with you because well, in a second you'll see why. My name is Stephanie Beatriz. I'm an actor. You might know me from such programs as Brooklyn nine nine. I play Rosa Diaz on there, and I also recently played Carla and In the Heights and Eric is my voice teacher. You left out one important thing. Oh what's that you said? I'm an actor and I'm a singer. Yeah, oh my god. Very hard to sort of wrap my brain around the fact that I can sing still, but you can and you've done two musicals. So yes, this is Backstage Pass with Eric Vitrop. I'm Eric Vitro. I have to say I love my job because I get to coach some of the most talented and famous singers working today. On this show, I talked to them about their lives, their craft, and what it really takes to make it big in the music business. I work with a lot of singers. But as you heard, even though Stephanie's been in musical features like In the Heights and the animated Disney musical Acanto, Stephanie didn't consider herself a singer. She didn't call herself one. To be honest, she was surprisingly apprehensive about her singing. At first. She wasn't even sure she should audition for In the Heights. I remember my friend Melissa Fumero from Brooklyn nine nine saying, you have to audition for this, you have to, And I was like, I'm not a singer. They're going to choose singers like Adam, what am I doing? I'm not a singer. Have you heard that track the Carlo things? It's not easy. She was like, get a voice lesson, get prepared, go in there and do your best. So you called me yes, And then I remember calling and being very nervous. So I was like, I don't know, I haven't taken a voiceless in college like years. You were a little like, you know, I'm not really a real singer. They probably need great singers for this and all of that, And in my head I'm thinking, if I say yes to this person, it means I'm saying no to that person, right, So I think I remember the first half of the call going, oh, should I recommend her too? Who should I tell her? She? Because I don't have time but you were so charismatic, so funny, you had such a great personality. I so enjoyed talking to you. I was like, Oh, what the hell? And then you came in and I don't get this feeling all the time, but I kind of thought, Oh, this is gonna work. She's gonna do it. Like I actually remember, and I think I said it to you too, that I have a really good feeling about this roll of Carla in the Heights you did and boom it happened. Yeah, what do you remember about that process? What I really remember about the first lesson was that you talked to me about singing the song like it was a monologue, and it was so helpful to me because I was so nervous about the sounds coming out of my mouth. I didn't have a lot of technique at the time, Like I was quickly learning from what we were covering in the hour that I spent with you that first time. But you talked about Emily Blunt and how you gave her some notes that were the same notes that you were giving me, which was like, think about what your character desires in this song and why that might connect to where the notes are going. And I was like dull, you know, like it was like someone just opened a door and was like, over here some new tools to use, and it was really extremely helpful. I remember that being like, oh my god, I'm way less worried about the sound and I'm way more invested in what I'm doing as an actor, and I think that's what got me the role. Well, I'm so happy to hear that that was helpful. You know. I say that truly everybody, because everyone's voice always sounds better when they stopped listening and thinking about it, right, and especially in your case, because I thought, well, she's a really good actress, so she's going to respond to thinking about this as an actor as opposed to as a singer. And it's funny you bring up Emily because she was even more reticent about auditioning than you. Or she was like, what a waste of time. I'm wasting your time, I'm wasting my time. And then she started singing. I was like, oh, she has a beautiful voice. Then she did Into the Woods and then became Mary Pop and with you you did Into the Heights and now are Disney Princess. I mean, it just shows you that you can't hold yourself back. You can't make those decisions. If someone sees something in you, take it in, absorb it, go with it, don't fight them on it. Yeah, your voice has been such a huge part of your career obviously, and so like when you're doing different people like Rosadeaz or Carla, what do you think about beforehand? Do you spend a lot of time thinking about what each character is going to sound like? For me, at least it comes more in the rehearsal process or like in the process of starting to work with the other actors and see like what the fit is. Sometimes I have like a really strong take on it. Like I think for Carla during in the Heights, I knew I wanted to do something like much higher higher and pitch higher in pitch yes, because she sort of lives in this place of like she lives in the top of her head, right, meaning that she kind of lives in this like floaty. I'm involved, but I'm also like half of my brain is maybe somewhere else half of this time. You know, Well, there's a funny line in the song where she doesn't get she doesn't get what's going on. Yeah, you know, she doesn't always get what's going on? Yeah, I mean that happens multiple times, right, Like it happens in the beauty salon, it happens in the lyrics. Come on, I don't think I know what you mean. And then it happens where she she's been witnessed the same as everyone else to Usnavi and Vanessa's relationship, and she has to have it directly pointed out to her. And then she's like, wow, now that you mentioned that's sexual attention, it's easy to see. I love that. The way that he wrote it is so indicative of what that character is. It's like totally do do do do do do do do do do do do? So she's like adding it. You can see her doing a math, you know, and you can hear her doing the math, which is really cool. Exactly exactly. It's so sweet. There's something very sweet about it. So for me, I was like, well, she probably lives and like got much higher. Such a good choice, such a good choice. Yeah, and for Rosa than Brooklyn ninety nine, the opposite, right, I mean, yes, she does not suffer fools. She does not. And also like side note, this is something that I don't talk about very much. But when I auditioned for the pilot, I was teaching workout classes in Hollywood, and I was yelling and using my voice a lot, and so it was raspy. When I went in for that audition, it was raspy, and I thought, how am I gonna like work with this a little bit? And so it sounded better to me if I placed it just a tiny bit lower, not as low as I eventually placed the Rosa voice, but a little bit lower in my register helped me sound stronger in the auditions, because I auditioned originally for the Amy Santiago role, and then they called me back for the Amy role and for the Rosa role, so I wanted to differentiate between those two two and so for Rosa, I just placed it a little bit lower in my register. So she talks a lot deeper than I do. She's very straightforward. She got and talks on this register, and she doesn't suffer fools. She thinks everyone's an idiot. Well, I plans on Saturday too, I'm having dinner with my parents. So you don't even like your parents. You call them smiley, moral and hug freaks. Plans or plans, I'm a badass and I'm an anarchist. So once you determined that that was Rosan, like you really go, Okay, this is who she is. I love this, this is her. Do you do anything vocally to prep for that or do you just go in and it just happens. I did not prep for it, and it caught up with me at a certain point. It caught up with me. I think like second or third season. It was like uncomfortable. Sometimes I can slide into it really easily now because I know where it lives comfortably, right, But there was a point where, and I think it was like coming back to the show after like the break, because we shoot for x amount of weeks and then we have a break while they decide whether or not they're going to kill us or not, you know, and then coming back it would be like, oh no, what is this voice? Like where is it? Over time, I'd sort of tried to like train myself to like slide back into it easily, and now it's like second nature. I don't need to do that. But there was a point where I realized, like, you have to think about this a little bit more. Yeah, I'm glad we talked about that because I do think people need to think about that, Like, if you are going to do an unusual character voice, sometimes you should really warm up your voice, do exercises, practice doing it, build up a strength and a stamina to be able to do it totally, especially with I think accents, and people don't think of accents as related to singing, but they are because it's so much about sound. Where the sound is in your mouth yea, and what sounds natural to an audience, you know, like if you don't practice that, you will say your hard are on stage when you're not supposed to. I just will. Stephanie sounds confident about her voice and her skills now, but she was insecure about singing for a long time. She told me it all started back in middle school. I went to a public school in Houston, and my school had three electives. They had acquire art and speech and debate. And art was very expensive because you had to have money for all these like supplies, So that was kind of out of the question. Choir The first day that I was in there, literally the first day that I was in there, the teacher was like, I'm not sure that you have the best voice, so I would consider switching your elective. She literally pulled me aside outside that to me, so I switched. I switched to speech and debate because I was mortified. And in speech and Debate, that was the first time that I sort of started acting. The speech and debate class would do like a play, and they did a melodrama and I was cast as the bad guy in the melodrama. So I wore like a top hat and a mustache and it was really fun. I had a blast. I had such a blast. I bet we had like three performances. You know, six and seventh and eighth graders all go to the auditorium and watched the performance. And I remember the next day at school there was a boy in my science class who had never talked to me before, and he came up to my desk and was like, Hey, your brother was really funny in that play. You gotta tell him. I was like, and I didn't know. You know, that was my first experience with like, oh, I fooled you. Wow, I really deeply fooled you. Because you've been in classes with me since sixth grade. Now we're in seventh grade. You've seen me every day in your science class, and I fooled you, and I made you laugh, and I made you come up to me to communicate to my non existent brother that you liked what I did in the play. What a light bulb moment. Yeah, it really was doing a movie like in the Heights and then becoming a latinox Disney princess. What would you say to that teacher? Now? I think I would take her a side gently and not in front of her whole class, or like send her an email or something and say I would think twice about how you pose things to students that might take them really seriously. But also thank you, because yes, you booted me out of your choir and I found my way to a theater. So yes, you probably got so much more out of it I think I did. Yeah, I'm just like thrilled you didn't let it hold you back or stop you from singing the rest of your life. Because if I could think of a few choice things to say to her, and maybe I'll hunt her down and say, well, you know, that just really struck to my core, you saying that, because my father used to always say he had heard me singing along with some TV commercial when I was three and said I was out of key, off key, I was out of tune, and he wouldn't let go of it, like he held onto that thing for years. And he did get me a piano and gave me piano lessons, so I'll give him that. But he was like, stay away from anything singing because like, you don't have an ear for it. And I don't know what inside of me got me to keep going because he was so negative. And then when I would watch people on TV sometimes because I knew right away, I say, oh, I'd love to play the piano for them, or I'd love to give them some notes, like I'm thinking, like even as a kid, I used to think that, and he go, what makes you think You're gonna get to Hollywood and meet these people? And somehow, if you have that thing inside of you, you have to listen to it. Yes, it is about honoring it and trusting it and allowing yourself to listen to it and not let other people drown it out, especially people who are these big figures in your life, like teachers, like parents, like you know, like people you look up to and say like, oh, it's not for you, right if that is painful to you to have somebody say like, that's not for you. If there's pain there, I think that that's a sign of like, oh that must be for me, because it's that it costs me something to hear that. Oh that's a great point. Well, I've observed with you that even when like the music is challenging, like when you get a new song, like for example, when Kantos songs were coming, you were always like, oh, yeah, this is can be challenging, but you never backed away from it in any way. And I thought that was such an admirable quality that you were like, Yeah, I'm gonna do the best I can. I'm gonna go for this, and I'm gonna make it happen. Thank you, stay right there. Next on Backstage Pass, Stephanie and I will talk about the biggest challenge she faced while working on Disney's and Kanto, singing with an unexpected partner. Welcome back to Backstage Pass. So Stephanie and I worked together for In the Heights and then we started working on Disney's and Kanto. In the movie, Stephanie plays the lead role of Mirabelle, a fifteen year old Colombian girl, but pretty soon after she started recording, she found out she had a new singing partner. I didn't know that I was pregnant until we I had already done dialogue and stuff before I found out, and then I found out and was like, like what do we do? And it didn't affect me for a while, at least singing wise. It didn't affect me for a while until really like this last what they called the third trimester, so like that's sort of when it started really being like, whoa, this is different? Dumb, dumb? Yeah, no, I know. You know, it's funny because I think of it as you carrying two people along with you. You've got this baby inside that you're carrying, but you've been carrying and helping Mirabelle. Yeah to you know, so it's like, how interesting that you're doing both at the same time. It is really wild. You know, we should talk about Obviously there were new challenges singing, yes, as the pregnancy went on. Yes, So would you like to talk about some of them because you felt them. I was, you know, I was trying to be empathetic. Yeah, but I'm not feeling and I don't know what it feels like. So I would try to think if I ate a lot one day and I'd be really stuff to go. Maybe this is what feels like I'm having trouble breathing. This is what it must be like very similarity to tell me. I think one of the biggest things, and that was surprising, was breath. One of the things that we work on was like diaforumatic breathing, right like inhaling and then exhaling while you're saying to allow the breath to support the sound. At a certain point, it was holding the longer notes and like very quickly, it was like I would inhale and then when I would exhale and sing the note, I could feel where the baby was inside me, which was such a trip. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that. Because you said I feel an elbow, Yes, I could feel like, oh, that's a shoulder, Like that's a shoulder and that's an elbow. And sometimes when we were doing those exercises, when we were holding those long breasts, the baby would let me know like I don't have enough space, and it would shove into a side or move a leg. That was like please give me more space, you know. Wow. So towards the beginning of singing the songs, for in Gonto, it was really fun to sing through the entire song during the recording session. You know, we would break it up obviously, like do smaller chunks and work on the smaller chunks and see what's going to be best for storytelling. But then at the end of the session we'll go through the whole song just for fun. There's actually no way at this point in the pregnancy, which is like quite late, there's actually no physical way for me to get through the entire song because I don't have enough breath to make it through the whole song in one chunk, which is like, sorry for my language, but it's a mind fuck because like you go, oh, Noah, does that mean that I'm not good? Am I failing people? Because I can't do the thing that I want to be able to do so badly, which is like sing this song from front to end and give the performance that I want to fully give. And the answer is like somewhere in the middle, which is no, it doesn't let me speak up about Yeah, let me give you the answer. No, it's ridiculous, But I'm glad you said that, because I think people think those kind of things about various things in their life, and the truth is it's been the opposite. Everybody has been so impressed that you have done such a great job. Well, I don't want to say despite being pregnant, because that's kind of a negative, but it's true. Everyone's so impressed that you were able to do what you did do so instead of anyone going out or disappointed, she's not saying it from top to bottom, which very rarely do people record that way. Anyway, you were doing big chunks of the song and it was great, and I think everybody was so thrilled and happy that you never you never canceled. You never said I can't do this. You never said I need to get a break. Oh what was me? I need to sit down? Oh I need a break. Someone massaged my feet. I mean, there was never a diva moment or anything. If people didn't know you were pregnant, nobody would be the wiser because you saying through it so beautiful, great to hear. So yeah, so let me just put an end in that game. I was amazed because I did get to see you getting a little larger time did yeah, And I was like, how is she? That's why I would ask you, like, can you bend over on this exercise because well, the truth was like toward toward the end there like I couldn't been but I didn't want to just take anything for granted, like, oh, she'll be fine with dad. I was like, well, can you do this? And yeah, and then we just worked around everything. I think the internet is helpful sometimes you learned a lot research. Yes, I sent you a study that I found. I found some exercises, and you know, I started going to physical therapy just like on the side for the pregnancy, and I asked the physical therapist. I was like, I'm worried about She was like, no, you're fine. Like I've been watching you. We've been working on stuff. Your abdominal muscles are strong, you can handle it. Go for it. Don't worry about like someone's gonna snap or break, you know, like it's not. Your body's built to do this. You're strong, you can do it. Yeah. Well, I kept saying I was convinced it was helping you. I thought it might be, but I certainly feel like way more connected to my body. I think that's the thing about singing lessons. They connect you to yourself, you know, they really do, Like some people connect in yoga. Some people connect through sports, but singing, I think, is like there's so many parts of your body that are working together in unison to create sound, and you become really aware of what your body is doing. Why are your shoulders up by your ears? Like? What's going on with your chest? You know? Like how come your neck is all tight? Like right? You know, it's like all of it starts to make you go like, oh, why am I doing that? Wow? I'm carrying tension in a lot of places. You know. Well, By the way, if you do feel like you're going into labor, I will drive you right now to the house quid. But I'm going to keep recording because fantastic with I was thinking this point, if she goes into labor, that'd be great for the podcast. Oh my god, that's so funny. That's what I was thinking. But so I don't want you to force it, but in case, just in case. So in end Conto, you played Mirabelle. She's fifteen years old. Now in real life you're not fifteen. You're correct woman, and you're pregnant and you're married. Yes. What was it like though, channeling or going back to your inner team for her? It was really fun. I mean, I think in true Disney tradition, she is like a combination of a lot of things that I love about Disney heroines and Disney sidekicks. It's almost like she's both at once. And I say that because a lot of times the heroines in Disney movies have not been written funny. The sidekicks are often the edic support, you know. I think that's changed in the last few years with films like Frozen and Mowana, where the actors are much more free to make fun and funny choices. And I'm so grateful to them for sort of paving that way, because I think that's the thing that I loved about helping create this character of Mirabelle is like, you know, in the world of Encanto, her entire family has magical powers except for her, and so she's in this space in which, like everyone in town knows them, everyone depends on them. Her grandmother is like this matriarch of this magical family. Nobody's paying attention to Mirabelle a lot of the time because people are focused on the magic and the familial performance that has to happen, because like, in a way, they're like the famous people in town, right, like they are the magic family, and so like, who cares about Mirabelle? You know, I'm not super strong like Louisa, but Donkey's gone out of your money or effortlessly perfect like Sabella. But Mama, why am I the only one that didn't get a gift? You're just as special as anyone else who is Mamma, you just heeled my hand with a nat I think for her, some of her comedy comes from covering that feeling, and some of it just comes from being allowed to be whoever she is because no one's paying attention. So what that allows me able to do is like kind of figure out maybe who she is or she's trying to And that to me is something that like I really deeply understand because like as a teenager and as a young person, I was really trying to figure out who I was. I didn't feel like I fit in. I didn't feel like I looked right, sounded right, was right. I didn't fit what I saw around me as like the standard of beauty, especially in Texas at that time, which was you know, white, blonde, beautiful that takes a toll on a kid. I think, and also I felt like, well, my family's different. My mom and dad speaks Spanish at home, and we don't have a lot of money, and I don't feel like I fit in, or I don't feel understood, or I feel like I'm in these like smart advanced classes and it makes me feel like a nerd and I just feel like I stick out. My parents were well, they were trying to get us to assimilate, and my sister and I they were really worried about us being accepted and assimilating quickly. And that was kind of the way that things were happening back then in the eighties and nineties. It was like, have your kid fit in, don't let them stick out so much so that my sister doesn't even speak Spanish. She can understand that, but she can't speak it with your dad being Colombian, right, Like, what does this role like mean to you? It's really I mean, and it's I have no words, really, I will say. My dad is on a WhatsApp chat with all of his family in Colombia and the day that the news broke, my phone was exploding, like they were all losing their minds. One of the things I think that they've done really beautifully is they've kind of created this world in which multiple regions of Columbia are represented in this film in the way that they can be in an hour and a half animated film. But I think visually, visually they've done something that I've never seen before in a Disney film. The visual style of this film is really really rooted in magical realism, which is a deeply Colombian literary thing, you know, And I think it pays homage and pays respect to Colombia, but also the people of Colombia and the myriad of different ways those people came to Colombia, what they've dealt with as Colombians, and the wave look, and I think all of those things are subtly layered into the film, but they're also really important. Yeah, and it's not just the visuals, it's the music too. It's so peppy and like welcome to the Family Madrigal, the home of the family Madriga. I know it sounds a bit fantastical, the magical, but I'm part of the family Mariga. One of the things I'm so excited about is seeing it with people, because like I've only seen little clips of it, so like, what's gonna happen when there's like little kids in their seats, like, are they gonna be moving around? What are they gonna do? Dancing? Yeah? I can't wait, I can't wait. God. So, my earliest memories of music actually were and it's funny because it's very full circle, but they were Disney. They were us with the VHS tapes, watching them over and over and connecting really deeply, really quickly to these Disney songs. I loved Sleeping Beauty, I loved Cinderella. I can remember standing in the bathroom with the door locked, acting out the solo from Mulan, Who's that girl? I see You're kidding? And then recently, when we were recording in Gunto, one of the things that Lin Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music for in Gunto, one of the things that he texted me was, you know, I'm really trying to write a song that little kids will want to sing to themselves alone in the mirror. And as soon as he sent that text, I started bawling because I thought, that's exactly what I did. That's exactly what I did. Do you have a piece of advice you would give to a younger Stephanie Beatriz. Oh ah, I would say, trust yourself, trust yourself way more than you are already. You can allow yourself to believe even more. And I think I wish I could just go back and sort of like stand her in front of a mirror and be like, look a she's so great, Like look at what she has to offer, Like, don't be so hard on yourself. You know it's like it's honestly the same conversation I'm having with myself all the time. Still, you know, That's what I would say. Trust, trust yourself, trust yourself, trust yourself, trust your instinct, and always trust your heart. That's what I did. I had a knowing deep down inside that this is what I was meant to do, despite all the negative comments my father had, I sold you it on and I'm so glad I did because I have a career, I truly love in treasure, and if I hadn't trusted myself, I would have missed out on all of it. Stay tuned, we'll be right back after the break with this week's vocal tip. Here's our vocal tip of the week. One aspect that sets apart a really fantastic performance from kind of a mediocre one is dynamics, the variations of volume from soft to loud. If someone sings with very little variation and the whole song is either just loud or just soft, it will usually be a bit boring. Of course, there are always exceptions, like a really soft, beautiful lullaby or a quiet, intimate love song. Dynamics can completely create or even destroy the mood of a song. I always have my students practice singing in a wide range of dynamics to prepare them for when they're performing or recording, to achieve the most compelling and powerful performance as possible. An easy way to start practicing dynamic exercises is to pick a musical pattern, for example, this one. Try singing it twice, first soft and then loud like this me me maybe me me me maybe mey me. Bases, baritones and tenors start on a sea below middle cea, transposing down by half steps and then back up by half steps to go to your lowest note and then to your highest note. Sopranos and altos, you try starting on a B flat below middle C, again transposing down by half steps and then back up by half steps to go to your lowest note and then to your highest note. For example, if that pattern seems too complicated and it is a little tricky, try a simpler one like this bases baritone antennas. You start on a C below middle C for you sopranos and alto's, try starting right on a middle C and there you go. If you want to share how you practice your vocal dynamics, I'd love to hear you. Use the hashtag Backstage Pass pod on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or wherever you like to post. I can't wait to see your videos. I'll see you next week. Maybe maybe me maybe maybe me me, me, me me. Backstage Pass with Eric Vietro is written and hosted by me Eric Vietro and produced by Morgan Jaffee. Katherine Gerardou is our showrunner. Emily Rosstek is our associate producer. Kate Parkinson Morgan is our edit. The show is mixed and mastered by Ben Tolliday. Additional engineering help is from Jacob Gorski and Martin Gonzalez. Mia Lovell as our executive producer. Our development team Litl Mulat and Justine Lange helped create the show, thanks also to Jacob Weisberg. Heather Fame, John Schnarz, Carl Migliori, Christina Sullivan, Eric Sandler, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Daniela Lakan and Royston Basserve. The original theme music is by Jacob and Sita Steele for Premier Music Group. We record at Resonate Studios. Fred Talkson does our videography and the photography is by Ken Sawyer. A very special thanks to Michael Lewis for his inspiration and the best guidance anyone could ask for. Backstage passed with Eric Vitro as a production of Pushkin Industries. If you like the show, please remember to share, rate and review it. I mean that really share, rate, review it, and if you love the show and others from Pushkin Industry, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus as a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and uninterrupted listening for four ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcasts subscriptions. To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.