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| Film
& TV |
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APRIL
BLOSSOMS |
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Thespian April LEE Hernandez has a golden debut
on the silver screen.
By Daniel J. Vargas
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When
April Lee Hernandez thinks back to 2003, she fondly remembers Super
Bowl XXXVII. Not that she’s a football fan by any means. Truth
be told, she doesn’t “get it.” But that January
evening, she was nervously watching the game at her cousin’s
house in the Bronx. Then, during a game break, she saw it: her first
paid acting gig, a commercial with towering NBA center Yao Ming. The
now memorable commercial starred Ming (and Yogi Berra) trying to cash
checks but being denied by a diminutive Hernandez, who played a souvenir-shop
cashier with a penchant for saying “yo!” “We recorded
it and must’ve watched it a thousand times,” Hernandez
says. “It was only 30 seconds, but it was the best 30 seconds
of my life.”
That was then. Since the Yao and Yogi commercial, Hernandez has had
several more moments that could easily qualify as the pinnacle of
her life. The actress of Puerto Rican descent, has been on a steady
Hollywood ascent with roles on 2005’s Jonny Zero and more recently
on the NBC mainstay ER. This January, she’ll make her feature-length
debut co-starring opposite two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank in the
drama Freedom Writers. Hernandez, 26, plays one of Swank’s troubled
high school students and delivers a debut performance so moving that
it should propel her from a commercial novelty to serious actress.
Born in the Bronx, Hernandez initially didn’t aspire to be a
thespian but a nutritionist. That changed when she took drama classes
at Hunter College and was bitten by the acting bug. She eventually
dropped out —a decision, she says, that was not made lightly—to
get real-world experience. She began doing stand-up, booking gigs
at the New York Comedy Club and Stand-Up NY Comedy Club. “Secretly,
deep down inside my heart, I always felt like I was funny,”
she says. “It was my first taste of the entertainment business.”
It was a nosh that soon led to an incessant craving. She dabbled in
student film projects and off-Broadway shows before the Yao commercial,
which made her eligible for the Screen Actors Guild. And clearly,
this self-confident woman is making the most of being a card-carrying
SAG member. That innate aplomb permitted Hernandez to move to Los
Angeles in 2005 to join the cast of ER as nurse Inez, leaving behind
her hometown. While in L.A., all alone, Hernandez nailed the audition
for Freedom Writers. “It was the first time I was on my own,
so I was determined to get the part,” she says. “This
movie meant more to me than I think a lot of people, because I had
to prove myself in so many ways. I had to look within myself and it
just made me stronger.” Part of that growth process included
getting a driver’s license, about as valuable in L.A. as having
a professional headshot. “Before that, I was taking buses in
L.A. That was scary.”
Hernandez comes from a humble upbringing—her mom is a homemaker
and her father is a custodian with the New York Metropolitan Transportation
Authority. Knowing that, you want to root for this thoughtful, idealistic
woman just as her parents do. Just don’t pity her. “Just
because you live in the ghetto doesn’t mean you have to have
a bad life,” she says. “It’s what you make of it.”
That sentiment is expressed in the film Freedom Writers, about a Long
Beach, California teacher (Erin Gruwell) who took an at-risk class
of mostly minority students and turned them into model students who
channeled their anger and pain into cathartic journals, culminating
in the 1999 book The Freedom Writers Diary. Hernandez plays Eva Benitez
(not the real name of the student) in the film version. It seemed
a natural role for Hernandez. Both she and the real-life student are
opinionated, intense and ambitious. But when she met the former student
in person, Hernandez had one burning question for her: Did she really
detest white people as portrayed in the movie? Over ice cream at a
Ben & Jerry’s, the former student told her, “Yeah,
I did.” That’s when the actress knew she had to channel
all her emotional turmoil to deliver an honest performance, an effort
that didn’t go unnoticed by Swank.
“I go at Hilary; I’m in her face,” she says. “I’m
like ‘You know what? I’m just going to show her who I
am, and just knock her off her boots.’” And she did. After
an emotional scene where Hernandez’s character professes that
hatred, Swank commended Hernandez for her authentic acting, leaving
Hernandez in tears in Swank’s arms.
Though her acting career is just beginning to blossom, Hernandez—either
a restless soul or a classic overachiever—already has set her
sights on another role: producer. Whatever the future may hold, she
hopes this time to stay close to home. “If I can live and work
in New York,” she says, “I would love that.” Hollywood,
my dear, may have something to say about that. So keep that newly
processed driver’s license handy. |
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Top
10 DVD Releases
December - January |
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1.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Dead Man’s Chest
(Release Date: December 5; Rated: PG-13; Action)
Capt. Jack Sparrow is on the run again, only this time from the
ghost of Davy Jones.
2. Lady in the Water
(Release Date: December 19; Rated: PG-13; Fantasy)
M. Night Shyamalan’s creepy tale centers on a shy building
manager who rescues a mysterious young woman only to find she has
endangered him in the process.
3. Pulse
(Release Date: December 5 Rated: PG-13; Horror)
A group of fate-tempting college kids channel the dead, opening
a doorway to the next world that can’t be closed.
4. The James Bond Ultimate Edition, Volumes 3 and 4
(Release Date: December 12; Action)
Some of our favorite Bonds are re-released.
5. Lies and Alibis
(Release Date: December 5; Rated: R; Comedy)
Adulterous individuals buy alibis from Ray Elliot, until he finds
himself in need of one when he gets too close to a client.
6. The Devil Wears Prada
(Release Date: December 12; Rated: PG; Comedy)
Meryl Streep is a powerful magazine editor who cruelly introduces
her new assistant to the fiercely competitive world of publishing.
7. The Barnyard
(Release Date: December 12; Rated: G; Animation)
When the farmer is away, the animals will play. This CGI movie is
a funny take on the hidden world of these mischievous animals.
8. Hollywoodland
(Release Date: January 1; Rated: R; Drama)
Adrien Brody tries to unravel the tragic circumstances of actor
George Reeve’s death. It’s based on the actual death
of the 1950s
Superman TV star, here played by Ben Affleck.
9. The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(Release Date: December 12; Rated: PG; Fantasy)
Four siblings find themselves surrounded by talking animals in a
fantastic world ruled by a stately lion that needs their help.
10. How to Eat Fried Worms
(Release Date: December 31; Rated: PG; Comedy)
The first day of fifth grade follows the same rule as the first
day of prison: Beat someone up or find safety with someone bigger
than yourself. Billy finds this out the hard way.
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