Clara Lopez: From Dancer to Rising Star – Her Journey of Passion and Perseverance

Clara Lopez

The first thing that Clara Lope notices is that her last name is like this: as it sounds, without a final z. No Lopez. Lope. The second thing that attracts the attention of this young woman from Entre Ríos is the professionalism and determined attitude that only those who know what they want have, and above all, who are willing to achieve it. And to fight for it.

Clara knows what she wants since she was seven years old, when in Concordia, her hometown, she began to study dance and realized that the world of art was her world. “I still remember the feeling when I went on stage the first time. The adrenaline, the emotion, the teamwork. But I also loved the preparation, the rehearsals, the costume fittings, putting on my makeup, developing a character and taking it on stage, ”she recalls. Since then she has done countless, she spent endless hours rehearsing, danced in different parts of the country and never stopped.

His was passion and vocation, but also training. “I have always sought training. In addition to doing dance, during the school holidays I traveled to Buenos Aires to take intensive courses at the Julio Bocca Foundation, an institution that has always been a reference for me”, narrates Lope. “Since that time, I have greatly admired the actress and producer Octavia Spencer, not only for her incredible performances (she won an Oscar for the film Cross Stories) but also for the historical representations of her projects, which taught me a lot about certain social conflicts. in United States”.

As a teenager, Clara was happy on stage and in the world of art, but everyday life was not so simple. She went to a very strict school and day to day was very complex. “There was mistreatment from the institution and in general there was a bad atmosphere. It was the darkest time of my life. I feel like it was the hardest thing I had to overcome to be where I am today.” In that complex stage, work and artistic training were her refuge, the space where she felt motivated.

Clara Lope began her career as a model

Convinced of what she wanted, Clara announced to her family that she would dedicate herself to art. The reactions were dissimilar and some painful. “My cousins ​​and my friends always encouraged me, but what he wanted to do never seemed serious to my dad. Phrases like ‘don’t put that in his head’ were commonplace; to this day he does not support me. My mother, on the other hand, never forbade me and she always accompanied me ”.

Her career path began at the age of 13, but not as an actress but as a model. “I started doing benefit shows and I began to have more opportunities: work trips, fashion campaigns, editorials, catalogues, beauty contests, commercials, advertising spots. He did everything he could at the regional level. When the opportunity arose I would go to Buenos Aires to work, but the situation was very difficult because being from the Interior, everything requires an extra effort”.

After finishing high school, Clara decided to settle in the big city. She began to study Journalism and at the same time she was working as a model, despite the opposition of her father. It was not an easy start: “I didn’t have a fixed place to live, I moved every month.” In addition, getting a job was not an easy task either. She “she was constantly looking for opportunities in a field where she didn’t know anyone and she didn’t have any references. For years she participated in castings and there was no one left, or she took photos and they were not published, she sent emails and they did not answer me -she lists-. I guess that’s what happens to all of us when we start. But that fire that burned inside of me did not let me think about anything other than working for what I liked”.

Clara Lopez

After six adverse years, the great opportunity would come. She signed with Tinto Talents, a talent agency in Los Angeles. “I remember they offered me the contract the same day I turned 19. She was very young and represented an incredible possibility. I looked at my life and thought: ‘Here I have nothing’, and without looking back, I left. It’s been three years…”

With a suitcase full of illusions, he arrived in the United States, but the pandemic exploded and everything stopped. Productions were suspended for two years. “Before traveling, I was afraid that something would happen to me there, because health care is very expensive. I thought of many bad things that I might have to face, but I never imagined something like Covid. At first it was a shock, because I was locked up, without family or friends and with the fear of not having money to live on”, says the actress.

However, the firm that had taken her assigned her other production tasks until the pandemic ended, and thus she managed to get ahead. “It was a surprise, but I took advantage of those months to get used to my new city, travel and get to know California. Luckily the restrictions weren’t so strict anymore, so I didn’t have a bad time. In addition, months after arriving I became a couple and to this day we live together.

Shortly after settling in, Clara met producer Ángel Cassani and began working with him. In 2020 they worked on Home Sweet Home, a winning thriller at the Tribeca Festival. Then in her studio’s mega-production, Land of Grace, where the Entre Ríos woman had the opportunity to share the screen with Josh Hutcherson, from The Hunger Games, the Oscar winner Melissa Leo and Frank Grillo, a figure from the Captain America saga.

Clara Lope with actor Frank Grillo, antagonist of Captain America in Marvel movies

In addition, Clara has just returned from Colombia after filming a project that she cannot give more details about. In her plans is the shooting in Texas of Flamingo, a film by producer Lee Caplin (True Detective and Ali), starring Will Smith. It is an action film with a female lead.

“Although I do fashion sporadically, I would say that today my career is more focused on acting and production,” says Lope, aware that she is looking to make her way in a city where most of its inhabitants share the same dream. “Acting in Los Angeles is complicated, I met people from all over the world living there to achieve it,” she says. But I feel privileged because I have an excellent representation and for surrounding myself with such generous people who always open the doors to their projects for me”.

For all this and although “I feel a little pressure to give my 100% and meet expectations”, Clara Lope continues to work to achieve her dream and live what she loves.

Keep reading:

Felicitas Pizarro: “Luckily my sister liked women, otherwise my children would not exist” Pamela Anderson: failed couples, abuse and excesses of the greatest sensual icon of the 90s
2023-07-02 14:52:54
#story #Clara #Lope #studying #dance #native #Concordia #filming #Smith #Texas