Yareli Arizmendi
Encyclopedia
Yareli Arizmendi is a Cuban-Mexican-American actress, writer, and director.
artist is not to say or show what we can all speak or see, but that which we are unable to reveal” –Anais Nin
Award winning film and television actress Yareli Arizmendi is regarded as one of the most talented and respected actresses of the modern era. Arizmendi is best known for her tour de force performances in Like Water for Chocolate, the cult classic A Day Without a Mexican and Emmy-winning television shows such as Six Feet Under, Heroes, House, The Agency, 24, Medium, NYPD Blue and Chicago Hope.
Born in Mexico, raised in the United States, the grand dame of Latin American cinema had to coin a word, AmeXican to describe herself.
"It is a declaration of identity for the 21st century; my own account on how I prepared to wage battle in a world spilling over its human-made borders," explains Yareli.
Forever committed to social change, she worked with Luis Valdez and Teatro Campesino and toured with Teatro de la Esperanza to Nicaragua. She translated and staged Latin American plays, as well as developed bilingual in-schools programs with The Old Globe Theater.
In 1995 Arizmendi received the Princess Grace Foundation Statuette Award for Outstanding Achievement and Professional Development from Princess Caroline of Monaco. Her PBS Series Nostalgia Maldita 1-900-Mexico is based on a one-woman show that received critical acclaim in the United States.
Recent work includes the motion pictures Don’t Let me Drown and AMERICA with Edward James Olmos. Arizmendi is also promoting the film Naco es Chido a movie destined to be a classic of Latin cinema.
Arizmendi received a BA in Political Science and her MFA in Theatre at University of California, San Diego. http://www.yareli.com
ABOUT YARELI ARIZMENDI:
"I love the profound subtlety Yareli always brings to her performance. Her work is always profound and brilliant!" – Ivonne Coll, Actress
"Yareli Arizmendi is an actress that has elevated acting to a unique level, for she has turned her craft into her life. Not only is she an intelligent actress with great social commitment, but she is herself a most loyal representation of this bilingual and multicultural world which is America.
Watching her act is a privilege not only because of the aesthetic pleasure her fine, elegant, passionate and precise performance provokes, but because each stroke, each gesture and each movement on screen distills the very essence of her life force; that of the artist who is fully present creating our collective consciousness and the history of our time."
Gabriel Beristain,
Cinematographer
"It was a real pleasure to work with Yareli Arizmendi as the actor playing "Marí", the Mexican nanny in América. Her commitment to the role, the way she masters her craft, her insightfulness into the social and political context of her portrayal, and her generosity to her piers on set made my role as director not only easy but a complete delight. Seeing her tiny adjustments on each new take, her complete transformation into "María" and her absolute commitment to her craft and to the movie won my complete respect and admiration.
She shares so much information about her role and about what it represents in our global context that it brings awareness and sensitivity to our audience. This is also one of her trademarks, the total empathy she generates as an actor and as a human being. – Sonia Fritz, Director
"Yareli is an acting machine, a director’s dream. The perfect mix between emotion and technique. An excellent collaborator." Sergio Arau, Director
"Yareli Arizmendi es una actriz que ha llevado el arte de actuar a niveles únicos, pues ha hecho de su arte su vida, no sólo es una actriz inteligente con una enorme conciencia social, sino que es la representación más fiel de este mundo bi-lingue y multicultural de America. El privilegio de verla actuar no sólo provoca el placer estético de un trabajo actoral fino, elegante, apasionado y preciso, sino que cada linea, cada gesto y cada movimiento en escena, manifiesta la esencia misma de su vida, la de la artista que esta presente con la consciencia colectiva y con la historia de nuestro tiempo."
-Gabriel Beristain, Cinematographer
"It was an honor that Yareli came to Puerto Rico to shoot "America." She enhanced the value of the movie with her talent. A real actress"! -Lymari Nadal, Actress
Biography
“The function of art is to renew our perceptions. The role of theartist is not to say or show what we can all speak or see, but that which we are unable to reveal” –Anais Nin
Award winning film and television actress Yareli Arizmendi is regarded as one of the most talented and respected actresses of the modern era. Arizmendi is best known for her tour de force performances in Like Water for Chocolate, the cult classic A Day Without a Mexican and Emmy-winning television shows such as Six Feet Under, Heroes, House, The Agency, 24, Medium, NYPD Blue and Chicago Hope.
Born in Mexico, raised in the United States, the grand dame of Latin American cinema had to coin a word, AmeXican to describe herself.
"It is a declaration of identity for the 21st century; my own account on how I prepared to wage battle in a world spilling over its human-made borders," explains Yareli.
Forever committed to social change, she worked with Luis Valdez and Teatro Campesino and toured with Teatro de la Esperanza to Nicaragua. She translated and staged Latin American plays, as well as developed bilingual in-schools programs with The Old Globe Theater.
In 1995 Arizmendi received the Princess Grace Foundation Statuette Award for Outstanding Achievement and Professional Development from Princess Caroline of Monaco. Her PBS Series Nostalgia Maldita 1-900-Mexico is based on a one-woman show that received critical acclaim in the United States.
Recent work includes the motion pictures Don’t Let me Drown and AMERICA with Edward James Olmos. Arizmendi is also promoting the film Naco es Chido a movie destined to be a classic of Latin cinema.
Arizmendi received a BA in Political Science and her MFA in Theatre at University of California, San Diego. http://www.yareli.com
ABOUT YARELI ARIZMENDI:
"I love the profound subtlety Yareli always brings to her performance. Her work is always profound and brilliant!" – Ivonne Coll, Actress
"Yareli Arizmendi is an actress that has elevated acting to a unique level, for she has turned her craft into her life. Not only is she an intelligent actress with great social commitment, but she is herself a most loyal representation of this bilingual and multicultural world which is America.
Watching her act is a privilege not only because of the aesthetic pleasure her fine, elegant, passionate and precise performance provokes, but because each stroke, each gesture and each movement on screen distills the very essence of her life force; that of the artist who is fully present creating our collective consciousness and the history of our time."
Gabriel Beristain,
Cinematographer
"It was a real pleasure to work with Yareli Arizmendi as the actor playing "Marí", the Mexican nanny in América. Her commitment to the role, the way she masters her craft, her insightfulness into the social and political context of her portrayal, and her generosity to her piers on set made my role as director not only easy but a complete delight. Seeing her tiny adjustments on each new take, her complete transformation into "María" and her absolute commitment to her craft and to the movie won my complete respect and admiration.
She shares so much information about her role and about what it represents in our global context that it brings awareness and sensitivity to our audience. This is also one of her trademarks, the total empathy she generates as an actor and as a human being. – Sonia Fritz, Director
"Yareli is an acting machine, a director’s dream. The perfect mix between emotion and technique. An excellent collaborator." Sergio Arau, Director
"Yareli Arizmendi es una actriz que ha llevado el arte de actuar a niveles únicos, pues ha hecho de su arte su vida, no sólo es una actriz inteligente con una enorme conciencia social, sino que es la representación más fiel de este mundo bi-lingue y multicultural de America. El privilegio de verla actuar no sólo provoca el placer estético de un trabajo actoral fino, elegante, apasionado y preciso, sino que cada linea, cada gesto y cada movimiento en escena, manifiesta la esencia misma de su vida, la de la artista que esta presente con la consciencia colectiva y con la historia de nuestro tiempo."
-Gabriel Beristain, Cinematographer
"It was an honor that Yareli came to Puerto Rico to shoot "America." She enhanced the value of the movie with her talent. A real actress"! -Lymari Nadal, Actress
External links
- NPR Interview
- http://www.Yareli.com
- http://About.Me/YareliArizmendi