Natalie Monet.

Is a plus size Pennsylvania model, who was recently among the winners of Torrid's 2009 House of Dreams Model Search. The Puerto Rican beauty sat down with Simply Latino! to share her inspiration and advice.
 

 Simply Latino!: What would you tell other Latinas who are struggling with their weight and are trying to make it as a model?

Natalie Monet: I would tell other Latinas to first off, Love themselves and accept that this is the way God made them. Latinas are naturally curvy, it's just the way we are. There's nothing we can change. So what you can't change accept and flaunt it! And guys love the confidence we ooze.
When you accept yourself then you have the confidence to become a model. Whether your straight size or plus.

SL: Is there anyone who has inspired you to continue modeling?

NM: Crystal Renn is a definite influence. She always was. She's a frontier in every which way, and she inspired me to first start modeling and still does.
However my friend Mandy Firenes, she's a fellow plus size model that is a rising star and she is so knowledgeable about the industry and is a gorgeous girl. She inspires me to keep going. She has done things that I aspire to do and she as well wants to push the limit in the industry as well.

SL: What have you learned throughout this whole process?

NM I've learned not to believe the hype. Not everything that glitters is gold. If you think that this is easy and you can be a top model in no time, your dead wrong. It's taken me three going on four years to get where I have gotten now, and I'm still not done. I'm still not where I want to be.

SL: What are your plans for the future?

NM: My plans are to do what I'm doing now just on a bigger and grander scale. I'm always surprised to get messages from girls who want to model or have issues to deal with and they come to me. I'm honored but at the same time why me!? I'm no one special. Ha ha But what I want to do is happening and that to motivate young girls and to pass on self love and confidence in yourself. I also wouldn't mind getting back into acting.

is an accessories designer from Medellin, Colombia
that has broken with traditional design patterns.

Innovating icons that are a signature to the brand:
Crosses, Female/Male symbols, Feathers, David Stars,
Swarovski Crystals, Skulls and chains –
while mixing vibrant colors & sensuality,
without losing track of his very particular and personal style.

Harry's accessories have been worn by Shakira and Julieta Venegas.

www.harryberryaccessories.com 

Guillermo Diaz.

Move over McDreamy, there's a new guapo making the rounds in the world of T.V. hospital dramas. Guillermo Diaz plays Angel Garcia on NBC's Mercy, which airs Wednesday at 8 PM. Having appeared in films like Stonewall, Half Baked, and The Virgin Juarez and T.V. guest spots on The Chappelle Show. Guillermo shows no signs of stopping this.

       New York born Cuban actor can also be seen on Showtime's Weeds and the upcoming film Copout, alongside Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan opening February 26th. If that's not enough Guillermo also plays a med student in the horror film Exquisite Corpse which is scheduled to be released later this year.

Simply Latino!: Being born in New York to Cuban parents. What was the language preference in the household Spanish, English or both?

Guillermo Diaz: Yeah I was born in NYC in Washington Heights, my parents are Cuban, and they just spoke Spanish to me and my 2 older brothers, we learned English watching T.V. and in school. My parents still only speak to us in Spanish.

SL: What was your upbringing like? And how did you get interested in acting?

GD: I went to High School in the Bronx, a catholic school called St. Nicholas of Tolentine, right off of Fordham Road, which was a pretty bad neighborhood, I got mugged a lot (Laughs). When I was a sophomore, I did a talent show in my High School, me and my 2 buds did a medley of Beastie Boys songs that we lip synced, after that performance I knew I wanted to be an actor/performer and all throughout the rest of High School, and after I did a bunch of extra work, student films, plays, and small roles in really really indie films. Then I joined a theater company called INTAR, which is now called Labrynth.
  
SL: How was your experience at INTAR?

GD: Wow I remember I auditioned for the company with a scene from "Our Town"...my experience there was amazing, it was full of New York, hardcore, talented, Latin, Black, Caucasian, old , and young actors...I will never forget it , I'm still a part of it but not really active cause I'm living in Los Angeles, I think we were more like a family there actually.

SL: What type of characters do you remember playing?

GD: My first play there was called "Rough House" about a dysfunctional Latin/American family, I played the youngest brother Billy.
I also remember doing a Jean Genet play called "Deathwatch" it all takes place in prison, and I played Maurice, it's a very intense,violent,powerful piece. I also did a one act play called "We Are The Champions" by Tom Gilroy, I played a sort of college frat boy who discovers something very scary about himself.
I could go on and on about all I learned there, we also did a whole Kabuki style acting performance thing for a bit where we would all make our own costumes and do our own makeup and go out on stage and just do some crazy, uninhibited, impulsive stuff, it was very freeing and ridiculously creative. Paul Calderon, John Ortiz, Gary Perez, Lauren Velez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, David Zayas, Sam Rockwell, Yul Vasquez, Marlene Forte, Liza Colon, me, and many more are a part of the original actors...I really could go on and on (Laughs).

SL: How long after the theater did you get your role in "Fresh", Did you audition for that role, or were you discovered?

GD: I was "discovered" (sounds so cheesy) while I was doing the play "Rough House" at INTAR, an agent was in the audience, and they signed me shortly after. I think my second audition they sent me out on was "Fresh" and it all sort of snowballed from there, I was actually in college at the time, I was in my second year attending Baruch College in Manhattan while I was pursuing acting. After I booked "Fresh" then I got "Party Girl" then right after that I did "Stonewall" I dropped out of college.

 

SL: How funny that the name of the character on Weeds is also Guillermo, was that written into the script..or did it have anything to do with you?

GD: The character was already named Guillermo before I auditioned for the role, it was a complete coincidence.

SL: What are some hobbies you enjoy when you're not working or auditioning?

GD: I love hanging out with my friends, who are amazing and we like to do game nights, go out to Silverlake bars. I love to read, go to the beach....I love Photography and am always looking for new, unique and passionate photographer's to collaborate with, like Krys Fox, Sergio Kardenas and Michael Gregg Michaud.

SL: What role are you really proud of?

GD: The role I am most proud of is LaMiranda in "Stonewall" It was such an amazing experience working on this film, it feels good to have a film that really is important for people to see, especially young gay people, so they can see what a long road it's been to have the freedoms that we have today, although we still have a long way to go.

SL:Is there any actor or director you would like to work with?

GD: A couple of directors I would love to work with are Larry Clark, I just love his style of directing it's very real and powerful and the subject matter is usually very shocking. Some of his films include "Kids" and "Bully". I am also a huge horror film fan, so I would love to work with Rob Zombie and another director who I would give my left nut to work with is John Cameron Mitchell, who wrote and directed "Shortbus" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". 

Photos © Sergio Kardenas