Lela Loren may play Nuyorican city girl AUSA Angela Valdez on Power flawlessly, but the Southern California native’s suburban upbringing couldn’t have been more different. Those of the chops of an enigmatic star in the making!
We spoke with the talented leading lady of STARZ’s insanely addictive summer smash about head over heels big love, growing up as a prep school nerd, and the subconscious “accent switch” we all do when going from the boardroom to the barrio. Plus, you won’t want to miss her foolproof way to ignore your ex for good. Before diving into Power’s explosive new season on July 17, fall in big love with Lela in her chat with us below.
We love Angie and Jamie’s multicultural relationship. But some viewers get angry and believe that Jamie traded up, by choosing the Latina over his Black wife. What’s your response to that?
So it’s interesting because my dad’s white, my mom’s Mexican, and so I am a lover of mixed-race marriages. There wasn’t a lot of me’s growing up, so whenever I see another me I’m like, “Yay!” Obama is a me! And I don’t like it when people try to whitewash something and just make you one thing. A lot of times in our culture, they want us to disappear a part. It makes me sad that people look at it [that way]. When they’re saying “trading up,” they’re buying into the notion that they’re less than, and that isn’t true. I look at that as internalized oppression. At the same time, that’s not perceived in other countries, which is really interesting. So that’s something kind of specific to the United States. And it is sad. People say do you try to convince people, or to persuade people, and I don’t know if that’s the job of entertainment. I know that it kicks up that wound.
