Masked Cast Interviews: Isabella Rovirosa

Isabella Rovirosa plays Suzanne James in Masked.   (Suzanne's character, for the curious, is based partly on Armand St. Just and partly on Suzanne de Tournay in the original novel.)

From her bio on our website--

A high school student and drama queen extraordinaire, Isabella has had many varied roles in plays over the years.  Masked marks her screen debut, following appearances in such productions as Ms. Scrooge, Pajama Party and It's a Wonderful Life: The Musical, etc.  Isabella has been a devoted fan of The Scarlet Pimpernel since 2012 when she first saw the film starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour, and she is overjoyed to be a part of reinventing this classic story for a modern audience.

When she's not acting, singing or orchestrating shenanigans (a hobby at which she excels), Isabella enjoys fangirling over Doctor Who and Sherlock, dabbling in art, reading good books, dancing anywhere and everywhere, making her famous pancakes and doing flawless impressions of Miranda Sings and Martha Mahinsky.  She's a little bit bonkers... but then, all the best people are.  

Isabella (Belle, or Martha, or the child... or whatever I choose to call her as the fancy strikes me) is kindly joining me here today for an interview! I've known Belle since she was... um, a good bit younger than she is now... and I'm proud to call her my friend as well as my colleague in putting together this show!  She's extraordinarily talented, basically born to play the role of Suzanne, and I'm really thrilled to have her as part of this project.  (Also, she has the most utterly amazing hair I have ever had the privilege of seeing in real life.  Seriously what even.  Like Rapunzel or something.)

Now, without further ado, The Interview.

How’d you get interested in acting?

Well I originally fell in love with acting around three or four, but (besides being a little four-year-old diva at home ;)) my family and I performed for three years solid all over the U.S. Then I joined a drama group a year or two back and did plays with that group. Then I moved on to community theater, did plays there and others here and there, but mostly community theater. And of course Masked. :) And then on the side projects...

What was your favorite scene to shoot?

Honestly any scene where I can eat cake, pretzels, etc. I get so hungry while on set, I don't know what it is. :)

What do you like best about Suzanne's character? What do you find the most interesting?

Suzanne's character has definitely developed a lot since when I was first cast for her. She relates to me a lot I think, and I relate to her. I like the independent vibe she has and how she strives to make everything right and encourage people to follow their dreams. She's a very big believer in that.

What’s been the biggest challenge for you with this role?

Understanding the characters and trying to bring them to life on screen.

How’d you find out about The Scarlet Pimpernel? Have read any of the books or seen the films prior to this project? 

Well, the 1982 movie was a girls' night classic in our family, and I have read the first book.  Very good book, very much recommend.

If you could play any role in any movie, play, TV show, etc., ever, who would it be?

Probably the villain or misunderstood character, it would be so much fun building layers to those kind of characters. I would definitely love to be in a movie based off of a really good book for sure! But probably more of an adventure type book. :)

What do you hope people will take away from your performance in the show? 

I hope they can really relate to Suz and the other characters on the show, and be able to relate the story to the TSP story for sure! I also really hope they enjoy the modern aspects to it.

What was the hardest scene to shoot?

There were no extremely hard scenes to shoot that I was a part of, but we did have some difficult ones. There was one difficult one that comes to mind... but that would be giving away the story ;)

(note from Amy: I know what she's talking about and just wait until you see the footage. ;))

What are you most looking forward to in the future of the show?

Developing the characters into the characters we all see in our heads and watching them grow through the series. I'm also excited to see what happens in the later episodes and what the final product is, and of course hoping everyone enjoys it.

(I made her promise not to give away any spoilers... so yes, that last answer is purposefully vague!)

You can follow Isabella on Twitter, and check out her character Suzanne's Tumblr if you care to!

Six days till the pilot premieres!