If there’s one thing that characterizes Camila Rojas, it’s her natural courage to travel, move around, and discover new places. Photo courtesy of Impulso Producciones
Camila Rojas began her acting career almost by chance, with very different future plans and, in part, thanks to her accent. With a varied academic background ranging from acting to boxing, including dance and rhythmic gymnastics, the actress has worked on all kinds of productions and acting challenges.
‘Pasión de Gavilanes’, ‘Corazón en Condominio’, and ‘El Rey: Vicente Fernández’ are just some of the titles that complete a versatile, diverse, and highly international resume. Her time in Hollywood and her failed attempt to study in the United Kingdom have shaped her as an actress and, above all, as a person, partly because it helped her see people as equals and not as competitors.
‘Olivia’, which premieres on Disney+ on July 1, highlights self-identity, something that, almost by chance, is closely linked to her career as an actress and will test her comedic skills by playing a villain who has great interests in the olive grove business in Jaén.
A rejection turned into an opportunity.
Camila Rojas was on track to study Social Communication, specifically in London. It was a decision that, according to her, was somewhat influenced by pressure and convention, but the twists of fate gradually redirected her: “Life ended up throwing a curveball in my path that turned out to be very beneficial because I was determined to study Social Communication in London and the universities told me no because of my level of English,” she explains in an interview with EFE.
The rejection of her first choice led her to want to improve her level and not give up, to take very diverse courses and, unexpectedly, to completely change her vocation. “Life told me: ‘wait, slow down, think’ as I was going to study more English to get into that university,” and what was being preparation for a degree in London ended up being a door to studying in Los Angeles.
“At that time, the opportunity arose in Los Angeles because the Latino scene was really taking off with all this stuff from Sofía Vergara, who was in ‘Modern Family’ and was doing very well,” and a lack of language that slowed down her career in the United Kingdom ended up turning into an opportunity in the United States.
“They made you feel like you had potential because they liked your roots, the simple fact of being Latina,” Camila Rojas says about her time in California. Suddenly, accents and diversity were appreciated, and in contrast to a somewhat more closed-minded Europe, the Hollywood industry let her know that her performance was indeed of interest.
The actress comments that when she was starting out, London was very regionalist and it was much harder to fit in if your passport was Latin American: “In those times it was a bit more delicate in terms of discrimination, only I don’t dwell on it, I don’t focus on those things… I turn it around,” she clarifies with her natural pragmatism and warmth.
And it was from this point that her very positive vision of diversity began to take shape, transforming her into the actress she is today. Even so, after experiencing the American acting scene, perhaps the most competitive and demanding in decades, she can attest that it provides a strong foundation, but it remains “a very cutthroat industry” where “people are constantly arriving to pursue the American dream, the dream of being an actor in Hollywood,” which means that opportunities “are becoming increasingly limited.”
First steps and the leap to fame.
As the actress herself explains, “today everything has advanced so much that you no longer need to live in a country to achieve that dream, you simply don’t know which project will give you that focus, that will take you to that place” and from one day to the next, or at least that’s how quickly she felt it, she was called from Mexico to star in her first audiovisual work in the comedy telenovela ‘Corazón en Condominio’.
But what really marked a turning point was the second season of ‘Pasión de Gavilanes’ and her return to her native Colombia to play Muriel Caballero, which she defines as a work that was “a watershed moment” in her career and from which she has been able to build a large community of followers.
“In this career you have to build resilience, you have to become strong, and I think it’s the project that has given me the most mental strength, but it also left me with wonderful things: a beautiful audience, beautiful followers who are like family, it opened doors for me, it took me to other places,” Rojas says about one of the most important moments in her acting career.
The rest was a gradual rise, almost without her realizing it, and beyond ‘Pasión de Gavilanes’, other Latin American titles and productions have brought her to where she is now, such as the biopic ‘El Rey: Vicente Fernández’ and ‘Romina Poderosa’, both for Netflix. However, it is now, in 2026, that she has managed to cross the Atlantic to participate in a Spanish series, one of her dreams that she has stated she wanted to fulfill for some years.
Beyond borders… and prejudices.
If there’s one thing that characterizes Camila Rojas, it’s her natural courage to travel, move around, and discover new places. She defines herself as a woman without prejudice, who has no intention of judging based on origin, accent, or social standing—something that has helped her appreciate her roots and proudly embrace them, as well as remain open to any project.
If she had to stay in Spain, she answers with great enthusiasm that she would do so gladly, and regarding its audiovisual industry she says that “it doesn’t owe anything to anyone; I think it’s the place where many people really want to be. Many people from Latin America want to come here because the Spanish industry market is very well-known, very respected, and professional. All the productions maintain a very high standard, and who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”
Although she wouldn’t rule out working in Hollywood either, because her vocation goes far beyond a perfect place to settle down and she feels that there are still many spaces from which to learn and grow, something that she also considers a tool for her work: “I really like to learn, I really like to travel, I really like to learn from each culture and that implies that each culture has a very different way of even acting and that’s how you learn, that’s how you enrich your work.”
This is one of the lessons that has most marked his work and that he believes is essential not only for an actor, but for anyone: “I think it is one of the lessons that I have learned from working in different countries, from having studied in different countries, from having left my small house to live on another continent with other cultures, and the more the years go by the more I am confirmed that it is useless to come into this world to judge, simply to accept and from the heart, not from obligation.”
Camila has a sweetness that confirms she is not a prejudiced woman, characterized by being open and hospitable to everyone around her, and in fact, while an actor must follow that tolerance, she also believes that the stories told in film and television must do so.
Her character in ‘Olivia’ hides a secret: her silent love for Nuria, played by Kira Miró. This potential LGBT storyline will be included within a family-friendly story, suitable for all audiences, and Rojas sees it as a success because it reflects real life: “I am in favor of all worlds having to be there because, in the end, we are all the same world,” she explains about this storyline in ‘La Patrona’.
Furthermore, the Colombian actress is proud that productions are becoming increasingly open and not only making room for diversity, but also including it naturally: “Humanity is also demanding that the world be what we are, because ultimately television, film, series… whatever you want to call it, tell real-life stories, and even if it’s fiction, stories are created because they exist… otherwise, we wouldn’t create them.”
For the first time, she will share the screen with a number of top-tier Spanish actors and actresses, including Pablo Chiapella, Nancho Novo, and Fernando Tejero, and will bring an international flair to the production, especially given her extensive professional experience. After many projects focused on drama, ‘Olivia’ will showcase her comedic talents, a genre she considers essential to demonstrating her acting abilities to the public.
“You may be more accepted on one side, less on the other… But you have to navigate both worlds because in the end you also work for the public, for the spectator, and the spectator wants to see a little bit of everything,” she explains about the variety in an actress’s training.
Furthermore, if there’s one thing she’s particularly fond of highlighting about this comedy, it’s its strong connection to her own philosophy of life, despite being a globetrotter: “It brings back a bit of the essence of these kinds of productions that focus more on families, on returning to our roots, to where we come from,” and on the importance of escaping the clichés so often found in television and film: “I call them magical towns. Perhaps they’re not well-known, for some they are, for others they aren’t… but through a series like ‘Olivia’ they can transcend borders,” she says about Úbeda, the town in Jaén where the story is set.
Camila is one of those actresses who manages to transcend the screen, who illuminates with a presence that few achieve, and who has demonstrated a vocational versatility despite not having had it as a dream until life took her to Los Angeles almost by chance.
She still has much to accomplish, including appearing on the big screen: “Professionally, I still need to do film; it’s something I feel I owe, and I hope the opportunity arises.” She would also like to continue improving her dancing, one of her main strengths that she sometimes misses, as well as return to the theater, the place where she began her career and which she also longs for.
She has already shown that one of the things that enriches her most is learning about other cultures, languages, and customs, but she would be incapable of losing the roots that have made her who she is. Camila Rojas, beyond knowing how to act, dance, or even box, has something much more important for a professional actress, and that is the union of the old with the new, of the known with the unknown—a kind of all-rounder who now arrives in Spain with a series closely linked to this union of differences and origins.
Luisma Perez.
EFE REPORTS
