On My Block’ Star Gets Real

‘On My Block’ and ‘Liv and Maddie’ Star Jessica Maria Garcia Transcends the Tropes Set for Latina Characters

hers-magazine.com Garcia by Nate Reinders

When Jessica Marie Garcia moved from her hometown of Orlando to pursue a career in Los Angeles, the Cuban and Mexican American actress set to break the mold of stereotypical roles that Latina women are typecast into. “[Latina] women specifically in [the acting] industry have had to fit into one of two boxes—either you're the hottie or the abuelita,” Garcia said.

Garcia represents another type of Latina—one that you may have befriended in high school. Her most well-known characters, notably Jasmine from Netflix’s “On My Block” and Willow Cruz from Disney’s “Liv and Maddie,” have complex personalities—from the asthma inhaler-puffing funny girl to the lovable basketball teammate—that venture outside of Hollywood’s often one-dimensional Latina roles. “[It’s amazing to me] that a character like Jasmine gets to be a lead,” Garcia said. “You get to see her step into her power… and I don't feel like you get to see that in every show. I know, because I've tried to be on [these other shows], and they've told me no.”

Her Latina roots are an essential part of her identity. As a first generation American on her mother’s side, Garcia grew up with a strong connection to her Cuban roots. One of her biggest forms of inspiration is the story of her mom’s rigorous journey from Cuba to the U.S. as a child. “She was woken up in the middle of the night and was told like, 'We're going on a fishing trip, take everything that you own,'” Garcia said. “They were going to take a small boat with these three men that were going to take them, and then they got stopped before they even left. Then, my mom, before she was even 9 years old, had to see those three men executed in front of her.”

Garcia and Cast “On My Block” Season 3

These stories are prevalent in Orlando’s strong Cuban culture, but it wasn’t until she moved to California that she learned more about her Mexican roots. “My dad's Mexican, but he’s Mexican via Texas, so my Spanish is probably better than his,” Garcia said. “There were very little other Mexicans [around] when I was growing up, so there was an entire half of me that didn't know their culture.” Despite the area’s strong presence of Cuban culture, Garcia recalls being racially targeted from a young age. She was called slurs by classmates and ex-boyfriends, but it took her until adulthood to connect those experiences to racism. “I had no idea that I was ‘different’ and didn't realize that that's why I was being, you know, targeted,” Garcia said. “In my head, I was being bullied because of who I was as a person. [It wasn’t] until I grew up that I realized, 'Oh, no. That person was straight up racist.'”

Growing up as an aspiring Latina performer, she also learned early on that roles for women like her were

Garcia by Nate Reinders often never even created. As a student at a performing arts magnet high school, she was glossed over for leading roles, never being cast in a main stage production. Though this experience was disappointing at the time, she said that it prepared her for the many “no’s” she’d receive in the rigorous world of Hollywood. “I feel like when I came to LA, I was actually a little bit more prepared to get those ‘no's’ than maybe if I would’ve been if I was the queen of my acting program in Orlando,” Garcia said. Though the road to maintaining a Hollywood career hasn’t always been easy, she did start out on a high note. She secured her big break role as Sierra Cruz on the ABC Family series “Huge” in 2010. She originally auditioned for two of the show’s lead roles, but was not selected. However, the show’s creators saw potential in her, so they wrote in the character of Sierra specifically for her. “Sierra was actually written for me, which was insane to think that one of my first roles was something that, you know, they saw something in me to actually put me on the show,” Garcia said.

Her current character on “On My Block” wasn’t technically written for her like Sierra Cruz, but she feels like the casting was meant to be. When her “Liv and Maddie” co-star Victoria Moroles received an audition for the role, she felt after reading the pilot script that Garcia would better suit the character. Garcia said Moroles was right; she instantly connected with Jasmine after reading the script. “I read the pilot and just…fell in love,” Garcia said. “I feel like so many of the characters [on ‘On My Block’] are characters that you see in the background of other people's shows, and they're finally telling their story and being the lead of their own story…[My audition for the role of Jasmine] was the first time that I felt comfortable enough in my own skin and in my own ability to improv a lot…I made Jasmine very much my own…and they loved it.”

These characters, like Jasmine and Sierra Cruz, tend to remind Garcia of her younger self. The 32-year-old is often cast in teenage roles, and she channels her own coming of age experiences to accurately portray them. She especially resonates with Jasmine’s loud, outgoing personality and the repercussions that brings her. “I kind of am reliving a lot of my own insecurities,” Garcia said. “[I had] a lot of similar experiences in feeling loyal but left out, and you know, [feeling like I was] too much. I remember being in middle school and people thinking I was annoying. It’s a hard bubble to get past, but it's a wound that I don't mind reopening because I feel like I'm helping so many girls that look and act like me who are going through what Jasmine went through and what I went through.”

Though the process can be hard—acting like your high school self at 5 a.m. on set can be brutal—she also sees it as a great way to reach closure. “It's therapy for me,” Garcia said. “Like, it's kind of a little self-indulgent because it is a therapeutic rewind.”

After re-living her teenage years at work, Garcia returns to her home life as an adult. She is married to Adam Celorier, a set dresser for TV and movies. When the two are able to coordinate their hectic work schedules, they enjoy daytime dates to the movies and nights cooking at home. “I tend to make sure there's a fun dinner planned so we can at least meet up to kind of recap [our workdays],” Garcia said. “Either he does it, or I do it. He's probably a better cook than I am.” “I feel like I'm helping so many girls that look and act like me.”