Awhile ago, I had a wonderful talk with Actress, Katie Barberi about a lot more than just her career. I was able to talk to Katie after a long day of shooting in Colombia. Katie has most recently been seen on the Telemundo series, Doña Bárbara. She is hard at work, and information on her work and more is below.

Before reaching the age of ten, you lived and attended school in a lot of places. So what I am going to do is go through some cities that you have lived in and I want you to tell me what you can remember from living there.

Mexico City, Tijuana, & CanCun, Mexico
Those are 3 very different, very distinct moments of my life. Cancun is where many of my relatives live on my father’s side. My father was a developer and general manager for one of the first hotels built there. There were very few hotels there at the time and now there are so many hotels there! In Tijuana, I remember crossing the border every morning at 6:30am to go to school. Tijuana is very much a border town. I lived in Mexico City for 9 years. My career really grew there in the Latin market so I am very grateful for that.

Las Vegas & Reno, Nevada
My mother was a singer and actress there and I was just stunned with how big and wonderful the shows were there. I do remember my school there and my childhood.

San Diego & Baja, CA
My father had a hotel chain that he was supervising in Baja, CA. That is where I would go to school and go shopping.

Before you relocated with your mother to Los Angeles, California, was NY ever an option to move to?
New York is always an option. I think NY is one of the most fabulous cities in the world.

What were the advantage and disadvantages of living in so many different cities?
You get very homesick and then you don’t even know what you are homesick for because I have a home in Florida but I am outside of the city, and possibly outside of the country most times of the year. I have been working nonstop now in Colombia for 2 years and I continue to say that I don’t live in Colombia but the fact is that I have for the past 2 years.

The good side is that you get the opportunity to understand different cultures and points of view about life. It gives you a greater understanding of human nature to be able to talk to so many different walks of life.

Despite all of the schools that you attended, you remained a straight “A” student. How did you do that?
It drives my co stars nuts that I actually have a photographic memory. So I look at something once and I know it. So it really helped me in school and it really helps me as an actress. Sometimes we shoot 25-35 scenes a day. I read the scripts when they come in, leave it in my locker at the studio, come in and read it the day of the shoot, and as we are blocking, I learn it.

The thing is, it is short term. Once I finish a scene, don’t ask me what I shot 20 days ago because I couldn’t tell you. Now in school, there were a few subjects that I was very interested in. History and literature were the subjects that I actually retained the information.

Explain the process of learning how to neutralize your American accent for different roles.
You have to be able to dominate several different accents in both languages to be cast in the roles that you are interested in. I can do a pretty good English accent, a NY accent, and Southern accent on a very generic level. In Spanish, I was cast to do a Telenovela in English in Mexico. They decided to shoot 3 Telenovelas in English using the same sets and locations, and scripts – just translated. They brought down a cast of actors from Los Angeles, CA to act in English.

I was cast in the 2nd one, Acapulco Bay. I had been acting professionally for about 10 years by that time. The head of casting for the studio found out about my extensive career and learned that some of my Disney movies from my childhood were available for rent inside the studio store. So he asked me for a meeting. I spoke about 80% Spanish and had an American accent. He asked me to explore the possibility of doing Telenovela in Spanish. I told him that I did not speak very good Spanish and he told me that I would get a diction coach.

That coach was none other than actress, Adriana Barraza. Several years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in the film, Babel. I took 6 days a week for 6 months, 2 hours a day. By the time I was done, I sounded like I was born and raised in Mexico. It was a very intensive course. She did an amazing job. She is an amazing teacher and actress.

When did your mother, a professional singer give you voice lessons?
The lessons were predominately in opera and I was 10 years old. I love musical Theatre. I am a huge Barbara Streisand fan.

Explain shooting a Latin soap and shooting an American soap.
I have not yet had an opportunity to work on an American soap opera. My favorite American soap opera is General Hospital. I think the biggest difference is that Telenovela has a beginning, middle, and an end over the course of a few months. In America, if you get on daytime and find yourself the right role, you can work for years on end. For Telenovela, we air as prime time, not daytime.

How soon after you shoot an episode does it air?
We film out of sequence, like it is a movie. We film according to location. Some episodes will come out 10 days after they are shot and others will come out 30-40 days after they are shot.

What are you watching on television?
I just started watching Gossip Girl. I just finished Weeds. I know every line of Sex & the City and I know all of the commentary. I love Entourage.

Tell me about what you are working on now and any upcoming projects.
I got a movie with a lovely producer, Chris McIntyre called 21 and A Wake-Up. It broke my heart because 2 of my favorite actors are in the film, one of which is Faye Dunaway. I had an amazing role of a Latina singer but by the time that film was ready to shoot, I was already in Colombia shooting. So there are a couple of ideas for other projects. Some are here in Colombia and I have some meetings in Los Angeles, CA. I am not the type of person to do 2 projects at once, because of the stress. We will see what comes next.