‘How I Met Your Father’ Francia Raisa Won’t Be Your ‘Token Latina’ Anymore

Years ago Francia Raisa and Hilary Duff will act together How I met your father–The millennial generation’s dependence on How I meet your Mother launches Tuesday on Hulu – they had their first meeting full of TMI.

“I just found out what a mucus plug is, and I asked her if she still had hers,” Raisa recalls their first conversation a decade ago, when Duff was pregnant with their first child. heart. “Yes, the first thing I asked Hilary Duff was if she had a slime seal… I’m not as stylish as I sometimes come across.”

“But you know what? I left an impression, and here we are – look at us! ”

The two actresses now play roommates and best friends – the type who would sure don’t be afraid to discuss mucus plugs – on How I met your father, like the original, revolves around a group of thirty people navigating the New York dating scene. For Duff, it was a natural stepping stone to Younger, the much-loved Land/Paramount+ TV series ended its seven seasons last year. But for Raisa, it was a leap from Maturethe Freeform series in which she’s starred since 2018. In that show, she played Ana Torres, a devout Catholic and staunch Republican who doesn’t look like Raisa, either because of her main beliefs. Politics and Age – Ana is still in college and Raisa is 33. Needless to say, she’s relieved to finally be able to act her age on TV.

“It’s been an afterthought in my personal and professional life,” admits Raisa about playing someone 10 years younger than her. “Because professionally, I haven’t aged. I played the same age. But personally, I’m getting old. And so when the quarantine happened, to be honest, it was the first time that I actually got to live my life as a 30-year-old. I really have to learn by myself. And even when I step on it How I met and I met everyone else… you know, Chris [Lowell] and Hilary was married with kids, and meeting people at different stages in life and like where I was going, it was like, oh, I haven’t grown up in a long time. ”

“It was a quick realization and a way for me to grow. It is very refreshing. And I have to say it definitely helped my depression a lot, to be able to be who I am and finally live my life to the fullest in my 30s. ”

Raisa’s character on How I met your fatherValentina, is the exact opposite of Ana – an outspoken, outspoken, fun-loving stylist who tries to push Duff’s Sophie out of her comfort zone by encouraging her to “squeeze her baby.” cock” like Jane Fonda. She was also incredibly confident, a quality that Raisa had consciously tried to imbue herself with.

“I’ve noticed a lot in my comments on Instagram that a lot of my fans are saying, ‘I love your confidence, I love your confidence.’ And it is something new for me. I still have my insecurities, don’t get me wrong, but I’m probably the most insecure person you could possibly have met. I guess playing Valentina got me through it – I just started owning it. Playing her and applying that to my life was really, really fun. Some of the things that Valentina said, I was like, I wish I was as brave. I think I am now. ”

Before joining the show, Raisa was an OG How I meet your Mother fans, and the comparisons between the original series’ Valentina and Barney Stinson – the manipulative, promiscuous man played by Neil Patrick Harris – is not discredited by her.

“The first time I got the role, I remember Chris saying, ‘They were really crazy trying to find Valentina – they were trying to find you before me. I think you are the Barney of this series. ‘ And I said, ‘Don’t say that, that’s a lot of pressure!’ Suraj [Sharma] say the same thing, like, ‘I thought you were Barney.’ Those are big shoes to fill,” says Raisa. “And I felt that way at first, but then I was like, [Valentina] is in a relationship, which is different. But maybe this is Barney in a pre-Robin relationship – I don’t know! So I will take it and I will own it”.

Of course, HIMYM fans are sure to be divided on the new iteration of Hulu. They’ll love the return of the original’s clever format, which Sophie played in 2050 by Kim Cattrall– Tell her son the story of how she met his father, accompanied by some red stories that keep the viewer guessing about the man in question. Or, they’ll say it’s a trickling imitation of the original that pales in comparison. Either way, rest assured HIMYF not a clone—for one thing, just look at the show’s new cast, which, unlike its predecessor, is thankfully not an all-white affair.

“When I saw that they were looking for Latinas for my character, I said, ‘Okay, cool, am I the only one?’ You know, don’t knock on anything, but I’m the only one on Secret life. And in a lot of the roles I’ve played, I’m the epitome of Latina,” says Raisa. “And so come to this cast and meet Suraj and Tien [Tran] and Ashley [Reyes] really amazing. There were a couple of times when we looked at each other and said to ourselves, ‘Wow, we did this. We’re doing something different, it works and it’s fun. ‘ I’m glad so many people see me in this cast.”

Valentina’s identity as a Mexican-American woman is established early in episode one, when she tells Sophie that she and Charlie – her new British upper-class boyfriend – have been “Meghan Markled” ‘ like by his disapproving parents, who she said made Ugly Betty hit her. But aside from that, Val’s background isn’t the point, and Raisa says that’s the problem.

“What I like about the show is that everything is normalized. Although I commented at the beginning that Charlie’s parents didn’t like me because I was a Mexican assistant stylist, that was really the only time it was mentioned,” she said. “Besides, I’m not known as a Mexican friend – like, I’m a human just like everyone else going through these phases of life.”

However, Raisa made one key difference for Valentina, which was the decision that the character would be a second generation Mexican-American – a first for the actress, herself being Mexican. Honduran first generation.

“I just feel like I played first [generation] most of my career. And I feel like there’s a difference between being second- and first-born, where you’re navigating two cultures, and there are language barriers and learning the American way,” she explains. .

“With the second generation… let’s say if I had a child, they would learn English and Spanish at the same time when they were young, but I would also teach them what pizza is very early on, when I didn’t learn that until elementary school. So it’s definitely going to be different, and I feel like it hasn’t really been done too much on television yet. I think it’s important when making that decision, as a Hispanic woman, to understand that there is a difference between the two and to show love to the people born second born here. . “

How I met your father also tries to show a little love for millennials in general – the show has lots of references to ’90s and early ’90s pop culture staples like TRL and I know what you did last summer. Episode four even centers around Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty”-themed birthday party – and if Raisa has her say, Xtina herself will be among those catching up on the new series.

“I ran into her right after we shot that episode,” Raisa said. “When her Latin album came out, I went to the party, and didn’t ask how I was, but somehow I sat next to her. This is after I shot with her – and I don’t really like tequila shots like that. And I was like, ‘I have to tell you, I’m on a new show, I don’t know if you’ve seen it. How I meet your Motherbut it’s called How I met your father with Hilary Duff’ – because you have to drop that name, to get people’s attention, come on. And I told her about the episode and she said, ‘Oh my God, really? Okay, I’ll check. ‘ I was like, I don’t know if you remember this, but that was great, I told you! ”

It might have been a long shot, but it was a confident move. Valentina would certainly approve.