Acclaimed actress Eva Tamargo chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about her experience on the defunct daytime drama “Passions,” “The Haves and the Have Nots” on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and the digital age of acting.
‘Passions’
She played the iconic role of Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald on Passions, who was the matriarch of the Lopez-Fitzgerald family. “Playing Pilar was interesting because she evolved so much from the first year,” she said. “It was an interesting ride on many levels. It was the first full-on Latin family on daytime TV. There were Latin actors on other shows but not a full family.”
“The soap was so ahead of its time, we had supernatural, we had it all. I was only 38 when I got the job and I played the mother of five. Even though Pilar was the housekeeper, she had such a pivotal role on the show, she was the moral compass of the show and that was really cool to do. It was fun to grow with the character for nine years,” she added.
When asked how she handled being dialogue-heavy on that show, she said, “My training was in theatre, and also, I had a good memory. I realized that I was very good at it.”
Working with Galen Gering and Lindsay Harley
She praised her on-screen children Lindsay Hartley, and Galen Gering, for being like family to her. “They were both so great. Lindsay was so upbeat, she was 20 when she got the job. I was always a very maternal actor so it was easy to play their mom,” she said.
“To this day, both Lindsay and Galen still call me ‘mamma.’ That was just wonderful and it was such a blessing since we all started at the same time,” she said.
“We all great together as actors and as people,” she added. “Playing Galen’s mom was always a riot because we were nine years apart. ‘Passions’ though was one of the most amazing memories of my life that I will always remember.”
‘The Haves and the Have Nots’ on OWN
Regarding her experience in “The Haves and the Have Nots,” she said, “It was a cool experience. Coming from the soap world, it was very easy for me to work at that fast pace. Tyler Perry was wonderful to work with. I had a break since 2008, and I did that show in 2013. It was a great experience, I met some great people there, and it was a lot of fun, we filmed it in Atlanta. I enjoyed being a part of Tyler Perry’s family and the Oprah Winfrey club.”
The digital age of acting
On being an actress in the digital age, she said, “I like to move with the times. I’m very modern and liberal and I move forward with life. It’s not the same auditioning at home vs. auditioning in a room. I don’t mind the streaming because it gives you such exposure. You need to move with the times.”
For young and aspiring actors, she remarked, “Acting is not who you are, it is what you do. You need to have a passion in life that is not acting. It takes a good decade to really get your foot in the door. You need to have another purpose besides acting. You need to have a whole new world going on that fills you up.”
“These days, there are so many ways and so many platforms to get yourself out there,” she added. “Write your own material and figure out what it is that you want to specialize in.”
On the title of the current chapter of her life, she said, “No Mud, No Lotus.” “I am a meditation teacher, where I teach meditation in my home, and I am actually becoming a grief counselor because I’ve lost my three brothers over the last five years and both of my parents,” she said.
Regarding her definition of the word success, she explained, “Success is a perspective thing. For most people, success is achieving and getting to something. For me, success is the actual journey, it’s falling down and getting back up.”
To learn more about Eva Tamargo, check out her IMDb page and follow her on Instagram.
