By Arelis Hernández, Washington, D.C. 2004
Originally published as part of the New York Times 2007 Student Journalism Institute. Arelis Hernandez was recently named one of the UWIRE 100, a yearly compiled list of the country’s top college journalists.

Telenovela actress Jenny Arraiz, 28, by Marie de Jesús/New York Times Institute

As a little girl in Venezuela, Jenny Arraiz was never allowed to watch telenovelas. Her mother said there was too much kissing, but that didn’t stop Jenny from sneaking a peek as the blind Topacio — the title character in a 1984 hit — married a rich man and regained her sight.

It was in one of those sweet moments of bliss, while glued to the television, that Jenny knew what she wanted to be: a telenovela star. But she wasn’t going to be just any telenovela star — to the reach the top, she needed to move to Miami.

The telenovela industry, which produces soap operas for Spanish-language audiences, has begun to look north and say “Bienvenidos a Miami.”

Companies like Televisa and Venevisión, two of the largest distributors of telenovelas in the world, have increased the number of productions filmed in Miami by about 500 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to the Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment.

As a result, hundreds of actors, writers and producers from many Latin America countries are flocking to Miami for a chance to become household names in the United States and beyond.

“Miami is turning into a small Latin Hollywood,” said Arraiz, who has been cast in five telenovelas since moving to the city six years ago.

“Miami is a great place to attract talent,” said Don Browne, president of Telemundo, “especially from Latin America.” Brown said the city is popular among Hispanic artists because of its proximity to Central and South America.

“Miami is the capital of Latin America,” said Patricio Wills, president of the new Telemundo Television Studios which pumps out nearly 1,300 hours of telenovela programming a year. “Migration to Miami, from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia has augmented so much in just the past four years.”

Brown said Miami’s magnetism comes from its beautiful locations, great climate, and the chance it give artists to become famous worldwide.

“The locations are fantastic, to shoot here is great,” Maritza Guimet, CEO and president of Florida Media Market. “In Homestead you have ranches, in South Beach you have the beach, and then you have the Everglades.”

The state also offers 15 percent tax breaks for filming expenses of up to $2 million, an attractive incentive for telenovelas which can cost tens of millions of dollars to produce.

Guimet, who works closely with the emerging Hispanic market in Miami, said many telenovelas filmed in Miami are broadcast in Central and South America, where viewers are enamored of the images of the glamorous city. Exporting American-made telenovelas is profitable, Guimet said.

“In Latin America, everything made in the U.S.A. is more appealing,” said Guimet, a Peruvian native.

But one of the biggest reasons to produce original programming by and for Hispanics in Miami is so that Spanish-speaking people here can relate to what they are watching on television.

“We have to produce a product where the people feel like it belongs to them,” said Wills. “By producing them in Miami, we generate recognition of actors and locations that people here are familiar with. It’s their culture on display.”

For example, the lead character in “Anita, no te Rajes” (Anita, Don’t Give Up) was an undocumented immigrant, who faced discrimination in the story. In other novelas, Telemundo has inserted subplots where characters have had to deal with date-rape, breast cancer and the American legal system.

“We try to include in our storylines everything that can happen to a Hispanic in the United States,” said Wills.
Browne said that the new market opens doors for talented Hispanics who want to connect with their roots.

Hispanic actors are swarming to auditions for a chance to become the next Veronica Castro or Julio Alemán, Mexican telenovela stars from the 1960s and 70s.

Just four years ago, only eight actors showed up for casting calls for Telemundo’s first Miami-produced telenovela “Amor descarado” (Shameless Love). Recently, 350 actors came to audition for its newest project, “Dame chocolate” (Give Me Chocolate).

Gabriel Abdala, a student at Centro Internacional de Formación Actoral, or CIFALC, traveled from the farm town of Pergamino, Argentina, to Miami nearly 10 years ago. He said he came to the city with aspirations of becoming a successful actor in Spanish-language media.

“Soy muy soñador,” he said. “I’m a big dreamer.”

“I want to bring the story home to the people through the television,” Abdala said, switching to English.

Actors can also hone their craft in Miami.

CIFALC, an extension of the Venezuelan “Luz Columba,” a school famous for producing telenovela stars, opened its doors in Miami two years ago.

Six actors found work immediately after they graduated, said Aquiles Ortega, education director at the school.

Ortega said he has starred in several Venezuelan telenovelas, but he is not fond of the shows.

“I don’t watch them,” he said. “There is never anything new. It’s always the same format, Cinderella meets her prince and they fall in love. The only thing that changes is how. But it sells.”

Scribes are also finding work here.

Writers from Venezuela, Colombia and Peru are flying to Miami to pitch their stories of “amor” and betrayal.

Perla Farias, who has been writing telenovelas for 20 years, moved from Venezuela to Miami four years ago. She now writes for Telemundo.

She agreed telenovelas can be sappy, but she sees the genre as a way for the Hispanic community to express itself.

“Being able to have a voice is so important and that is what the media allows you to have, and the telenovela is the medium that makes us comfortable,” said Farias. “We grew up with it. Like North Americans and sitcoms.”

Is it just a fad?

There is no question that the telenovela industry has boomed internationally, with millions of people on every continent tuning in to watch Consuelo find the child she abandoned 16 years before.

But it has taken years for the telenovela to gain a substantial audience in the United States, Wills said.

With the success of “Ugly Betty,” which satires the telenovela format and stars a Hispanic actress, the melodrama is gaining some ground in mainstream television.

And young Hispanics have been showing a stronger interest in their background and are exploring their culture, including watching telenovelas.

A study on the viewing habits of Hispanics in the United States by Miami-based Encuesta Inc. found that 73 percent of American-born Hispanics tune into to Spanish-language broadcasting.

“The telenovela came here to stay,” said Wills, triumphantly.

And telenovelas are simply addictive, Guimet said.

“The love, the passion, the conflict, that is what people identify with,” said Guimet, who is working on a documentary about the history of the telenovela. “The telenovela has crossed into the hearts and homes of millions of people because we are passionate about bringing the story.”

Telenovela: One actress’ story

Jenny Arraiz sauntered down a street toward a coffee shop, announcing her arrival with the rhythmic tapping of six-inch heels. She flipped her dyed red hair and swaggered to an outside table for an interview.

Dressed in skin-tight jeans and an aqua blue tube top one of her characters might don, Jenny explained the complexities of being a telenovela actress.

The industry is competitive and there are many young women vying for roles, she said.

“It’s hard sometimes because I have studied acting for a long time, and they bring in young girls who are beautiful and know how to walk perfectly but have never acted before,” she said throwing her French-manicured hands up in the air.

Most days, Arraiz, 28, lives at the mercy of her BlackBerry, waiting for a call from her manager to tell her where the next audition will be.

“If they call you and say be there in 30 minutes, then you get there, even with the traffic in Miami,” she said, as she smoked a cigarette. “You never know when another chance will come.”

Arraiz was 17 when she starred in her first telenovela in her native Venezuela. She decided to come to Miami after working as the hostess of a Spanish-language music program in New York.

At CIFALC, the telenovela acting school, Arraiz learned to restrain her Venezuelan accent.

“Venezuelans speak quickly, and we eat the end of words,” she said running through her words. “So having to disguise where I come from is sometimes difficult.
“But I need the job so whatever they ask for — Colombian, Argentinean, or Mexican — I give it to them,” she said changing her accent with the mention of each country.

Despite the growing job opportunities here and the apparent glamour of her job, Arraiz said she struggles like any immigrant with limited English.

“Some people think you come to the United States and everything will be easy —Mentira,” she said, slapping the table with emphasis and spilling her coffee. “You are here to work, you don’t have family here, and this is all part of your job.”