The Actresses on the CW’s Jane the Virgin
Video exclusive, Hispanic Lifestyle talks with actress Gina Rodriguez about her starring role in the CW’s Jane the Virgin television program.
When Jane Villanueva was a young girl, her grandmother, Alba, convinced her of two things: telenovelas are the highest form of entertainment, and women must protect their virginity at all costs. Now age 23, Jane is a driven young woman studying to become a teacher, nursing a dream to be a writer, and supporting herself with a job at a hot new Miami hotel.
Actress Andrea Navedo and Actress Gina Rodriguez
The series stars Gina Rodriguez (“Filly Brown,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Jane, Justin Baldoni (“Single Ladies,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Rafael, Brett Dier (“Ravenswood”) as Michael, Andrea Navedo (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Golden Boy”) as Xiomara, Yael Grobglas (“Reign”) as Petra, Ivonne Coll (“Switched at Birth,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Alba and Jaime Camil (“Devious Maids,” “Que Pobres Tan Ricos”) as Rogelio.
All the years of watching telenovelas with the two women who raised her – her sexy, young-at-heart mother, Xiomara (known as “Xo”), and her still-devout grandmother, Alba – have given Jane a slightly unrealistic view of romance. Although she is determined not to make the same mistake Xo made – becoming an unwed mother at 16 – Jane could not be closer to the two wonderful women who have shaped her life. They are very different people – Xo lives her life as a perpetual teenager, performing at local clubs and always looking for a new man, while Alba makes religion and prayer the focus of her life – but both women consider Jane the center of their universe and love the grounded, compassionate and ambitious young woman she has become.
Despite the conflicting influences of her mother and grandmother, Jane has managed to find a wonderful fiancé: a handsome, hard-working detective named Michael, who loves her enough to accept her detailed timeline for their future together and even her insistence on “saving herself” until they’re married. All of Jane’s meticulous life plans are turned upside down, however, when she sees her doctor for a routine check-up and is accidentally artificially inseminated with a specimen meant for the patient in the next room. Unbeknownst to her, the specimen belongs to Rafael, a reformed playboy and cancer survivor, who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works but also a former summer crush of hers.
Video exclusive Hispanic Lifestyle’s red carpet conversation with actress Andrea Navedo.
A few weeks later, the unsuspecting Jane is faced with the most important decisions of her life. Will she continue with the pregnancy? How can she explain the situation to her fiancé and family? And what should she do about the wishes of the biological father, Rafael, and his scheming wife Petra? At the same time, Jane’s mother Xo is facing a life-changing decision of her own: after years of letting Jane and Alba believe she didn’t know the identity of Jane’s father, the time has come to admit the truth – Jane’s father is Xo’s former boyfriend Rogelio. Making the situation even more surreal, Rogelio is now a huge telenovela star, and he definitely wants to meet his unsuspecting daughter.
Though she has always tried to be the responsible good girl who does the right thing, Jane’s normally quiet life has suddenly become as dramatic, complicated and unpredictable as the telenovelas she has always loved.
JANE THE VIRGIN is produced by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Electus, with executive producers Jennie Snyder Urman (“Emily Owens, M.D.”), Ben Silverman (“The Biggest Loser”), Gary Pearl (“10.5: Apocalypse”) and Jorge Granier (“Que el Cielo Me Explique”).
